In article ,
(Martin Underwood) wrote:

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

And it felt wrong not having a
red-and-amber "get ready to go, put the car in gear/drive, take the
handbrake off" phase to traffic lights, but I gather a lot of Europe
is like that.

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any
other European countries, we were only on the motorways in Belgium
last holidays, and I don't think I noticed what the situation was in
Switzerland.

I think Germany has no red-and-amber phase - I think I remember
noticing.

I think our red and amber is unique. The only other country with a variant
that I recall is Italy with green and amber.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 18:29:05 +0100, Mrs Redboots
wrote:

Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

And it felt wrong not having a
red-and-amber "get ready to go, put the car in gear/drive, take the
handbrake off" phase to traffic lights, but I gather a lot of Europe is like
that.

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any other
European countries,

Quick answer to two threads (since I am resident in Spain).

In Spain, the registration number stays with the car throughout its
life. Since 2000, when the system changed, there is no way of
telling where a car was first registered. This was a deliberate
decision by the Spanish authorities. Before that, the first letter
(or two) denoted the province of registration. You can tell its
rough age from its registration, as they are issued consecutively,
but there's no easy direct correlation.

There's no red/amber at Spanish traffic lights; however we have a
great many flashing amber signals - proceed but give way.

And to get slightly back on topic, give me the Valencia metro over
the London Underground any day!




--
Bill Hayles

http://billnot.com

Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

I had written:

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any other
European countries, we were only on the motorways in Belgium last
holidays, and I don't think I noticed what the situation was in
Switzerland.

I think Germany has no red-and-amber phase - I think I remember noticing.

I didn't think Germany did, but last holidays we were driving in both,
and my husband commented, when we got into Germany, that they followed a
similar system to us. So perhaps they've changed - or else, perhaps
they have red, followed by separate amber, followed by green? I was too
busy navigating to notice!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 May 2005

"Bill Hayles" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 18:29:05 +0100, Mrs Redboots
wrote:

Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

And it felt wrong not having a
red-and-amber "get ready to go, put the car in gear/drive, take the
handbrake off" phase to traffic lights, but I gather a lot of Europe is
like
that.

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any other
European countries,

Quick answer to two threads (since I am resident in Spain).

There's no red/amber at Spanish traffic lights; however we have a
great many flashing amber signals - proceed but give way.

I've often wondered whether we should adopt flashing amber more widely in
the UK: eg overnight at junctions which are very busy in the rush hour (and
so need conventional red or green aspects at those times) but which at night
have so little traffic that a red light (if the lights happen to be left for
traffic at right angles) can delay you. Give everyone flashing amber at
night and adopt "roundabout rules" (priority to traffic coming from the
right), perhaps? Over here, the only place where flashing amber tends to be
used is at pedestrian lights, as a longer-than-normal transition between red
and green.

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

I had written:

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any other
European countries, we were only on the motorways in Belgium last
holidays, and I don't think I noticed what the situation was in
Switzerland.

I think Germany has no red-and-amber phase - I think I remember noticing.

I didn't think Germany did, but last holidays we were driving in both,
and my husband commented, when we got into Germany, that they followed a
similar system to us. So perhaps they've changed - or else, perhaps
they have red, followed by separate amber, followed by green? I was too
busy navigating to notice!

I'm pretty sure that there wasn't a red-and-amber when I went on holiday to
Austria with my parents in the early 80s and we drove through Germany from
Munich to Innsbruck: I remember commenting on it. Can't remember how it was
when I went to Hannover more recently.

I bet the only downside of not driving is that you get called upon to do all
the navigating - like non-drinkers get imposed upon to do all the driving
after parties etc!

In message ,
Colin Rosenstiel writes
I think our red and amber is unique. The only other country with a
variant that I recall is Italy with green and amber.
I didn't notice that, but I do remember that the lights in Naples were
only for advice or decoration.
--
Clive

In message ,
Martin Underwood writes
France certainly is; Germany is more like us.
Although I've not seen it anywhere else, I very much liked the pigs ears
on traffic lights (Little repeaters at eye height), that the French have
on all there lights.
--
Clive

In message , Mrs Redboots
writes
What threw us totally was that these limits were *obeyed*....
presumably why they can be higher than ours!
I'd noticed that and asked another driver why. Apparently breaking the
speed limit carries very draconian measures. A different issue but one
I found annoying was when driving an American auto box, slowly
accelerating was good but to attempt to overtake the response is to put
your foot down, each time I did I found I was without drive for about
two seconds whilst the box kicked down.
--
Clive

In message , Martin
Underwood writes
I didn't realise that some countries mandated dipped headlights at all
times. I know that some Scandinavian countries mandate side/tail
lights.
I noticed as we crossed from Germany to Denmark that the speed limit
went down and all drivers had dipped beam.
--
Clive

Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sun, 26 Jun 2005:

I bet the only downside of not driving is that you get called upon to do all
the navigating - like non-drinkers get imposed upon to do all the driving
after parties etc!

Indeed, and my husband, like several others of my acquaintance, doesn't
follow directions well. Or slow down so you can read road signs.... and
expects you to know, by instinct, which way to turn! Then, when you
tell him, he says "Oh, I can't turn here, I'm in the wrong lane", and
goes merrily on in the wrong direction. Or takes the wrong exit from a
roundabout when you say "Not that one"......

Someone suggested GPS, but our rather out-of-date system doesn't help
all that much! It is, however, very useful when you have gone badly
wrong!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 May 2005