"Freddy" wrote in message ...
"gs" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 28 May 2004 13:45:43 +0000 (UTC), Rajesh Kakad (BT)
wrote:

Would it not be easier to have the same rule as in the USA, where they
can
turn right on a red signal?

So we should be able to turn LEFT at a RED light.

Of course the pedestrians and other cars on the green, have priority.

This would save time, reduce pollution (whilst waiting) and get traffic
moving, instead of sitting idle.

What does London say ?


Whilst we at it can we have flashing Amber traffic lights meaning give way
on traffic lights that are not as important during late evening
and early morning?

Like they do in Italy

How many times have you sat at a red light and nothing has passed through
before the light has gone green again?

also switch off pelican crossings after say 00.30 as people
have a habit of pressing the button as the pass them not intending to
cross


If enough drivers just start turning left through red lights anyway the
police aren't going to take any notice and it will become normal.

Ok, you go first !!!! ;-)

"Richard J." wrote the following in:


mookie89 wrote:

Interestingly enough, in a fast growing northern suburb of
Indianapolis, traffic circles are becoming quite common in new road
construction. Drivers seem a little tentative, not understanding
proper traffic circle protocol, but hopefully this will ease out
and we Americans can take a lesson from our British ancestors and
keep the traffic flowing instead of sitting at a red light wasting
gasoline while absolutely no one is using the cross street.

When you think you have mastered roundabouts, have a look at my
favourite, the Magic Roundabout at Swindon:
http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

That's amazing! I think I might have to go to Swindon just to see that.

--
message by Robin May. Inimitable, but would you want to anyway?
"GIVE IN! IT'S TIME TO GO!" - The NHS offers a high standard of care.

Kitten in Big Brother: rebel without a cause (or brain).
Spelling lesson: then and than are different words.

In message , Robin May
writes
"Richard J." wrote the following in:


mookie89 wrote:

Interestingly enough, in a fast growing northern suburb of
Indianapolis, traffic circles are becoming quite common in new road
construction. Drivers seem a little tentative, not understanding
proper traffic circle protocol, but hopefully this will ease out
and we Americans can take a lesson from our British ancestors and
keep the traffic flowing instead of sitting at a red light wasting
gasoline while absolutely no one is using the cross street.

When you think you have mastered roundabouts, have a look at my
favourite, the Magic Roundabout at Swindon:
http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

That's amazing! I think I might have to go to Swindon just to see that.

I had the misfortune to *see* the one in Colchester recently....
--
Kat Me, Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.

Robin May typed


"Richard J." wrote the following in:


mookie89 wrote:

Interestingly enough, in a fast growing northern suburb of
Indianapolis, traffic circles are becoming quite common in new road
construction. Drivers seem a little tentative, not understanding
proper traffic circle protocol, but hopefully this will ease out
and we Americans can take a lesson from our British ancestors and
keep the traffic flowing instead of sitting at a red light wasting
gasoline while absolutely no one is using the cross street.

When you think you have mastered roundabouts, have a look at my
favourite, the Magic Roundabout at Swindon:
http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

That's amazing! I think I might have to go to Swindon just to see that.

I think there's a similar one in Hemel Hempstead....

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 17:51:28 +0100, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:



That's amazing! I think I might have to go to Swindon just to see that.

I think there's a similar one in Hemel Hempstead....

I've not seen the one in Swindon but looking at that photo I think the
one in Hemel is much bigger

Andrew P Smith schrieb:
In Eastern Germany, at certain sets of lights, a sign exists permitting
you to turn right when the light is at red if the road is clear of other
traffic. Seems to work OK - it's a hang over from the days of Communist
East Germany.

If i may comment on this, in eastern germany this was a well-established
practice from quite long ago. The sign is called "gruener Pfeil" (green
arrow) and attached beneath the red light. The sign is not illuminated.
It was taken over by the west after the reunion. Here in Hamburg, a lot
of junctions now have a green arrow.

