I once ran a red light in the US cause it was mounted up high on a freeway
overpass & I didn't see it as I am used to road level & even median strip
level traffic lights. Well it wasn't actually red yet but a late
orange/amber. Good thing traffic was quiet.
Also the level crossing at RNP needs boom gates, but you'd be forever
replacing them ! So there goes that idea.
New year greetings from
Tim suitably masked in Sydney.
On Mon, 11 Jan. 2021, 10:00 am Yuri Sos, trams4me@...> wrote:
> Conventional traffic lights would be more effective. Motorists are
> "programmed" to stop at a red traffic light, they do it multiple times
> every day, so it's almost an unconscious reflex, even if their
> concentration isn't 100%.
>
> I remember, with some guilt and embarrassment, an incident some 25 years
> ago. I was driving home from work along Footscray Road heading inbound
> towards the City - a road that I had driven on 6 days a week for about 20
> years before that. And I'm a railfan so I'm probably more aware of trains
> and trams than the average motorist.
>
> Rail access to Swanson and Appleton Dock used to be a single track under
> City Link and crossed eight-lane Footscray Road protected only by flashing
> red lights at each kerb.
>
> It had been a long stressful 14 hour day and I was exhausted. Probably
> mostly on auto pilot I was heading home. As I crossed the railway line a
> blast of a horn and a bright headlight of a Y class appeared in my driver's
> side window. I missed colliding with that Y class by about 4 metres.
>
> Now I could make lots of excuses such as flashing lights at the kerb of an
> eight-lane road are outside a driver's line of vision (*) but the fact is
> that it was ENTIRELY MY FAULT due to inattention and lack of concentration.
> The point is that, to my knowledge, I've never driven through a red traffic
> light. Watch cars in traffic - 99.9% of drivers automatically come to a
> halt at a red light.
>
> The Museum's crossing light is very nice and appeals to my gunzel's heart,
> but the average motorist will not have it programmed in.
>
> I was also concerned at the speed of motorists past the work site - I was
> amazed that cars could flash past so close to workers: were there no 40km/h
> speed restrictions and Lane closures in place?
>
> Yuri.
>
> (*) another bugbear of mine is that Australian standards call for removing
> traffic lights away from the driver's line-of-sight as the driver
> approaches the intersection. Located on the near side of the intersection,
> as you approach the intersection the traffic lights move out of your line
> of sight as a driver because you're watching the cars in front of you and
> so you can quite easily miss the fact that the lights have changed to amber
> or red. In the US traffic lights high mounted traffic lights are on the
> FAR side of the intersection and there is one set of traffic lights for
> each lane of traffic in each direction; this means that as you approach the
> intersection you ALWAYS have a traffic light directly in your line of sight
> till you enter the intersection: in my opinion this is much safer for
> drivers especially in heavy traffic, night-time or bad weather. I note at
> several intersections here in South and Port Melbourne, the near side high
> mounted traffic lights are obscured by tree foliage until you are close to
> the intersection. Placing high mounted lights on the far side of the
> intersection would ensure clear view of the lights.
>
> /rant off
>
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