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#71
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Interesting Article On How Cars Took Over the Road
wrote in message news
Unfortunately it would seem most of the crossings in this country have no pedestrian or traffic detection systems built in or are just poorly programmed. There's one in my high street that seems to have been programmed to stay green to traffic when the road is clear but as soon as a car comes along to switch to red and let the pedestrians cross. But as you say, by this time the person who pressed the button has already crossed. There is a very long bridge across the Thames near where I used to live. It's only wide enough for one lorry (though two cars can just about pass in opposite directions) so it has single-alternate-line working, controlled by traffic lights which have sensors. Late at night, when there's very little traffic, the lights tend to stay permanently on green in the direction that the last car passed. However if a car approaches from the green direction, the lights always turn red for a few seconds as you approach and then back to green as soon as you've stopped at the line - it is guaranteed that traffic from either direction will *always* have to stop. I'm not sure what the logic is for that perverse programming. That bridge (at any time of day) is one of the worst for cyclists ignoring the lights: very often when I was crossing on green I'd meet a cyclist coming towards me (*). And it's not that the lights don't allow enough time for cyclists to get across: I once cycled through just as the lights turned red, and when I got to the other side, their lights were still red, so there is evidently a long period when both directions are red to allow for slow vehicles like cyclists and tractors. (*) Bizarrely, a lot of them then tried to pass me on my *left*. Instinctively if you meet a vehicle coming towards you when you aren't expecting it, you move to your nearside (left) to give them room to pass, and it's unnerving if the oncoming vehicle moves in the same direction... |
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#72
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Interesting Article On How Cars Took Over the Road
On Wed, 12 Sep 2018 10:03:03 +0100
"NY" wrote: wrote in message news Unfortunately it would seem most of the crossings in this country have no pedestrian or traffic detection systems built in or are just poorly programmed. There's one in my high street that seems to have been programmed to stay green to traffic when the road is clear but as soon as a car comes along to switch to red and let the pedestrians cross. But as you say, by this time the person who pressed the button has already crossed. There is a very long bridge across the Thames near where I used to live. It's only wide enough for one lorry (though two cars can just about pass in opposite directions) so it has single-alternate-line working, controlled by traffic lights which have sensors. Late at night, when there's very little traffic, the lights tend to stay permanently on green in the direction that the last car passed. However if a car approaches from the green direction, the lights always turn red for a few seconds as you approach and then back to green as soon as you've stopped at the line - it is guaranteed that traffic from either direction will *always* have to stop. I'm not sure what the logic is for that perverse programming. Possibly some kind of speed detection system so if you approach above 20mph (or whatever) they go red to slow you down? They use those systems in Spain quite a lot especially in small villages. There'll be an otherwise pointless traffic light that will turn red if you approach it too fast. In the end I started doing what the locals did and just ignored them. |
#74
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Interesting Article On How Cars Took Over the Road
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#75
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Interesting Article On How Cars Took Over the Road
On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 13:40:38 +0100
Bruce 'Not Glug' Lee wrote: wrote: There is another rule in france - unlike in the UK they're not oblidged to stop until the pedestrian is *ON* the crossing. This has not been the case since 2011, see article R415-11 of the Code de la Route: Clearly no one in France has read it, but then the French tend to take a relaxed approach to rules anyway. If you just stand at the side like a lemon you'll just have a stream of traffic going past you. All in all it makes crossing the road in a busy french city a rather unpleasent experience. When I still lived in Paris, I would regularly walk down the bd des Maréchaux from Porte de Vincennes to Porte Dorée. That boulevard has sevral passages without lights, and if you tried to cross, you were subjected to horns, abuse and occasionally threats. The only way to stop bullying is the use of force - or the credible threat of force. Hmm, not sure I'd want to put that to the test tbh. It might work 99% of the time but the 1% is when you'll end up getting carted off to Emergencie by SAMU. |
#76
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Interesting Article On How Cars Took Over the Road
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#77
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Interesting Article On How Cars Took Over the Road
On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 16:00:42 +0100
Bruce 'Not Glug' Lee wrote: wrote: On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 13:40:38 +0100 Bruce 'Not Glug' Lee wrote: wrote: If you just stand at the side like a lemon you'll just have a stream of traffic going past you. All in all it makes crossing the road in a busy french city a rather unpleasent experience. When I still lived in Paris, I would regularly walk down the bd des Maréchaux from Porte de Vincennes to Porte Dorée. That boulevard has sevral passages without lights, and if you tried to cross, you were subjected to horns, abuse and occasionally threats. The only way to stop bullying is the use of force - or the credible threat of force. Hmm, not sure I'd want to put that to the test tbh. It might work 99% of the time but the 1% is when you'll end up getting carted off to Emergencie by SAMU. Bullies are - in the overwhelming majority of cases - cowards. The certainty of being the subject of overwhelming force and of suffering life-changing injuries, will make them back down. The person with the life changing injuries will the pedestrian trying to cross, not the bully in the car. |
#78
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Interesting Article On How Cars Took Over the Road
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