The learning curve was pretty low. There have been newspaper articles
saying what it is and how to use it. Its dead easy once you try it out.
I think the learning curve was so low because you can just ignore it!

How to use it:
a) if you don't want to use it, just ignore it.
b) Stop at the position where you would normally stop
c) Edge forward slowly until you can see if your route is clear of cars
and pedestrians (there is no all-pedestrian phase on german traffic
lights. Its done like an earlier post about France said, with priority
for pedestrians.)
d) off you go.

I love it.

PS On crossing the road in different countries: (Exagerated)
I was in Poland a few days ago. I had to re-learn how to cross a road...
It seems to me that polish drivers drive like hell...
What i figured out was this:
a) Watch if road is clear, but assume a higher vehicle speed that at home
b) if road is clear, be sure and watch again. cross.
c) Some roads never get clear. Wait for a small gap in traffic and just
hop onto the street.
d) dont watch cars approaching as you will be scared to death
e) cross
f) turn back to watch cars that stopped for you.
Judging by how the Polish do it this seems to be the way of crossing a road.
A Zebra Strip in Poland is just an indication of "Here might be a spot
suitable to cross the road" where in germany it says "Here pedestrians
have priority", making my learning even harder...

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004, Kat wrote:

In message , Robin May
writes
"Richard J." wrote the following in:


mookie89 wrote:

traffic circles

When you think you have mastered roundabouts, have a look at my
favourite, the Magic Roundabout at Swindon:
http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

I love that it's now _officially_ called The Magic Roundabout!

That's amazing! I think I might have to go to Swindon just to see that.

I had the misfortune to *see* the one in Colchester recently....

Hey, at least you haven't had to *cycle* across it on a regular basis ...

Actually, it's not that bad - the way it's laid out is a lot better than
in Swindon; there, it's one big expanse of tarmac with lines printed on it
a rather bizarre way (reminds me of the Nazca lines - AND SO CLEARLY BUILT
BY EXTRATERRESTRIALS IZERNTIT), whereas in Colchester, it's more like N
roundabouts connected by very short roads, so to a large extent, your
normal road sense handles it.

And apparently, it's officially called an Olympic Roundabout.

tom

--
Basically, at any given time, most people in the world are wasting time.

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004, it was written:

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 15:21 +0100 (BST), (Peter Beale)
wrote:

One thing which struck me as very odd (apart from driving on the wrong
side of the road) was a number of quite major cross-roads where traffic
from all four directions is required to stop.

The four-way stop has a significant benefit compared to a roundabout, in
that it is completely fair. It does not allow one heavily trafficked
route to monopolise the junction at peak times.

Hey, what if British roundabouts changed direction on a periodic (or
perhaps random) basis? That would make them fair.

Actually, it wouldn't, would it? More fun, though!

tom

--
Basically, at any given time, most people in the world are wasting time.

Robin May wrote:

"Richard J." wrote the following in:


mookie89 wrote:

Interestingly enough, in a fast growing northern suburb of
Indianapolis, traffic circles are becoming quite common in new road
construction. Drivers seem a little tentative, not understanding
proper traffic circle protocol, but hopefully this will ease out
and we Americans can take a lesson from our British ancestors and
keep the traffic flowing instead of sitting at a red light wasting
gasoline while absolutely no one is using the cross street.

When you think you have mastered roundabouts, have a look at my
favourite, the Magic Roundabout at Swindon:
http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

That's amazing! I think I might have to go to Swindon just to see that.

When I was in Swindon a couple of years ago for a football game at the
County Ground, I made the mistake of trying to cross the MR from the
Burger King on the far side. That was a nightmare...

--
James Farrar |
London, SE13 |

"Gunnar Thöle" wrote in message
...

A Zebra Strip in Poland is just an indication of "Here might be a spot
suitable to cross the road" where in germany it says "Here pedestrians
have priority", making my learning even harder...

No, in Poland the Zebra strip is regarded as a good place to make
pedestrians jump out of the way. A friend of mine used to describe them as
"Target Strips".
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/