Confused over lamps

Wonder if it's to do with red/green colour blindness which is so common?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)
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Same here. Not only that, they appear to be being actively replaced with LED ones around Canterbury. Wincheap/A2 junction being the most recent (and that has a *lot* of lights!).

The whole "head" of the traffic light is replaced - not just the bulbs.

Darren

Reply to
dmc

It is a shame that the rise in LEDs has not been accompanied by a re-appraisal of other aspects of the design. A few suggestions:

o Red lights to be octagonal in line with Stop signs. o All multi-way junctions to have arrows for all directions controlled on the green phase. o Miniature repeaters at low level (as in France). Particularly desirable as so many new lights have just the one set, high and right on the junction - often impossible to see from a normal seated position at head of queue. o Something similar to the flashing amber used in France for part-time lights.

Reply to
Rod

You can drive in the UK with full red-green blindness by using position.

I saw a failed LED "lamp" in Chertsey for a while. Looked like a London Transport sign for months...

Andy

Reply to
Andy Champ

Why bother most drivers don't understand what the arrows mean. They assume you can go but it means you can go if its clear. Some prat hit me 30 years ago as the lights were on green for me as I emerged from a one way street while the two green arrows were on for his side. Stupid idiot thought it meant he could just go whatever was coming.

Driver error, try stopping so you can see them!

Reply to
dennis

They used to have STOP written across them, although it was probably too small for a significant part of the population to read.

I agree here. I'm used to our system and it's difficult to see its faults when you are, but I can see why it's a nightmere for visitors. The US system is very much clearer for everyone.

Agree here, combined with stupid box junction boundaries, and traffic light sequencing that creates a deadlock which results in one car getting through every 4 complete light sequence cycles.

I agree, or just turn lights off except when really needed.

We're in the process of removing the one place we have it, pelican crossings. (Puffin crossings don't have it because they know when pedestrians have finished crossing the road, and just use standard traffic light sequence.)

o Traffic lights which no longer dim down to be glare-free at night. This used to be absolutely standard years ago when I had a vague collaboration with traffic light design group at work. Recently, I started seeing lights where I assumed the photocell had died, but this is becoming so common that I assume local authorities have decided to economise it out. When combined with switching off the streetlamps so you're driving completely on night vision, the glare from traffic lights on full power wrecks your night vision for some distance down the road including crossing the junction, which is really silly. (I've only come across one case of street lamps turned off combined with non-dimming traffic lights.)

o Increasingly poor junction design. I always assumed road junctions were designed by experts in the field. Over the last ~10 years, I've seen an increasing number of very poor designs. There's one where two streams of traffic on a green quite reasonably assume they have exclusive rights through a junction, when they don't (and I've seen a crash almost certainly as a result), and another where a green at the entry to a junction is quite reasonably taken to mean you have exclusive rights to proceed across, where it's actually only a pedestrian crossing and the traffic crossing your path is uncontrolled (and unsurprisingly I've seen an accident there too).

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

So much to agree with you there.

A junction near here (link below - but it has changed since this map/photo) - going from town towards London (L to R on map), you get to a junction with lights. There are two lanes - straight ahead (and a trickle of left-turners) and straight ahead plus lots of right-turners.

So if I get to the junction and wish to turn right (to Wickes - keeps it on a d-i-y theme), I get in the right-hand lane and stop (assuming red). When it goes green, I move a few metres and have to stop - there are three lanes facing me. Two (straight ahead for them) are on green - and a third (their turn right) might go green. I *never* know when they are on red. I just have to wait until either a) the oncoming traffic stops OR b) there is a sufficient large gap in the oncoming traffic.

How do I ever know when I am safe?

Reply to
Rod

I have learned by experience to look for the induction loop in the tarmac and stop on that. Or they may never change.

Seeing the light is secondary, albeit not much of a problem for me as my roof is glass.

