On 07/02/2013 15:24, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article 40,
DerbyBorn writes:
Just back from a holiday and whilst there I refelcted on a few differences
seen there and other places (not really DIY) and wondered if others had
thought of similar things. Examples:

Bulgaria - Traffic Lights with an illuminated count-down in red or green
to the next change.

Dublin - Traffic lights with ped crossing countdowns - that are made of
stainless steel and don't look as though they were made in the 1950's (like
ours)

I think a lot could be improved about our traffic lights, although
I can't get excited about countdowns.

Many years ago, I was trying to explain our traffic signals to a
visitor from the US, and I hadn't realised how complex they are
until that moment, because I take them for granted.

The concept of filters, and also the concept that a green light
doesn't mean your path is free across the junction (e.g. when
turning right across oncoming traffic). This made me contrast the
UK and US signals, and I decided theirs are much clearer and less
ambiguous. I really like their flashing red and flashing amber
signals which many signals revert to out of busy hours, something I
ponder when I'm sitting at a red light for ages in the UK and
there's no other traffic within half a mile of the junction at 1am.
Direction arrows on red and amber too, rather than just green,
would seem to be clearer for those not so used to our system.

Way back when I worked for GEC, UK traffic signals all dimmed at
night to avoid glare. Over the last 10 years or so, I'm seeing
many new ones which clearly don't do this. This seems like a
backwards step - maybe it was an extra-cost option councils have
decided not to pay for?

Also seeing increasing use of lights which all park on red when
they see a gap in the traffic, so traffic on a main road is forced
to almost stop, before the lights go green and let it through
(Reading has several new sets like this). Really buggers up my fuel
economy ratings, even when driving through at night with empty roads.
Don't know if this is deliberate, or just badly programmed system.
If they'd put the inductive pickup far enough in advance, the lights
could have changed to green by the time you got there if you were
within the speed limit, but no, they don't do that because the first
loop is too near the junction.

One of the bugbears about traffic lights is precisely the positioning of
the inductive loops. Many were placed before "they" decided to have the
bicycle reserved bits. Now, they are out of optimum position by the
length of the cyclists' box. There is one near here at which you
regularly see traffic building up because the car at front of queue is a
very small distance short and so are not registered.

--
Rod