Traffic Lights.

[STONEISLAND]

Do they get managed? EG on approach they turn red, no cars coming from the other direction on red for no reason? Do they have sensors on them? They should do. I'm sure a lot of our traffic problems and road rage would end if traffic lights where managed properly. Surely its not that hard?

Another EG, big queue waiting for green, across the road one car goes across and that's it. And were still waiting?

Is it just me??? Just does not seem to make sense to me?

[Chrysalis]

I think some lights do have sensors, but they primarily used at night time at quiet times of the day. During busy periods they are more on a timed interval, since the sensors would be overwhelmed with constant flow of traffic.

I also believe ones near hospitals can be controlled by emergency services when they are approaching them.

[STONEISLAND]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

I think some lights do have sensors, but they primarily used at night time at quiet times of the day. During busy periods they are more on a timed interval, since the sensors would be overwhelmed with constant flow of traffic.

I also believe ones near hospitals can be controlled by emergency services when they are approaching them.

I could do with one of them.

You will proberbly know Abbey Lane prime example of dogey lights. The build up of traffic is really bad along there just because of the timing of lights.

[fireman328]

As far as I know some are electronically by traffic flow but others are on a timed sequence, hence you can wait ages at red lights at night even though no other traffic is at the lights going in any direction. Lights at pedestrian crossings also take longer to change.

http://www.its.leeds.ac.uk/facilitie...ties/scoot.htm

[TheDaddy]

I seem to remember some one telling me that some are light sensitive, like the ones they use when digging up the road, once they have gone home apparently they will change if you flash your lights at it, I have tried it and it does seem to work although I feel there is a fair chance that it's just coincidence.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

I seem to remember some one telling me that some are light sensitive, like the ones they use when digging up the road, once they have gone home apparently they will change if you flash your lights at it, I have tried it and it does seem to work although I feel there is a fair chance that it's just coincidence.

My other half works in Lighting Services for the SEC - these type of traffic lights don't exist anymore. They're on timers only.

[AndrewJ]

I would think a shotgun would be a good method of controlling the lights.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by orangebird

My other half works in Lighting Services for the SEC - these type of traffic lights don't exist anymore. They're on timers only.

Are you talking about the roadworks lights? There is a (relatively new) set of permantly installed lights near me that do react to the presence of traffic.

[Rob]

Many traffic lights do react to traffic to adjust the timings. Look at the road surface, the thin black tarmac boxes, diagonals are electronic field sensors that can detect if a car is over them. Great for vehicles to trigger a light change, but useless if your on a pushbike

All the sensors will do is speed up a change if there is nobody going from a certain direction. The lights will have a maximum setting they will stay green on a direction, in part to stop traffic congestion elsewhere.

[keithwalton]

Originally Posted by orangebird

My other half works in Lighting Services for the SEC - these type of traffic lights don't exist anymore. They're on timers only.

Really as there are some road works near me which has lights with sensors mounted on the top of them and they changed on demand for me the other day.

In answering do traffic lights have sensors / control systems the answer is yes!

In fact most of Hampshire's permenent lights run on the RoManSe system these days (http://southampton.romanse.org.uk/) they are computer controlled and are adaptive to traffic levels and auto adjust for congestion levels. Under the road just before the lights are pressure sensors, if at night the lights are red you can approach the lights and they will automatically change for you in most cases. If there is other traffic they may hold you for a few seconds but the more cars going your way the sooner they will change, especially if a vehicle is static over the sensor.
They all report into a central computer system which relays real time data to that website (if you zoom in close enough you will see lines of different colours depending on the triggered traffic level).

They also have cameras on many of the busy junctions so if you enable the cctv option you can see what the traffic is like.

I guess southampton needs this kind of sophistication since it does hard the 3rd highest density of traffic lights in europe i believe

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by skunk4u

Do they get managed? EG on approach they turn red, no cars coming from the other direction on red for no reason? Do they have sensors on them? They should do. I'm sure a lot of our traffic problems and road rage would end if traffic lights where managed properly. Surely its not that hard?

Another EG, big queue waiting for green, across the road one car goes across and that's it. And were still waiting?

Is it just me??? Just does not seem to make sense to me?

AFAIK, traffic lights in most towns and cities are controlled by a central computer. As discussed above, they may have sensors (or even cameras in the case of those in London) that are used to adjust the timings as appropriate for the traffic conditions.

[Shaun]

I don't know why we don't do the same as in Spain and put the lights on flashing amber (where it's safe) after a certain time so people can just make their own mind up when to go. Makes so much sense to me!

[Russ]

Flashing your lights at traffic lights to get them to change is a fallacy but people still vainly try it for some reason. If there's a sensor on top it might work but for normal lights, it won't.

[AndrewJ]

I wonder though with this myth.

When you approach a pelican crossing, if you push the button and rotate your finger 90* to the right the lights change quicker.?