Approaching traffic lights

Posted on
  • Here’s a bit of an off-the-wall idea that occurred to me whilst waiting at some lights recently. If I stop my car too close to the lights in front and to the left of me, the roof line at the top of my windscreen starts to block my sightline to them forcing me to move my eyes to the ones on the opposite side of the junction ( or to hunker down a bit to see them again ).

    I thought, what if the lights on the opposite side of the road (and to my right) were not available to me. I would then need to ensure that I stopped well before the lights on my side so that they wouldn’t get blocked by my roofline. I would then by default be leaving space next to the lights for cyclists or indeed way before any ASL.

    I can see this wouldn’t affect all vehicles the same way of course (e.g. trucks, soft-tops) but the act of removing of the opposite lights would send a message to all road users that the space immediately before the lights is for cyclists so don’t go too far into it or your won’t be able to see when the lights change.

    Clever people, is this a really dumb question or is it dumb enough to be clever?

  • ..or just paint a big box in the front of the big white line, then people would know not to stop there. Maybe. ;-)

  • People wouldn't do that though. They'd just drive to the junction and then take ages to react to the green light because they wouldn't notice it had changed.

  • What light do cyclists in the ASL look at?

  • What light do cyclists in the ASL look at?

    Eye height ones by the asl ? the more I think about this the better of an idea this seems

  • Can the car driver not see eye-height lights?

  • Can the car driver not see eye-height lights?

    roof

  • Can the car driver not see eye-height lights?

    No but then they'd have the normal height ones ( maybe a little lower which would be fine as they'd be positioned further back from the lights lowering the angle of elevation so they'd only be able to see it if they positioned correctly ergo they have to leave the asl free

  • Unfortunately this ends up being dumb.

    For the vast majority of the time, people will drive to whatever lines you give them. It is, effectively, the course of least resistance and saves them from thinking for themselves. It's why people observe non-mandatory bike lanes, timed bus lanes, chevroned areas and the like. Until they come up with a motivation to breach them then 99% of drivers won't intentionally drive them and will make a concerted effort to observe them.

    Removing the lights to the right wouldn't work because the need to see the lights to the left would come too late. Also, because as you state, this doesn't work for all vehicles and it's very much in human nature to copy other people's behaviour, even when it isn't in our own best interests. That sort of pattern of behaviour won't change until there is a direct perceived threat to safety. That pattern of behaviour will also extent to cyclists. drivers would then use cyclists as an indication of the lights changing thus choosing to draw level with them and setting off as soon as the cyclist is seen to move.

    Further to this, unless you specifically demarcate an area as being for cyclists, drivers won't get any message that the space is for them. You'd be far more likely to get drivers indulging in extraordinary in car gymnastics in order to see the lights from the line or using advice from passengers as to when the lights have changed.

    JamesSW makes a good point here that a little redesign could be used to subliminally change driver behaviour. However, there is a bit of a flaw in this in regards to the law. You are allowed to enter the ASL when the light is green and are legally obliged to remain there if the light then turns to red. We would benefit from a change in the law so that ASLs effectively become box junctions and drivers can only enter them once their exit from the junction is clear.

    I realise that this is a bit of a dickish long-winded take down of a simple suggestion. I hope I've explained it sufficiently that the OP doesn't feel discouraged from making other proposals. We've probably all come up with dumb ideas in the past but for the future improved safety of cycling we still need some really good ones.

  • roof

    Unless you pull up 0.5m from the head-height light, your going to be able to see it, just like a cyclist.

  • I'd be more interested in watching the gifs than reading the text on that thread.

  • Repeater lights are pretty uncommon in France and Germany - you stop at the line where you can see the lights, not halfway over the crossing like here. The embarrassment of getting beeped at because you haven't seen the lights change means it's not a mistake people make that often.

  • another green light for bikes only. It works if they're given enough time (unlike Bow)

  • Post a reply
    • Bold
    • Italics
    • Link
    • Image
    • List
    • Quote
    • code
    • Preview
About

Approaching traffic lights

Posted by Avatar for 2Phat4Rapha @2Phat4Rapha

Actions