Traffic Lights.

[mildmanneredjanitor]

I believe that traffic lights are often connected together along a stretch of road so that traffic travelling at 30 mph (or whatever the speed limit is) will (in a perfect world with no congestion) sequence so the car will have green lights all the way.

This is why when speeding (apparently... ) lights will always work against you, stop, race, stop!

If this is the case (and I'm not barking up the wrong tree) woof woof! Will this principle work in multiples of 30 mph???

P.S. I do not condone the breaking of speed limits...

Just speed cameras!!!

 

[breezer]

I know for a fact there is one road in london where this is the case, it (the phenomanon) is called the green wave but as for else where i dont think so.

Traffic lights do have an induction loop in the road so at night say a main rd (thats main road, nit major junction) all lights along will turn greeen, but should anything from a side rd approach they will change, but just for the hell of it , one will change any way.

also at major junctions the lights will all go red, and which ever direction a car comes from the lights will change in your favour

in general though its just pot luck.

 

[david and julie]

Don't think so mate. Think it's done on purpose to slow you down. They have a warped idea that it saves accidents, when really it gets us all wound up.

The only way to make 2 sets is to buy a TVR,porsche, lambo or WHY The best place I ever saw for sequential lights was Manhatten Island NY.

Fabulous, once on the main roads, you made the full length of the island on green.

 

[kendor]

I know for a fact there is one road in london where this is the case, it (the phenomanon) is called the green wave but as for else where i dont think so.

Traffic lights do have an induction loop in the road so at night say a main rd (thats main road, nit major junction) all lights along will turn greeen, but should anything from a side rd approach they will change, but just for the hell of it , one will change any way.
also at major junctions the lights will all go red, and which ever direction a car comes from the lights will change in your favour

in general though its just pot luck.

The induction loops you speak of were laid for emergency vehicles that contain a transmitter coil underneath the vehicles so that when their blue lights are flashing(it is switchable) and they approach a red light they can send it to green in their favour and red to crossing traffic at major junctions. In the 70's Securicor were given the contract to design and build the system.

 

[breezer]

The induction loops you speak of were laid for emergency vehicles that contain a transmitter coil underneath the vehicles so that when their blue lights are flashing(it is switchable) and they approach a red light they can send it to green in their favour and red to crossing traffic at major junctions. In the 70's Securicor were given the contract to design and build the system.

that may be waht it was designed for but that is not what it is used for, it is there to detect any vehicles, see here for info on induction loops

 

[kendor]

that may be waht it was designed for but that is not what it is used for, it is there to detect any vehicles, see here for info on induction loops

The article you quote is for carpark exits, the system designed by Securicor Only works for vehicles equipped with the transmitters and utilises the loops laid in front of traffic lights at major junctions, imagine the chaos if any vehicle could change the lights willy-nilly.

 

[breezer]

that may be waht it was designed for but that is not what it is used for, it is there to detect any vehicles, see here for info on induction loops

The article you quote is for carpark exits, the system designed by Securicor Only works for vehicles equipped with the transmitters and utilises the loops laid in front of traffic lights at major junctions, imagine the chaos if any vehicle could change the lights willy-nilly.

you obviously didnt read mine too well, it did say for info on induction loops

oh and the securicor idea was scrapped, because it was too dangerous, but the induction loops remained as a way of telling what the traffic is doing.

 

[kendor]

Breezer you are confusing the two systems, induction loops are used for both systems but the utilization in your article is purely sensing a mass of metal passing over the loop(if this was used for the traffic light system all vehicles would operate the lights) whereas the system which IS STILL used today communicates using coded transmitter and receiver to operate the lights(you can see where the cables have been laid a few yards before the lights in a criss-cross pattern) , just watch the lights next time you are at a junction and an emergency vehicle on call approaches. As a matter of interest many years ago i saw one of the transmitter PCB's before it was set in resin would have been great if given the time i had been able to duplicate the circuit what a great way to get through the traffic jams!

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Must search for traffic light transponders on E bay!!!

Riding the wave??

Surfin' the big green wave...?

I'm sure that on a stretch of road near me that there is some logic behind the lights, as when sticking to 30 (the legal limit) I rarely have to stop.

But it could be my over active imagination

 

[AdamW]

The A308 from Sunbury Cross towards Staines appears to be sequenced so if you drive at the speed limit (50mph) the lights stay green. It is quite unnerving because you are approaching a green light at 50 thinking "It has to turn to red. It must!" but it stays on green.

Red Ken had the traffic lights resequenced in London so they would restrict traffic flow... Perhaps he should pay a congestion charge!

I know of a set of traffic lights that is definitely controlled by sensors. If you don't pull up to the line then they stay on red. I sat there for several minutes one night until I crept forward a few feet. Then they changed. I have seen other people get caught out by them, and you can't really beep someone for sitting at traffic lights on a red light!

 

[breezer]

Breezer you are confusing the two systems,

fraid not, as you yourself said induction loops are used for both systems

I quite often watch police and fire engines drive on the wrong side of the road because it is clear (the road) the lights are red, which if what you said were true, would not be the case.

i would agreee the sytem you mention was used, and probably in your town , may still exist, but the majority of places it was scrapped / never installed.

I also know some fire stations have a couple of buttons, they press one depending on which way they will go, it turns the lights green, but it is not reliable due to weight of traffic as engine approaches (it stays green for a set time, which is sometimes too short)

 

[kendor]

Breezer you are confusing the two systems,

fraid not, as you yourself said induction loops are used for both systems

I quite often watch police and fire engines drive on the wrong side of the road because it is clear (the road) the lights are red, which if what you said were true, would not be the case.

i would agreee the sytem you mention was used, and probably in your town , may still exist, but the majority of places it was scrapped / never installed.

I also know some fire stations have a couple of buttons, they press one depending on which way they will go, it turns the lights green, but it is not reliable due to weight of traffic as engine approaches (it stays green for a set time, which is sometimes too short)

Yes thats what i said but you are not taking it in the context i said!!
It is the way that the two DIFFERENT systems work using the loops and you are trying to use the info on a system designed purely for entry exit barriers for the application which is used today on our roads.
The argument you use about fire engines using the other side of the road..... , a lot of the time they can't get close enough to the cables in the road to activate the system and therefore cross over to the other side to avoid traffic, also i stated that the system is switchable and it is up to them whether they use it or not.

 

[TexMex]

Red Ken had the traffic lights resequenced in London so they would restrict traffic flow... Perhaps he should pay a congestion charge!

Yes, what he did was to change them a few months before the introduction of the congestion charge, to deliberately cause more congestion. Then on the day that the charge was introduced, they were all changed back. Thus misleading the public over how effective the scheme had been.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Red Ken had the traffic lights resequenced in London so they would restrict traffic flow... Perhaps he should pay a congestion charge!

Yes, what he did was to change them a few months before the introduction of the congestion charge, to deliberately cause more congestion. Then on the day that the charge was introduced, they were all changed back. Thus misleading the public over how effective the scheme had been.

You can't figure that out, you are a voter - You are meant to be stupid!!!!

 

[kendor]

Do we really need Traffic lights? we could go back to the gentlemanly days of yore and rely on each others good manners to let the other chap go first now that would be fun!