Left turn lane...

[silverpig]

I don't know about all of your cities, but here they have sensors at intersections that monitor how many cars are waiting at a light. In left hand turn lanes there is one right at the stop line, and then another one 3 or 4 car lengths back. If a car is on the sensor at the stop line, it will trigger a green light in that direction; if a car is on the one 3 or 4 lengths back, it will trigger a green arrow for the left turn lane. I constantly see a single car stopped on the sensor 3 or 4 lengths back from the stop line with no cars in front just so they get the green arrow. It pisses me off. Why do these people think they are more important than the 10 cars waiting to go straight through the intersection in the other direction?

Comments?

 

[MajesticMoose]

why should they have to wait 5 minutes for the light to cycle? Where i live the sensors are only at the front. The turn arrow will come on if there is one car there when cross traffic stops next.

m00se

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

I don't see how that would work. Wouldn't you have to trip both, then trip the one farther back in order to show that there are more cars?



--------------- (sensor 1) ------------------------------- (sensor 2) .... (line and intersection)


first, you trip sensor 1, then go on to trip sensor 2. More cars come up and trip sensor 1 again, and the light knows that there are cars lining up. If someone sits on sensor 1, you'd think the software running the intersection would be smart enough to know that they haven't pulled up to the line yet.

- in that case, I think there should be Flak Cannons mounted at every intersection and if that happens, they unload on the jerk.

nik

 

[brxndxn]

because the whole damn traffic system is fvcked up and they've figured out a way to make it a little less fvcked up for them...


If the speed limits weren't ridiculously slow, left lane wasn't allowed except to pass, slow cars were ticketed as much as fast cars, car-pools encouraged, less SUVs on the roads, traffic lights calibrated wrongly causing huge backups, roadways with fewer lanes than needed, cops weren't such morons ticketing speeders over crappy drivers, etc.. blah.

 

[silverpig]

It's not a trip switch like that... You have to be sitting on it for a good while in order for it to register. But yeah, they should just program it so that the sensor farther back shouldn't work unless the one up at the stop line is being triggered.


m00se, I'm not mad that there are sensors; I'm mad because people abuse the sensors for their own personal convenience. If you are the only one at the intersection, and trip the one at the line, you'll get a green light very quickly. You can then make your left turn immediately if traffic is light as there won't be oncoming traffic. I'm talking about heavy traffic where the N-S traffic is flowing, and the E-W traffic is stopped. There are 15 cars sitting at the light going in the E direction, waiting for their turn. Let's say there are also 15 cars going in the W direction. Normally, if 10 of these cars heading W want to continue through the intersection, and 5 want to turn left (head N), they will line up so that they trip both sensors in the left turn lane, resulting in them having a green arrow when the signals change. That's all fine...


Now say there is only one car going W but turning left at the intersection and there are 15 cars headed E. Some smartass will sit in the left turn lane a few lengths back, making the sensor think there are 4 cars waiting to turn. This single car will get the green arrow, and cause the 15 cars opposing him to wait while he tricks the signals into thinking that he is 5 cars.


That's my gripe.

 

[b0mbrman]

How clever...and yes, I suppose it's wrong but it's either they go first or he goes first...

 

[silverpig]

I just think it's arrogant for one guy to think his time is more valuable than 15 people's...

 

[NetworkDad]

Ahhh yes... We have idiot drivers here too in Oregon/Washington. A lot of new lights around the area have cameras on them that 'supposedly' sense when a car has pulled up, rather than the old sensors.

 

[CSoup]

I hate when the sensors cause the light to change to green when you are slowing down to stop and then when you start accelerating it starts turning yellow right away.