Here's a dreary article about some traffic lights being out of action at the Sowton roundabout:
The disruption caused is expected to bring further problems during next Monday's bank holiday — traditionally one of the busiest days of the year. Thousands of motorists have been left to rely on their own driving skills to avoid collisions at the Honiton Road junction...
One city motorist, who uses the junction daily to get to work, described the situation as "dangerous and confusing... This is a major junction used by thousands of drivers every day and it seems extraordinary the lights have been left out of action. It is an accident waiting to happen."
A county council spokesman has urged motorists to drive with extreme caution...
Yadda, yadda. The comments are priceless though:
Oh wow, it's so much better without the lights! How can they justify putting them back on? Is it time to start asking questions about what brown envelopes are being passed from the traffic light companies to the council? Seems to be the only logical explanation for having so many around the city, with more being added all the time. Got to be something in it for someone - and it's not the road users. Eric, Exeter.
Traffic flows much better without traffic lights. I did not go below 40 all the way. Also managed to scare a cyclist. Win win situation. fast freddie, exeter.
Traffic lights are generally yet another pointless waste of money instigated by traffic light salesmen. I remember when they they replaced the roundabout at creech castle in taunton with a set of lights, and within a week, one of my sisters friends was killed in a car accident at the lights, and then within a couple of months there was another fatal car crash on the same junction. And it still has huge tailbacks. Jimmy, Exeter.
Yep, I do this roundabout every morning, and it's much much better now. Take the lights down, don't waste money fixing them. Save some cash and fix the traffic. Tim Saunders, Exeter.
The Traffic is flowing much, much better than usual. I actually get to work 15 minutes earlier with these lights not working. Hopefully the control box will never be fixed! Lee, Exeter (Sowton).
Via.
Leapfrog
12 hours ago
9 comments:
My council seem to have a fixation with traffic lights.
I suppose it's all about the 'control' of us mere citizens.
Oh come on MW! Surely you know we drivers must have traffic lights as we are too dumb to work things out for ourselves - not, as the comments show.
As for the council spokesman and using extreme caution - sheesh!
It is many years since I have been back in the UK and as far as I remember I do not associate many roundabouts with traffic lights the only one that comes to mind is the one North of Cardiff but that was the Largest roundabout in Europe and would have been unworkable without lights. Where I live now roundabouts and lights are quite common however the roundabouts are quite small and act more like a filter lane and are really superfluous and have a tendency to confuse as you have to apply a give way to the right rule as well. Lights alone would be quite adequate a roundabout alone would be inadequate as they would need to be larger so restrict available space. So if in the UK you now have normal size British roundabouts incorporating traffic lights I suspect that is going to slow traffic and imped flow.
Stop being a wage slave
Need to drive less
Done
Next!
I just love the assumption that without the lights, we'd all be helpless to avoid colliding with each other.
Mind you, some of the driving standards round my way make me think they may have a point...
Now if the County Council spokesman had warned motorists to open their council tax bills with extreme caution...
Traffic Lights are mostly bureaucratic road ratioing by remote control. And as we all know bureaucratic rationing never works, in the end.
Turn them all off and used 'shared space' to provide for pedestrian/traffic interfaces.
I remember the roundabout at Creech Castle being replaced with lights. This was pure corruption. Tesco got the work done to prevent people making a u-turn at the roundabout and going back to shop at Asda, whose entrance was off the westbound carriageway only.
This can't be the only example of this sort of thing.
B, Tesco enforced something similar in Leytonstone, with a bizarre dual one-way system which crosses over itself.
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