Stop Lights with a Progress bar!

[wagonman76]

I was hoping to see a progress bar on the green/yellow rather than the red. The yellows are so short around here that a routine light becomes a panic stop to avoid running the red.

Around here where it is either dark or overcast most of the time, I can usually see the green turn to yellow in the cross direction, then I have an idea when my side will be green.

I know of only one roundabout which is in Gaylord, I believe the high school is there. When I go through there is hardly anybody there. It would seem very tough to use when it is busy like after a game. It's getting more and more commonplace around here for people to not signal and blow through stop signs like they don't exist. The only way to use it would be to pull out in front of someone.

[Jethro]

I passionately hate round-abouts. I think it's because 1 one they installed in Los Alamos is just to confusing for these over educated PhD's up here. It's called Left-of-way. If someone is to your left at the circle, they go first...

4 cars can enter a traffic circle at the same time
Multiple cars can occupy the circle at the same time
You don't have to go 2 mph around the circle!

Ugh! I've had to smack my brakes good before because some jackass decided to yield to the right, thusly stopping the traffic flow and causing mass confusion.

I typically try to spy on the Crosswalk hand. The blinking hand means ya got a while, a solid hand (in Los Alamos, at out 8 stoplights) means it's going to change soon. Never fails in this wee'lil town.

[Piwoslaw]

[Funny]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Looks good! Can you get that to my little town in Massachusetts, and make sure that the cops keep an eye on it? I know someone will try and blow through it no matter what is done.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Funny

Looks good! Can you get that to my little town in Massachusetts, and make sure that the cops keep an eye on it? I know someone will try and blow through it no matter what is done.

Short Yellow Lights Mean More Tickets, Money For Cities

My comment to the people complaining on another forum about this - You don't like shorter yellow lights, you have two choices:

Speed up and get into an accident - Darwin wins.
Learn to drive correctly, and YIELD when you see the yellow light, which would entail SLOWING DOWN, not trying to "get through it before it goes red!".

Take your pick.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by Christ

Short Yellow Lights Mean More Tickets, Money For Cities

My comment to the people complaining on another forum about this - You don't like shorter yellow lights, you have two choices:

Speed up and get into an accident - Darwin wins.
Learn to drive correctly, and YIELD when you see the yellow light, which would entail SLOWING DOWN, not trying to "get through it before it goes red!".

Take your pick.

Not all vehicles in all conditions are capable of safely stopping within the limits of a short yellow. There's no harm (except to revenue) in having a long (4+ second) yellow.

[Christ]

Sure there is. The longer the yellow light, the more time people have to decide whether or not to run through it.

4 seconds at 30 MPH (44FPS) is 44*4 = 176 feet. That's enough for an F150 to stop from 55.

Sure, in inclement weather, it's harder to stop, but you shouldn't be driving as fast, either. The fact is, the law says that when the light turns yellow, your best bet is to slow down and stop. If you can't stop before the light turns red, you'll be in the "safe zone" anyway by the time it does.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by Christ

Sure there is. The longer the yellow light, the more time people have to decide whether or not to run through it.

4 seconds at 30 MPH (44FPS) is 44*4 = 176 feet. That's enough for an F150 to stop from 55.

Sure, in inclement weather, it's harder to stop, but you shouldn't be driving as fast, either. The fact is, the law says that when the light turns yellow, your best bet is to slow down and stop. If you can't stop before the light turns red, you'll be in the "safe zone" anyway by the time it does.

That's enough for a brand new unloaded F150 to stop from 55 using maximum braking, under ideal test track conditions, with an expert driver at the wheel and no reaction time required.

The law also defines the minimum yellow times for lights based on speed limits, among other factors. However, it can be overrode by greedy jurisdictions who are tired of driving last year's model of Interceptor.

The fact is that there's a red light camera at a 50 mph intersection on my commute with a yellow time of only 3 seconds. I have to downshift and slow down below the speed limit ahead of the light so I can make that brake or floor-it decision twice a day. If cars have to slow while approaching every green light to avoid getting caught out, then the yellow light is too damn short.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Clev

That's enough for a brand new unloaded F150 to stop from 55 using maximum braking, under ideal test track conditions, with an expert driver at the wheel and no reaction time required.

The law also defines the minimum yellow times for lights based on speed limits, among other factors. However, it can be overrode by greedy jurisdictions who are tired of driving last year's model of Interceptor.

The fact is that there's a red light camera at a 50 mph intersection on my commute with a yellow time of only 3 seconds. I have to downshift and slow down below the speed limit ahead of the light so I can make that brake or floor-it decision twice a day. If cars have to slow while approaching every green light to avoid getting caught out, then the yellow light is too damn short.

For some reason, I imagine you're the only driver that does this. If that's true, your statement is self-defeating, because it relies on other drivers having to do the same thing as you're doing, which they most likely do not.

The fact is, that there is no decision to brake or floor it. Read the law. If a cop notices you attempting to beat a yellow light, you can be stopped and ticketed in many states. They don't want you to go through the yellow light.. there's a difficult concept, I see.

Yellow does not mean "make a choice" or "keep going - it's not red yet" it means "yield and prepare to stop".

I've got a variety of light timing on the many routes that I travel to get to different places... guess what's one ticket I've never had? Running a light. Why? I stop at yellow lights. If I can't stop at it, I keep going through it, and it's only because I was within 100 feet of the light when it turned yellow anyway.

Maybe I posted incorrectly... I should have posted the 30-0 time for the heaviest vehicle I could find under the worst possible non-inclement conditions... maybe that would get you to realize that 3 seconds is actually quite a long distance.

Oh - remember - those red light cameras aren't active until the other light turns green, at least as far as I know. That means you have the 3 second yellow light and another second or two of cross over time before the other side of the intersection turns, so you won't get a ticket.

[Christ]

By the way, at 50 MPH, 3 seconds @ 73.3 FPS is 220 feet. That means you'd be able to travel 220 feet in the time that the light stays yellow.

If you're within 220 feet, you're safe. If you're outside of 220 feet, you've got more than enough time to brake to a complete stop. They don't hire civil engineers to run numbers on traffic intersections for no reason, my friend.