mickyblue:
As I get near lights I would slow down because with me there always bloody changing when I get near them.
Do you get flashed for going through a yellow? I’ve had that a few times when I felt it was unsafe to slam the brakes on
got done for that last month , coming up to lights at strathclyde park at 1-45am not going to hard got cab through lights as they went to amber and traffic cops to my right waiting to go on green , upshot is got 3 points and £60 quid , tried to explain to them that i was heavy and other truck up my nat king cole so wasnt wanting to cause any sort of drama , cop said he would have let me off but cause i was carrying haz-chems he would have to do me …im now over cautious at all sets of lights now
You could have disputed the ticket if you definently went through on amber.
was gonna do that but got some advice and decided against it as guy in the know said fiscal may take the charge up to dangerous driving ?..and cld get me banned …but i must say say that doing the legal 40mph causes more bother than ever, you get the frustrated drivers behind doing some dodgey overtaking to get passed.
mickyblue:
As I get near lights I would slow down because with me there always bloody changing when I get near them.
Do you get flashed for going through a yellow? I’ve had that a few times when I felt it was unsafe to slam the brakes on
got done for that last month , coming up to lights at strathclyde park at 1-45am not going to hard got cab through lights as they went to amber and traffic cops to my right waiting to go on green , upshot is got 3 points and £60 quid , tried to explain to them that i was heavy and other truck up my nat king cole so wasnt wanting to cause any sort of drama , cop said he would have let me off but cause i was carrying haz-chems he would have to do me …im now over cautious at all sets of lights now
You could have disputed the ticket if you definently went through on amber.
was gonna do that but got some advice and decided against it as guy in the know said fiscal may take the charge up to dangerous driving ?..and cld get me banned …but i must say say that doing the legal 40mph causes more bother than ever, you get the frustrated drivers behind doing some dodgey overtaking to get passed.
Amber means stop just the same as red.The only way you’ll defend a charge of crossing on amber is if you can prove that it would have been too dangerous to stop on amber.It’s a case of guilty until proven innocent.What’s needed is a flashing green light before the amber to let drivers know when the light has gone stale to the point of being about to change or a flashing amber before the amber light.
As it is now it’s a case of needing to have telepathic powers in knowing when the green light’s time has run out before it actually changes.
I had that problem once over there and when explained pretty much got away with it. In Canada and a few places in the states we have flashing amber lights set before before the junction to warn us that the lights are going to change if its in a high speed area that way you got time and warning they are going to change, in slower areas just take your time
Went to Bulgaria a couple of years back and in the towns they a real neat traffic light set up.
On the pole they had a countdown meter, digital, figures about 6" high so easily seen and when it was red it would countdown the seconds until it changed and away you went.
Same for green, so as you approached you could see if you were gonna make it or not.
How to get rid of traffic light stress especially when sat at a red light.
Have any of you chaps seen anything similar anywhere?
Euro:
in order to avoid getting a ticket,
you should stop at green lights
wait for them to turn amber
wait for them to turn red
wait for them to turn amber
wait for them to turn green and go
Euro:
in order to avoid getting a ticket,
you should stop at green lights
wait for them to turn amber
wait for them to turn red
wait for them to turn amber
wait for them to turn green and go
Really??
Are you for real or taking the ■■■■??
Taff, the only Red Light Paranoia that you suffer from, is not finding the right area of a new town you visit
Socketset:
Went to Bulgaria a couple of years back and in the towns they a real neat traffic light set up.
On the pole they had a countdown meter, digital, figures about 6" high so easily seen and when it was red it would countdown the seconds until it changed and away you went.
Same for green, so as you approached you could see if you were gonna make it or not.
How to get rid of traffic light stress especially when sat at a red light.
Have any of you chaps seen anything similar anywhere?
Yes- L’Vov (L’Viv) ? I can’t remember if any other towns in Ukraine had it,but I thought that it was such a good idea,and have been looking for it elsewhere ever since,without success.Another good one was the Groente Gulf system in some parts of NL where,if you passed through a green light,and kept under the speed limit-you got green all the way through several sets.
Socketset:
Went to Bulgaria a couple of years back and in the towns they a real neat traffic light set up.
