Traffic lights! Who needs 'em?

S

S.L.F

Guest
I frequently have been on my way home after a days work and have come up to the lights at Bakers Corner to find them out of action due to the rain.
When this happens I find that it's far easier and quicker to get through the the junction!
I don't pretend to know what it costs to put in a set of traffic lights but I do know its not exactly chicken feed
Apparently there's a village or town in Holland that has taken all the traffic lights and road signs out as an experiment.
I understand having no road signs or traffic lights creates a degree of uncertainty which makes people take a bit more time and care, thus lives are saved.
 
Some other countries, France in particular, seem to manage better with roundabouts than lights. In Lanzarote, outside the capital, there are no traffic lights anywhere, just roundabouts, yields & pedestrian crossings & everyone gets around fine.
 
Same was the case in Tullamore when the lights in the centre were broken. Traffic flowed brilliantly. Then they decided to put up a set of pedestrian lights about 25 mtrs up the road from the centre lights and the place is a disaster. All because people won't walk 25 mtrs. No wonder we're all unfit.
 
Some other countries, France in particular, seem to manage better with roundabouts than lights. In Lanzarote, outside the capital, there are no traffic lights anywhere, just roundabouts, yields & pedestrian crossings & everyone gets around fine.
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This has been tried here already - I'd guess we've more roundabouts per capita than anywhere else. We even put traffic lights on some of them :)


Same was the case in Tullamore when the lights in the centre were broken. Traffic flowed brilliantly. Then they decided to put up a set of pedestrian lights about 25 mtrs up the road from the centre lights and the place is a disaster. All because people won't walk 25 mtrs. No wonder we're all unfit.
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I agree with this. Local politicians in most parts of the country seem to have set up an industry whereby pedestrian lights are put everywhere for trivial reasons. We have far too many. We need a cull of pedestrian lights.

P.S. I walk most places, so this is not an anti pedestrian view point. In most urban areas you are never that far away from a junction with lights, so you dont really need most pedestrian lights.
 
In the USA they have All Way Stop junctions. On approaching these junctions everyone is obliged to stop. The first car to the white line has the right of way, he stops and goes on his way. Someone waiting at another white line then has the right of way and on they go. Another person moves up to the line behind him and waits for his turn. It works really well and means that you don't get stuck at traffic lights when there is no-one else at the junction.

I would think that the reason it works so well is that it must be well policed. Also the fines and punishments in America tend to be very heavy and they don't show any mercy.

I wish we had the same system and rigorous enforcement of the rules at traffic lights here in this country. Even when the light turns green at the lights, I always count to three before I move off. Numerous times some plonker speeds through the red lights in front of me.

To my mind the Gardai would be far better exercised prosecuting people for dangerous driving and trowing the book at them, when they crash the lights at junctions, rather than the usual typical lazy approach, of catching motorists like shooting fish in a barrell, on roads, where there are totally inappropriate speed limits.

The real fear of a mandatory drink and drugs test, arrest, a heavy fine, a court appearence, possible loss of licence, penalty points and a massive insurance premium hike would soon stop this dangerous behaviour at red lights.


Murt
 
Murt10 said:
I would think that the reason it works so well is that it must be well policed. Also the fines and punishments in America tend to be very heavy and they don't show any mercy.
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Certainly seems to be a factor. Tickets/fines for not performing a hard stop at such junctions or rolling around them etc. are not uncommon.
I wish we had the same system and rigorous enforcement of the rules at traffic lights here in this country.
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Imagine all the moaning and bleating from all those drivers who are so good that these petty rules and regulations should not apply to them personally? Just like all those boring threads about why some bloke didn't deserve to be ticketed or clamped for illegal parking or another bloke who didn't deserved to be fined for speeding - because theirs was a special case. :rolleyes:
 
csirl said:
This has been tried here already - I'd guess we've more roundabouts per capita than anywhere else. We even put traffic lights on some of them :).
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Regarding roundabouts you should see the one near the General Hospital in Mullingar. Some of the roads leading to it are two lanes but there is only room for one lane around the roundabout itself. Do these road planners even look at what they are designing or know the situation on the ground.

