`Green Wave'.... (for cars?)

nielsamd

Synchro traffic lights to ease "drivers" on their way:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7998182.stm

If implemented anywhere it will be interesting to know what the assumed `wave speed' will be. All optimized for cars no doubt and not e.g.: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2008/10/green-wave-spreads.html[/url]

davmaggs

I would also like to see the american option of being able to turn left (right in their case) on a red light unless that junction is specifically signed as not allowing it. Any time it's been brought up in the past the commentators seem to say that it would cause accidents, and the Brits wouldn't be able to cope. Seems a silly excuse as various countries managed to change the side of the road that they drive on without mayhem.

In Italy they also switch a lot of the traffic lights at crossroads to flashing amber at night time so that people aren't sitting at red lights waiting for non-existant traffic to pass. That would be useful at quiet junctions and bus lanes (trying not to RLJ at Clapham Common when you are the only one there is hard work).

daniel_owen_uk

The speed would be set at or just below the speed limit, it says in the article. Second paragraph.

Headhuunter

davmaggs wrote:

I would also like to see the american option of being able to turn left (right in their case) on a red light unless that junction is specifically signed as not allowing it. Any time it's been brought up in the past the commentators seem to say that it would cause accidents, and the Brits wouldn't be able to cope. Seems a silly excuse as various countries managed to change the side of the road that they drive on without mayhem.

In Italy they also switch a lot of the traffic lights at crossroads to flashing amber at night time so that people aren't sitting at red lights waiting for non-existant traffic to pass. That would be useful at quiet junctions and bus lanes (trying not to RLJ at Clapham Common when you are the only one there is hard work).

SHAZAM! Your wish is Bojo's command - see today's Evening Standard (if you live in London). Bojo wants to allow cyclists to turn left on red.

Headhuunter

This green wave thing should actually benefit cyclists quite nicely. As long as I'm not blocked by traffic (and red lights) I can bowl along at around 20 odd mph which may allow me to catch "the wave".....

Christophe3967

Headhuunter wrote:

SHAZAM! Your wish is Bojo's command - see today's Evening Standard (if you live in London). Bojo wants to allow cyclists to turn left on red.

In reality this would only work countrywide, otherwise it would be chaotic. However in the light of the recent cycling fatalities, it is worth looking at seriously.

Headhuunter

Christophe3967 wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

SHAZAM! Your wish is Bojo's command - see today's Evening Standard (if you live in London). Bojo wants to allow cyclists to turn left on red.

In reality this would only work countrywide, otherwise it would be chaotic. However in the light of the recent cycling fatalities, it is worth looking at seriously.

To be honest (and naughty) I already do this. If there's nothing coming and no peds crossing I don't see the point in waiting for green and getting caught in the traffic accelerating from the lights when they change. May as well get yourself ahead when you can.

whyamihere

Excellent! On my commute, there's a section a couple of miles long with far too many traffic lights. Without the lights, I'd probably be able to nip along it at 25-30mph, catching the green wave nicely.

cee

davmaggs wrote:

I would also like to see the american option of being able to turn left (right in their case) on a red light unless that junction is specifically signed as not allowing it..

I think there is also a cultural difference....in the states, there are some junctions which have no traffic signals, and no inferred right of way. It works on the first come first served honour system, and if a pedestrian starts to walk across, all the other traffic waits...

can you imagine that in the UK!

will3

They had this system in Berlin when I lived there....................




25 YEARS AGO FFS this country"!! :roll: :roll:

Worked really well.

nwallace

Left on red can easily be implemented at multi lane approaches, left lane is left turn only and has a give way line instead of Traffic Light stop line. there used to be one in Dundee at the Nethergate / Marketgait junction.

Any traffic heading for the bridge from the High Street end of the Nethergate just went down a filter, checked right and through.

Though with it now being signal controlled if the bus gets stopped at the lights when I get off the bus from the Hospital I can leg it down the road.

davmaggs

Boris must be reading my posts!!

There isn't a cultural difference that would prevent the UK population from learning a new system. We always seem to look at something that happens successfully abroad and then somehow rule it out as being workable in the UK, as if we can't cope.

