Traffic structure that favors momentum
 

I read somewhere that in a European country (I'm thinking Germany...can't be sure) there is a traffic system in which signs indicate what speed drivers can maintain so that they don't have to fully stop.

^ I know I worded this poorly. Basically the signs post a certain speed, and if drivers maintain that speed or slower, the lights will turn in their favor. If they exceed it, they will only be forced to stop.

Does anyone know if there is a specific name for this technology? I assume the signs are dynamic, but I could be wrong. Should have bookmarked that page when I had it!

I don't know about this technology but I know in Ontario in the Vaughn region of you flash your high beams a few times as you are approaching an intersection the lights turn. has to do with ambulances approaching and
getting the green.

I still try it wherever I am. bad habit?

I recall a road in Johannesburg, South Africa where the traffic lights were synchronised so that if you did the speed limit of 60km/h you would get green light after green light.

Not sure they had a special name for it, but it was introduced in the early 1980's

Used to be they had signs that posted the speed that the lights were timed for. I think Shore Drive in Norfolk still has them, with the lights timed for 35 MPH. Pop's old stomping grounds before WW2.

regards
Mech

there is a highway in South Korea that sings Mary had a little lamb if you drive the speed limit.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt5IxDMN-I8

There are a number of streets around the US that have traffic lights that are timed for a given speed. The ones I have been on seem to be timed for a couple of MPH below the speed limit. But that isn't posted anywhere that I've seen, so you have to find those routes by experience.

-soD

If I remember correctly when I used to visit my grandparents in Cornwall, Ontario, there were signs on one city road indicating the best speed to make the lights. That was a long time ago though, so I have no idea if they're still there.

There is a similar system here in Melbourne to encourage drivers to maintain the momentum.

Too fast (ie OVER the limit) and you hit the red and way too slow and the same thing happens.

Getting it right you can traverse the city grid and not stop at all.

There is one theory it was developed by some one named "Goldilocks" but the city officials have refused to comment!

Peter.

That would have been the Grüne Welle (D) ;) or Green Wave , Groene Golf (NL)

We've had a few of them in Belgium, but they've fallen in disuse due to lack of maintenance etc.
They didn't always give a correct speed to catch the wave either.
Should be a lot easier with todays electronics and sensors.
In the north of Belgium, we're down to a measly 4 gov't employees synchronizing lights, while the administration puts up more traffic lights that these folks synchronize per year ... suffice to say, there's hardly any road at all where the lights are synchronized.