Is it time to get rid of traffic lights?

Chick

Well-Known Forumite

That raises a few good points. There are certainly some junctions in Stafford that would benefit from having the traffic lights turned off at night as you just end up stopped waiting for the green light when the road is completely clear. The Lammascote roundabout is a prime example

I'm also not sure why the turning into Tesco on the Newport road when travelling out of town is controlled by traffic lights. I think reverting it back to a give way would make the traffic flow a lot easier on that section of road, especially now the traffic turning into Tesco when heading into town is now controlled by a filter
 

United57

Well-Known Forumite
I often used the Nechells Lane in Wolverhampton to get to work. One morning there was no tailback of traffic. At first I thought it must be school holidays but no the traffic lights on the Willenhall Road junction were out.

Since then I have been an advocate of getting rid of some traffic lights.
 

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
If the authorities don't want to get rid of traffic lights then they at least need to modernise them and add filter arrows to certain junctions.
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
If the authorities don't want to get rid of traffic lights then they at least need to modernise them and add filter arrows to certain junctions.

No, not really. Traffic signals have been modernised immensely over the years - but all the technology is behind the scenes. You can't look at junctions in isolation. In any network, if you make a change at one junction it can affect others some distance away.
 

staff4ord

Well-Known Forumite
The problem is you can't trust motorists. There are far to many distractions in cars to rely on them looking out of the window and actually paying attention to whats going on. But there are to many lights which takes away the common sense abilities of a driver. Not sure what the answer is but islands always seem to work.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Not sure what the answer is but islands always seem to work.

There are examples of traffic lights being replaced by islands in Stafford - Lichfield Road/Silkmore Lane and Weeping Cross/Cannock Road are just two examples - there may be others. Some places have gone the other way - Corporation Street/Weston Road/ Riverway and Sandon Road/Corporation Street, for example.
 

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
No, not really. Traffic signals have been modernised immensely over the years - but all the technology is behind the scenes. You can't look at junctions in isolation. In any network, if you make a change at one junction it can affect others some distance away.

If there has been modernisation behind the scenes (and I have huge doubts about that) then I'd like to know what the council has done. They can't even fix the shades on the green light at the White Lion Street/Wolverhampton Road junction despite it being reported to them three years ago.
 

LeeA

Well-Known Forumite
I have always thought that traffic lights that work purely by timers should be switched off at night. Most of the time you come to a red when the other roads have nothing on them. Far better are the systems that actually detect vehicles. Another point is the way pedestrian crossings often hold up traffic for no reason other than poor use by pedestrians. You often see people walk up to a crossing, press the button and then look to see if the road is safe to cross!! They then stoll across and the lights go to red some minutes later! Isnt it possible for crossings to detect pedestrians waiting now? That way the sequence could be stopped if they walk across.
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
Re: pedestrian crossings as per above.

I think you'll find that traffic is more likely to 'hold up' pedestrians trying to cross than 'poor use by pedestrians' holds up traffic. How often do you see "people walk up to a crossing, press the button and then look to see if the road is safe to cross exclamation mark exclamation mark"?

Not as often as you'll see pedestrians 'press the button', wait an age - by which time there is a gap in the 'traffic' anyway - and cross, 'holding up' the motorist to the overall sum of feck all i'd be willing to wager.

P.S. will that particular 'feck' be rendered as 'love'? - only 'Post Reply' will tell...
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Not as often as you'll see pedestrians 'press the button', wait an age - by which time there is a gap in the 'traffic' anyway - and cross, 'holding up' the motorist to the overall sum of feck all i'd be willing to wager.
Any fair-minded pedestrian would be prepared to forego his 'gap in the traffic' and wait for his 'official gap in the traffic' to eventually arrive, surely. Especially when it's raining.?

Perhaps there could be a 'Cancel' Button, too?

I understand that the Sainsbury's crossing may be intended to monitor when it is actually in use by pedestrians and thus adjust the 'green man' time accordingly - this is possibly nonsense, though.

It's just a form of gambling.
 

AA Silencers

Well-Known Forumite
I'll probably get shot down with this one, but is there anyone out there that feels the need for the traffic lights at junction 14 M6? I've never been held up there or seen traffic backing up on the slip roads. Visibility is good across the island so why have the traffic lights? It's a perfect example (in my eyes) of how traffic lights hold up the traffic flow with no discernible benefit to traffic flow down stream.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I'll probably get shot down with this one, but is there anyone out there that feels the need for the traffic lights at junction 14 M6? I've never been held up there or seen traffic backing up on the slip roads. Visibility is good across the island so why have the traffic lights? It's a perfect example (in my eyes) of how traffic lights hold up the traffic flow with no discernible benefit to traffic flow down stream.
There was a discussion about these lights back in pre-history..
 

Vault_girl

Well-Known Forumite
I think Stafford does have too many traffic lights. However whenever I think about how long I'm having to wait at lights I remember this:
long_light.png

So I think we do need to give the engineers who designed the traffic lights in Stafford *some* appreciation. I certainly couldn't do it myself.
 

Kickstart

Well-Known Forumite
I have always thought that traffic lights that work purely by timers should be switched off at night. Most of the time you come to a red when the other roads have nothing on them. Far better are the systems that actually detect vehicles.

Trouble with those is when they fail to detect a vehicle. Any bike rider will know that experience, at a quiet traffic light late at night you have the choice of waiting ages (easy 10 minutes +) or jumping the lights.

I understand that the Sainsbury's crossing may be intended to monitor when it is actually in use by pedestrians and thus adjust the 'green man' time accordingly - this is possibly nonsense, though.

Not sure, but what often seems to happen there is everyone has crossed, then someone sees the lights are still red for cars so starts to walk across.

I'll probably get shot down with this one, but is there anyone out there that feels the need for the traffic lights at junction 14 M6? I've never been held up there or seen traffic backing up on the slip roads. Visibility is good across the island so why have the traffic lights? It's a perfect example (in my eyes) of how traffic lights hold up the traffic flow with no discernible benefit to traffic flow down stream.

Where it does help is coming from Great Bridgeford, where there was a regular tail back. But a better designed roundabout would probably have fixed that.

The lights on the A51 at Weston seem to be fairly useless and badly timed.


All the best

Keith
 
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