The Traffic Light Conspiracy

that's the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard.

there's no conspiracy in traffic lights.

Sarcasm is a lost cause on the Internet.

I see people standing there, when there is no traffic, and they press the button anxiously waiting for the green man.

Here in my part of the country, we call those people idiots.

reply to post by Crabmeat


Yes, it is true sort of, There is a little knob on the bottom, in uk, that you can turn either way, apparantly, giving you mor or less time to cross the street.

Originally posted by machinegun_go_go
Erm,

to be honest, I disagree. I know for a fact that they work in the UK.

Perhaps it's just that you only ever cross the roads at peak traffic hours where ensuring traffic flows freely is more important than allowing pedestrians to cross.

Over here it takes some time at rush hour, but other times it's pretty instantaneous.

Peace,

MGGG

And yet where I live in the UK, I'm beginning to see quite a lot of light systems that don't have any button at all, or rather ones that have them but are disabled. I'm not talking about pelican crossings either, but regular ones, particularly on dual carriageways &c and where I live most of the traffic systems are based on large multi-lane roads. I have to cross 5 or 6 sets of lights just to get across about 50 yards of road at one point.

I've also noticed over the last few years more and more traffic lights that might have buttons that at least appear to work, but don't have the green man facing you on the opposite side of the road. You rely on the traffic actually stopping to know when to cross or be lucky enough to be the one that's stood right next to the button to see that change. Otherwise, you're stood in an awkward huddle like sheep not knowing when to move.

Originally posted by RealitySetsIn
The buttons work if there are no vehicles waiting/stopped at the intersection.

If there is traffic at the intersection, the button is not going to change the light and stop traffic just to allow you to cross... LMAO.


but you ever try to cross an intersection in the middle of the night when there's no traffic on the road? The hand sign thing will tell you that you can't cross, even though there are no cars around for miles. This is when you are supposed to push the button, so it changes the light and allows you to cross.

But if there's cars waiting at the intersection, it's going to give them priority over you.

Do you know how dangerous it would be to have the traffic signal change immediately while cars are moving through the intersection? Seriously. Yeah, let's just allow you to push the button and cause 10 car pile ups.


Sigh.


No, you're right... it's a conspiracy! The evil government is out to get us!

How does the system exactly "sense" when there's cars or no cars at the light......?

reply to post by RagenCajun


Got any evidence? What? You don't? Amazing!

Seriously, just because you think this happens doesn't mean it happens.

Originally posted by rufusdrak
How does the system exactly "sense" when there's cars or no cars at the light......?

Some intersections have motion detectors, a few have cameras, but most of them have embedded strips/cables/wires that react to WEIGHT and they've been around since the 70's. How do you think a left turn signal knows when there's a car waiting to turn left or not?

reply to post by RagenCajun


I read an article in our local paper and this is the explantion the city gave us:
"They are programed to override the button during busy traffic times. So if you want to cross in the wee hours of the day it will work, but other times it will not be as quick or may not respond at all during rush hours."