The 'honor system' that Cee mentions is the 4-way stop junction and isn't used in large junctions, but tends to be on the roads with managable flows of traffic. Even then it has some moments of confusion. We still have yield signs here.

phil_ss1

Most British road users cannot fathom out the most basic binary concept of Red and Green, by allowing them to turn on Red, or have flashing ambers will bring complete caos to the country.

The only benefits would be for the ambulance chasers and car body repair shops.

And as tax payers we would have to pay more for the human body repair shops (NHS) for screwing more people back together.

As for the first come first served approach, mmmm, me first there on a Hyrid vs. Chav-Boy in a w-a-n-k-e-d up Corsa, which one would 'win'????

P

davmaggs

Actually the vast majority of people do cope with Red and Green.

Why would chaos be brought to the country? Are we saying that somehow all the other peoples of the industrialised world can cope better with a change in traffic regs that the British?

Whilst cyclists complain a lot about the UK, on the whole the standard of driving here is well regulated and organised. Individual incidents occur, but the UK isn't any worse than most other industrialised countries.

The nations that use different traffic lights strategies don't have anarchy. The traffic light itself didn't just appear fully formed, and with a set of rules that never changed. Those countries brought in changes, designed signage and updated their driving lessons over time.

In the USA not all junctions have this rule, it is just the default unless otherwise signed.

nwallace

Flashing amber has been used for years at pedestrian crossings,

First at zebra crossings, and then later as the final non-green stage of pelican crossings, it means Give Way and has worked for over half a century, it isn't a huge leap to make it mean the same thing at light controlled junctions.

JGS

Personally I think the "Green wave" is a great thing. Usually for me the people that nearly clip me in rush hour are the idiots trying desperately to catch up with the traffic in front and are usually doing something like 10-20mph over the speed limit. If the incentive to drive correctly is there, and traffic flows in smoothed out queues rather than clumps surely it makes it safer for all?

brushed

davmaggs wrote:

Whilst cyclists complain a lot about the UK, on the whole the standard of driving here is well regulated and organised. Individual incidents occur, but the UK isn't any worse than most other industrialised countries.

Most other but not this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM

phil_ss1

nwallace wrote:

Flashing amber has been used for years at pedestrian crossings,

First at zebra crossings, and then later as the final non-green stage of pelican crossings, it means Give Way and has worked for over half a century, it isn't a huge leap to make it mean the same thing at light controlled junctions.

So why do they appear to be being phased out?

New/replaced Toucans and Zebras in our area do not have the flashing amber last stage.

P

swagman

That system in India actually works. It makes drivers concentrate fully on the road and other users.
Here we are bombarded with signage and advertising that takes your eyes off the road.
In Thailand the moped drivers will drive along pavements to get through traffic lights.
Im not saying we should go that far over here but the road planners have got it wrong they try and control the traffic too much adding to congestion,like putting up lights on roundabouts.
The roads look a mess with signage.

Headhuunter

I've heard the same about towns in Scandinavia, they remove as much street furniture as possible including lights, roundabouts etc and it forces people to actually engage their brains rather than switching off and driving to what the signs and lights say. People become more cautious because there's no "safety net" telling them what to do.

always_tyred

cee wrote:

davmaggs wrote:

I would also like to see the american option of being able to turn left (right in their case) on a red light unless that junction is specifically signed as not allowing it..

I think there is also a cultural difference....in the states, there are some junctions which have no traffic signals, and no inferred right of way. It works on the first come first served honour system, and if a pedestrian starts to walk across, all the other traffic waits...

can you imagine that in the UK!

Its not like that at all. They work essentially like roundabouts. Its first come first cross, with priority to the right if you arrive at the same time (so not quite the reverse of roundabouts as you might expect). They have actually started painting circles in the centre of intersections in some cities. It gets confusing then, becuase people turning left (the equivalent of our right turn) end up giving way to people entering the junction half way through their turn, since the circle does away with the implied stop line (which is still there but its ignored). Think of it like a roundabout here but giving way to the left.