On the pole they had a countdown meter, digital, figures about 6" high so easily seen and when it was red it would countdown the seconds until it changed and away you went.
Same for green, so as you approached you could see if you were gonna make it or not.
How to get rid of traffic light stress especially when sat at a red light.
Have any of you chaps seen anything similar anywhere?
Yes- L’Vov (L’Viv) ? I can’t remember if any other towns in Ukraine had it,but I thought that it was such a good idea,and have been looking for it elsewhere ever since,without success.Another good one was the Groente Gulf system in some parts of NL where,if you passed through a green light,and kept under the speed limit-you got green all the way through several sets.
Juddian:
You’re right to be paranoid, my particular bug bear is box junctions in heavy traffic.
You’re cruising through at a sensible crawl in time with the other traffic, you have plenty of space over the other side of the crossing to land in, suddenly as you are starting to cross (committed) the bloody lights turn red and next thing two cocky bleeders have overtaken you on the lights then cut in front cos their lane is rammed solid and you’re there with half your trailer still out on the box junction.
‘Flash’-‘Kerching’, the picture won’t show those two herberts forcing in but it’ll get you, it got my lad exactly like that.
Normal lights you just have to use your noddle and be ready to stop every time.
This is my pet hate too, with the cars that zoom round you and take your space.
Touching wooden head for luck, since so far I’ve been lucky.
If I spot a box junction camera early enough I try, if possible, to block as many lanes as possible and then just sit there until I can see a gap big enough to clear the box. So far my record is three red light change cycles. A23 Brixton southbound, Stockwell rd junction is one of my bugbears, but there are plenty more. I can’t really see what else you can do to protect yourself. It depends whether it is a continuous video recording, stop motion or snapshot that you are up against. The only other thing is to fight it, but you have to remember the incident to be able to do this.
From what I read a lot seem to have forgotten what they should have been taught on test about approaching green traffic lights.
Best policy is to ease off and anticipate them turning to red and obviously allow more distance when roads are wet.
No point in giving silly excuses like I am heavy or got a vehicle up my rear.As professional drivers we should be able to deal with these situations.It is not rocket science!
albion1971:
From what I read a lot seem to have forgotten what they should have been taught on test about approaching green traffic lights.
Best policy is to ease off and anticipate them turning to red and obviously allow more distance when roads are wet.
No point in giving silly excuses like I am heavy or got a vehicle up my rear.As professional drivers we should be able to deal with these situations.It is not rocket science!
Firstly,as I’ve said,anticipation of the time remaining on a stale green light would take telepathic powers.The fact is in the real world approaching a green light is a case of an educated guess and luck in regards to it’s timing.While with something the length of a truck in many cases you’ll cross the line on green with the unit or prime mover and it’ll be red before the trailer has cleared the line especially in cases where the idiots put an independently timed pedestrian crossing light just after the junction lights in which case you need to slow down going through the junction.
If you’re right then there’d be no point in using those brilliant ideas of green light timer counters or even a flashing amber before the amber in those countries where they’re bright enough to use them.No surprise that the moronic stupid zb British road planners prefer the idea of traffic light cameras or coppers nicking people for going over an amber or a red light,and putting independently timed pedestrian lights immediately after junction lights,than invest in the technology to help prevent the problem instead.
Sir +:
Another good one was the Groente Gulf system in some parts of NL where,if you passed through a green light,and kept under the speed limit-you got green all the way through several sets[/b].
Bath Road in Slough used to have the same set up (not sure if the lights are still timed the same way) several sets over about a mile, if you did 30 you would just swan through every set, over or under & you caught a red every time.
I used to be a courier back in the early 80s & tried it at 60. it worked, every set was green. Then just once I tested my theory
30-60-------90 Yep, blasted through the whole lot whilst they were still on green. (this was before speed cameras !)
Always fancied trying it at 120 but never had a bike back then that would do it
albion1971:
From what I read a lot seem to have forgotten what they should have been taught on test about approaching green traffic lights.
Best policy is to ease off and anticipate them turning to red and obviously allow more distance when roads are wet.
No point in giving silly excuses like I am heavy or got a vehicle up my rear.As professional drivers we should be able to deal with these situations.It is not rocket science!