At least it is right beside the hospital in case of accidents.

:rolleyes:
 
Went through Bakers junction towards Rochestown Avenue/Pottery Road earlier and noticed the locals trick. (For anyone who hasn't been there, there is a Y junction where Bakers is at the bottom, Rochestown top left and Pottery top right with a petrol station between Rochestown & Pottery).

If you're going right on to Pottery Road and the light is green that's fine, work away. If the light is red then go left on to Rochestown, swing wildly right over to the station (in front of oncoming traffic), negotiate the traffic cones that have been placed in the filling station forecourt to prevent lunatic drivers from cutting through, and cut out on to Potter just barely in time to avoid being hit by someone who waited for the green light to let them through.

:eek: Crazy stuff!
 
Try dealing with the busiest roundabout in Ireland - Walkinstown. 5 roads off with sets of pedestrian lights on four of these roads immediately as one comes off the roundabout :eek:
 
sueellen said:
Try dealing with the busiest roundabout in Ireland - Walkinstown. 5 roads off with sets of pedestrian lights on four of these roads immediately as one comes off the roundabout :eek:
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Know it well, such fun! Luckily I've never had to negotiate it in rush hour. Have you tried the Glenageary roundabout? 5 roads and a shopping centre off it, I think only 3 sets of pedestrian lights though. And only 2 lanes compared to Walkinstown's 3. But a challenge nevertheless.

As a matter of interest, is the Red Cow not the busiest roundabout in Ireland?
 
Well if you're a truck getting off the M50 at the N1 to head towards the port tunnel, the lights aren't meant for you.... Each time I'm at that junction, you will get a truck (and some cars) running the red lights, forget amber gambling this is Red Running!
it'll take a couple of fatalities for anyone to really try and do something about the blatant disregard for lights that most drivers have... I believe in the US there are cameras that catch people who are running the lights, why buy a few for here!
 
mell61 said:
it'll take a couple of fatalities for anyone to really try and do something about the blatant disregard for lights that most drivers have... I believe in the US there are cameras that catch people who are running the lights, why buy a few for here!
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They have such cameras in the UK - there was at least one set in Belfast that I knew of (though it was often disabled by the locals, I believe).
 
TreeTiger said:
As a matter of interest, is the Red Cow not the busiest roundabout in Ireland?
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Some years ago they featured it on Newsround and referred to it as the busiest one in Ireland. That was quite a while ago though so the Red Cow one may well have taken over the coveted title.

The very annoying thing about the Walkinstown one are the pedestrian lights as soon as one comes off the roundabout. They constantly cause a tail-back which in turn just clogs up the whole system :confused:
 
sueellen said:
That was quite a while ago though so the Red Cow one may well have taken over the coveted title.
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Walkinstown might get the title back again as the Red Cow is becoming less & less like a roundabout every day.

Changing from this http://www.m50.ie/index.php?page=n7-interchange-map to this http://www.m50.ie/index.php?page=final-n7-interchange-map


Was in Salzburg last year and they seem to turn off traffic lights after a certain time at night, or have flashing amber lights at some junction, so that you don't have to wait at a red light when there is absolutely no other traffic about.
 
Yes. Seen this in lots of other jurisdictions. Works well when traffic volumes drop a lot at night. Have often seen cars here obediently stopping at red lights in the small hours with no other traffic around for miles - pointless really. A bit of caution at a flashing amber would lessen frustration while still keeping the responsibility on the driver to drive carefully.
 
Once again Bakers Corner is a doddle because the traffic lights aren't working
 
Once again Bakers Corner is a doddle because the traffic lights aren't working
 
And again thankfully the lights have been out on Deansgrange cross roads for a few days now.

There's never a queue to get through the lights I think the longest time I had was when some little old granny couldn't get the courage up to move out into the center of the road.
 
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