Andy

Reply to
Andy Champ

8>< Repeaters would get vandalised in days.

I get annoyed by the lack of consistency over whether there is a repeater light on the far side of the junction. Some really need one - others seem to have loads of them

Reply to
John

Agreed. It seems to me (thinking about the lights I regularly see), the more recent ones (which are all LED) seem to have few or no across-the-junction repeaters. Wondered if the claimed/purported life of the LEDs is being used as an excuse/reason not to install repeaters?

Reply to
Rod

I am long in the body and do not have a glass roof! Yesterday, light changed just as I was approaching a junction, managed to stop safely just before the 'cyclists' rest' zone, but simply could not see 'my' lights. All I could go by was a faint reddish glow (which would not have been visible in bright sunlight).

Reply to
Rod

The message from snipped-for-privacy@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel) contains these words:

What? Right turn on red lights in SOME but not all jurisdictions? Traffic lights slung from the branches of trees etc. etc.

There are many places where there are part time traffic lights in this country already.

Reply to
Appin

Possibly. Each lamp being an array of LED's is also probably significant, even if a few of the LED's fail there will still be some light showing.

Reply to
Mike Clarke

Indeed. Turning round traffic lights seems to be a pastime here.

Yup. Especially a left filter.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Yes, that's an issue. When I'm not sure, I look for the "No Turn on Red" sign, meaning I can turn on red except at this junction, or until someone behind honks. Have to be careful around Washington DC and Maryland, as the rule is different and you need to know which side you're on. The area I visit most frequently, California, does allow right turn on red lights, and it seems to make a lot of sense.

However, I'm really talking about the clarity of the signalling, rather than specific state regulations.

Not seen that, but some areas hang them on cables across the road, and after a good gale, they're all pointing in the wrong directions, upside down, etc. In California, I only recall seeing them on steel outreach arms, where this doesn't happen (but some of the outreach arms are incredibly long).

Very many more need switching to peak times only. There's a large roundabout over a motorway junction that I do quite often late at night. That's 3 to 4 sets of lights to go through and it can take over 5 minutes, when there's not another vehicle in sight.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

What's always got me is when I ask the hire car people if you can turn right on red (or even "hang a righ'") they never seem to know.

Andy

Reply to
Andy Champ

they probably can't understand your accent - or can't understand why anyone would ask such a daft (to them) question.

I once held a conversation with a truck driver - but I was using the word "lorry" and he didn't have a clue what I was talking about.

Reply to
John

Even when prompted "in this state"? And my accent swings wildly enough that I've had Americans look surprised when told I am from England.

(this is the result of first going to school near Glasgow, when my mother is from Sussex and my father from Queensland)

Andy

Reply to
Andy Champ

I enquired why there are not more LED traffic lights in my city. This was the reply:

Thank you for your e-mail concerning LED traffic lights.

Until quite recently a major obstacle to using LED lamps as standard at traffic signals was the inability of the older generation of traffic signal controllers to monitor LED lamps due to their low power compared to standard lamps.

This creates a safety issue as we need to monitor the vehicle red lamps for pedestrian safety and this has limited the use of LED vehicle lamps to signals on high poles at sites where they are supplementary to the main traffic signals. In xxxx we also use LED signals for the latest generation of red / green pedestrian indicators and wait lamps.

The new generation of traffic signal controllers now on the market are able to monitor LED lamps; indeed they provide the option for the whole signal installation being run on extra low voltage (50volts), improving the overall safety of the signals and helping to cut installation and running costs.

It is planned that where possible new installations will be extra low voltage with LED lamps; in fact the refurbishment of the traffic signals on xxxx Road at the entrance to The xxxxxx Retail Park which is due to begin this week will see this site converted to become xxxxx's first extra low voltage traffic signals with all LED lamps.

I hope this answers your question concerning the use of LED arrays, but if you have any further questions concerning traffic signals please do not hesitate to contact me direct.

Reply to
John

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