Firstly,as I’ve said,anticipation of the time remaining on a stale green light would take telepathic powers.The fact is in the real world approaching a green light is a case of an educated guess and luck in regards to it’s timing.While with something the length of a truck in many cases you’ll cross the line on green with the unit or prime mover and it’ll be red before the trailer has cleared the line especially in cases where the idiots put an independently timed pedestrian crossing light just after the junction lights in which case you need to slow down going through the junction.
If you’re right then there’d be no point in using those brilliant ideas of green light timer counters or even a flashing amber before the amber in those countries where they’re bright enough to use them.No surprise that the moronic stupid zb British road planners prefer the idea of traffic light cameras or coppers nicking people for going over an amber or a red light,and putting independently timed pedestrian lights immediately after junction lights,than invest in the technology to help prevent the problem instead.
Dear me Carryfast and I thought you had half an idea about how to drive.Firstly I thought every green light should be treated the same.In other words anticipate that it will change at any time therefore no matter what the situation you slow down so if it changes you can safely stop behind the white line.There is no guess work or luck involved.Simple basic rules really.
Secondly regarding your comment about the unit going through a green light but the lights changing before the trailer has cleared.
I really cannot believe you have come out with that! Do you really not know what to do in that type of situation?
From what i can remember from my cobweb infested brain i am sure it has to take two pictures one to show you crossed the line and the other to show you did not stop so if you are in the same position on both pictures are a short distance from one to picture two you can work out how fast you were going and that you did or did not stop .
albion1971:
From what I read a lot seem to have forgotten what they should have been taught on test about approaching green traffic lights.
Best policy is to ease off and anticipate them turning to red and obviously allow more distance when roads are wet.
No point in giving silly excuses like I am heavy or got a vehicle up my rear.As professional drivers we should be able to deal with these situations.It is not rocket science!
Firstly,as I’ve said,anticipation of the time remaining on a stale green light would take telepathic powers.The fact is in the real world approaching a green light is a case of an educated guess and luck in regards to it’s timing.While with something the length of a truck in many cases you’ll cross the line on green with the unit or prime mover and it’ll be red before the trailer has cleared the line especially in cases where the idiots put an independently timed pedestrian crossing light just after the junction lights in which case you need to slow down going through the junction.
If you’re right then there’d be no point in using those brilliant ideas of green light timer counters or even a flashing amber before the amber in those countries where they’re bright enough to use them.No surprise that the moronic stupid zb British road planners prefer the idea of traffic light cameras or coppers nicking people for going over an amber or a red light,and putting independently timed pedestrian lights immediately after junction lights,than invest in the technology to help prevent the problem instead.
Dear me Carryfast and I thought you had half an idea about how to drive.Firstly I thought every green light should be treated the same.In other words anticipate that it will change at any time therefore no matter what the situation you slow down so if it changes you can safely stop behind the white line.There is no guess work or luck involved.Simple basic rules really.
Secondly regarding your comment about the unit going through a green light but the lights changing before the trailer has cleared.
I really cannot believe you have come out with that! Do you really not know what to do in that type of situation?
Blimey basic mathematics says that the closer you get to the green light before it changes the slower you’ll need to be going to be able to stop in time if it does.At which point,assuming it changes when you’re 20 feet away and you’re travelling at 20 mph,you’re zb’d especially if ther’s a copper around or a camera on the light.
Which is why,as I’ve said,some countries where they’re brighter than the Brits in regards to road planning,use green light timer counters or a flashing amber to avoid that situation.
As for knowing what to do if the light changes from green to red between the unit and trailer clearing the line I thought everyone knew that.Just stop with the wagon across the junction so long as there’s a repeater light that’s been put opposite the junction to let you know that it’s changed and to tell when you can start off again.
I agree the amber phase is not long enough, however, as has been said, you should of course expect any stale green light to change.
I think the countdown time displays are an excellent idea. They are used in Thailand. Here’s one in Bangkok. (I’ve driven round that mahoosive roundabout in the daytime when its about 10 x busier). [Victory Monument for those who know Bkk]
Outside the big cities they also use flashing amber in quiet periods (usually at night) as a give way.
