41 replies to this topic

[victorian fan]

Sep 17, 2009

VICTORIA CITY ENGINEERS ARE READY TO LAUNCH A WIDESPREAD FIX OF TRAFFIC LIGHT SEQUENCING.

TRAFFIC ENGINEER KEITH KRESSE SAYS THE LIGHTS WOULD BE REJIGGED AT 61 INTERSECTIONS...ALMOST HALF OF ALL THE TRAFFIC SIGNALS IN VICTORIA...

"These traffic signal timings actually are downtown-wide, so we're talking about 61 intersections, so we're talking about all the downtown core and all the intersections (from) Bay Street north (on) Douglas and Blanshard"

HE SAYS A NEW COMPUTER PROGRAM MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO CO-ORDINATE TIMING BETTER, RESULTING IN LESS "STOP-TIME" FOR DRIVERS...NOT SO MUCH THAT THE AVERAGE INDIVIDUAL WOULD EVEN NOTICE. BUT, IMPROVING OVERALL EFFICIENCY BY FIVE TO TEN PER CENT WILL SAVE AN ESTIMATED FIVE THOUSAND LITRES OF GASOLINE...EVERY WEEK-DAY...AND CUT VEHICLE EMISSIONS BY A CORRESPONDING AMOUNT.

COUNCIL'S ENVIRONMENT AND INFFASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE HAS VOTED TO GIVE THE DEPARTMENT A GREEN LIGHT TO PROCEED WITH THE PLAN...THE ACTUAL WORK WOULD BE DONE ON THE WEEK-END OF SEPTEMBER 26TH.

http://www.cfax1070....hp?newsId=10564

[VicHockeyFan]

They said it was a culmination of a 5-year project.

[jklymak]

It would be awesome if they didn't stop Yates and Fort every block so the N/S "traffic" could get through. I jay walk Yates and Quadra 95% of the time because there is no N/S traffic.

[sebberry]

Remove traffic lights, replace with traffic circles. Cars wouldn't have to stop and its the getting moving again that burns the most fuel. Plus traffic would simply flow much smoother.

[gumgum]

There would be no room for traffic circles d/t/. You would have to demolish buildings.

[VicHockeyFan]

Remove traffic lights, replace with traffic circles. Cars wouldn't have to stop and its the getting moving again that burns the most fuel. Plus traffic would simply flow much smoother.

That sounds more like chaos. Good luck buses getting around traffic circles at Yates and Douglas.

KAOS:



K-OS:



Chaos:

[sebberry]

There would be no room for traffic circles d/t/. You would have to demolish buildings.

I never said it would be easy

[VicDuck]

I hate traffic circles.

[sebberry]

I hate traffic circles.

Typical North American driver, the kind who would rather sit in a stationary car than drive one around a bend.

[Caramia]

lol and around and around...

[VicHockeyFan]

Buses to get more green-light time

By Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist
September 18, 2009 2:10 AM

Victoria buses running behind schedule will soon be able to trigger up to eight extra seconds of green light at downtown Victoria intersections.

No, the bus driver will not have a magic button and you can't have one either.

[...]

bcleverley@tc.canwest.com

http://www.timescolo...7034/story.html

[yodsaker]

We'll really get somewhere when they make a program to wake up the mouth-breathers who sit mesmerized by a flashing left turn arrow.

[VicHockeyFan]

We'll really get somewhere when they make a program to wake up the mouth-breathers who sit mesmerized by a flashing left turn arrow.

How about all the left-turning people who now fail to even enter an intersection once the left turn flashing arrow has stopped.

[Phil McAvity]

^I haven't seen that a lot actually, other than doing it myself of course. I ****ed that part up when I took my test to be a cab driver many years ago.

Speaking of which, why do advance greens eventually go red rather than just turn into a regular green light? That is so ****ing retarded that I often just look around for cops and then drive right through the red light.

[B.Bridge]

You're having us on, right?

[sebberry]

How about all the left-turning people who now fail to even enter an intersection once the left turn flashing arrow has stopped.

I will only go as far as to stop on the crosswalk while I wait to turn. The middle of an intersection is no place to sit idle. If cars to my left have stopped in both lanes I will usually creep further forward allowing someone to enter behind me. I don't care that my car's b-pillar has 8 layers of boron steel protecting my head, I don't want to be hit by someone blowing the red light. I get pissed off enough at small door dings.

[sebberry]

^I haven't seen that a lot actually, other than doing it myself of course. I ****ed that part up when I took my test to be a cab driver many years ago.

Speaking of which, why do advance greens eventually go red rather than just turn into a regular green light? That is so ****ing retarded that I often just look around for cops and then drive right through the red light.

"Advance greens" don't go red, dedicated left turn lanes do. Oncoming drivers have no idea what color the light is in an oncoming left turn lane. It is red for a reason.

[Phil McAvity]

^You obviously didn't understand what I wrote.

Some intersections have an advance turn and after it goes amber, it turns into a regular green light while other intersections have a red light after the advance green (and then amber) expires. My point was, that when the light is green, often the advance light is red which unnecessarily stops drivers that could be going if there's no oncoming traffic.

The only time a turn lane should be red is when traffic is crossing the intersection.

[sebberry]

^You obviously didn't understand what I wrote.

Some intersections have an advance turn and after it goes amber, it turns into a regular green light while other intersections have a red light after the advance green (and then amber) expires. My point was, that when the light is green, often the advance light is red which unnecessarily stops drivers that could be going if there's no oncoming traffic.

The only time a turn lane should be red is when traffic is crossing the intersection.

The only time that an advance green would go red is if it is a dedicated turn lane. If it is a combination turn/thru lane, there is no red after the advance green.

If you allowed people to turn left on a red from a dedicated turn lane, you'd have people turning while the thru lanes was also red, meaning they'd be turning when crossing traffic had green.

[VicHockeyFan]

^You obviously didn't understand what I wrote.

Some intersections have an advance turn and after it goes amber, it turns into a regular green light while other intersections have a red light after the advance green (and then amber) expires. My point was, that when the light is green, often the advance light is red which unnecessarily stops drivers that could be going if there's no oncoming traffic.

The only time a turn lane should be red is when traffic is crossing the intersection.

Don't worry, I get what you mean. Sometimes the dedicated turn lane has an advance green that turns red, sometimes it just goes off (ie. you can still turn when safe). I think they use the red-turning advance when it's an intersection where they deem it too unsafe for you to try too judge for yourself, like when A) you are crossing many lanes (3 lanes of Blanshard), and B) when you are crossing a lane coming at you at high speed (highway)