PA ”Ride on Red“ Law to go into effect Sunday

[Gnutella]

I've been stuck at more than one traffic signal like this in Georgia. The first time it happened to me was in Johns Creek, trying to turn left from State Bridge Road onto Medlock Bridge Road at about 1AM. I was stuck for 10 minutes, and I even at one point tried positioning my truck diagonally across both left-turn lanes. No dice. Eventually, after I repositioned myself in one lane, a car pulled up right behind me, but the other left-turn lane remained empty, so I maneuvered forward and over and then rolled backwards onto the sensors in the other lane. I finally got the green arrow.

Another time this happened to me was attempting to turn from Alps Road onto Broad Street in Athens at about 2AM. What made this especially annoying was not only that the left-turn arrow was unresponsive, but also that the traffic signal had photo enforcement, so I would have been ticketed if I proceeded.

Something else you might notice about traffic signals in Georgia, especially if you drive late at night: They seem to be engineered to change only when traffic is approaching. I can't count the number of times I've been driving on GA 316 after midnight with a green light in the distance and a single car waiting on the side road for the signal to change, but the signal doesn't change until I'm at a point where I'm too far away to get through the intersection on the yellow, but too close to come to a complete stop comfortably. How about changing when I'm still a half-mile to a mile away, and then turning green again as I approach, especially since I'm on the main road? What a novel concept!

[Buck87]

I've had this happen a few times at the left turn lane from US 20 to CR 302 in Bellevue, OH. Each time it was late at night, with very little traffic around, and I eventually just turned on red.

[MikeCL]

I've been stuck at more than one traffic signal like this in Georgia. The first time it happened to me was in Johns Creek, trying to turn left from State Bridge Road onto Medlock Bridge Road at about 1AM. I was stuck for 10 minutes, and I even at one point tried positioning my truck diagonally across both left-turn lanes. No dice. Eventually, after I repositioned myself in one lane, a car pulled up right behind me, but the other left-turn lane remained empty, so I maneuvered forward and over and then rolled backwards onto the sensors in the other lane. I finally got the green arrow.

Another time this happened to me was attempting to turn from Alps Road onto Broad Street in Athens at about 2AM. What made this especially annoying was not only that the left-turn arrow was unresponsive, but also that the traffic signal had photo enforcement, so I would have been ticketed if I proceeded.

Something else you might notice about traffic signals in Georgia, especially if you drive late at night: They seem to be engineered to change only when traffic is approaching. I can't count the number of times I've been driving on GA 316 after midnight with a green light in the distance and a single car waiting on the side road for the signal to change, but the signal doesn't change until I'm at a point where I'm too far away to get through the intersection on the yellow, but too close to come to a complete stop comfortably. How about changing when I'm still a half-mile to a mile away, and then turning green again as I approach, especially since I'm on the main road? What a novel concept!

Ouch that's painful.. Here where I live after a certain time at night the lights switch to a 10 or 15 second pattern so if I see my light is already red coming up to it I just slow to 10-15 so I wont get so fast to the light to have to do a full stop then take off again.. All bets are off in the morning/afternoon time however!

[hm insulators]

"Some" red lights, the article says. Which ones, exactly? Who determines if a signal is being "unresponsive" or not? Seems like there's way too much ambiguity here.

I've seen some lights get stuck.. I was waiting in one of the turning lanes and I was just about screaming at the lady to press the walk button to at least signal the light that someone wants to cross.. she seemed almost like she was not and by that time 3 min had passed.. she finally did press it and the light finally cycled for us..

Curious but what causes it to get stuck like that? If I was closer I would have went out myself to press the cross button.

I've been known to get out and push the pedestrian button to trigger the signal.

[Rothman]

Hm.  Around here, pedestrian buttons just give you the pedestrian signal in the appropriate phase in the set cycle or insert an all-pedestrian phase.

[US 41]

I'd like to see something similar to this during nighttime hours. There's nothing more irritating than sitting at a red light at 2 in the morning when there is no one on the roads.

Red arrows are also the most annoying thing ever too. There have been so many times when I could turn left safely, but there's a stupid red arrow.

[hotdogPi]

I'd like to see something similar to this during nighttime hours. There's nothing more irritating than sitting at a red light at 2 in the morning when there is no one on the roads.

If this is the case, usually, the traffic lights could be programmed better. One of three things will be the case:

1. If you are on the more important road, and it's timed, you should get a green light, not a red light.
2. If you are on the less important road, and it's timed, you just have to wait.
3. If it's on a sensor, you should be triggering the sensor and getting a green that way.

#1 and #3 indicate that the signal should be done in a different way. If it's not scenario #2, the light should be changed (and if it is scenario #2, there are some cases where it would be beneficial for it to be timed most of the time and either sensor-based or flashing yellow/red in the middle of the night).

[vdeane]

Hm.  Around here, pedestrian buttons just give you the pedestrian signal in the appropriate phase in the set cycle or insert an all-pedestrian phase.

Those all-pedestrian phases are SO annoying if you're a pedestrian.  Since NY doesn't do the "pedestrian scramble", if you want to cross to the other side of both streets, you have to wait two whole light cycles.  Even if you want to cross only one street, you're still waiting longer, because the button just appends an all-ped phase to the end of the current cycle, even if traffic in your direction gets a green light while you wait.

[jeffandnicole]

I'd like to see something similar to this during nighttime hours. There's nothing more irritating than sitting at a red light at 2 in the morning when there is no one on the roads.

If this is the case, usually, the traffic lights could be programmed better. One of three things will be the case:

1. If you are on the more important road, and it's timed, you should get a green light, not a red light.
2. If you are on the less important road, and it's timed, you just have to wait.
3. If it's on a sensor, you should be triggering the sensor and getting a green that way.

#1 and #3 indicate that the signal should be done in a different way. If it's not scenario #2, the light should be changed (and if it is scenario #2, there are some cases where it would be beneficial for it to be timed most of the time and either sensor-based or flashing yellow/red in the middle of the night).

Many of these signals go thru a pedestrian phase, whether those signals are there or not.  If I were to pull up to a red light in the middle of the night and the main direction has the walk signal, it's probably going to be 20 - 30 seconds before that Don't Walk phase ends.

Blame anti-car advocates for that one.

[SignGeek101]

I'd like to see something similar to this during nighttime hours. There's nothing more irritating than sitting at a red light at 2 in the morning when there is no one on the roads.

If this is the case, usually, the traffic lights could be programmed better. One of three things will be the case:

1. If you are on the more important road, and it's timed, you should get a green light, not a red light.
2. If you are on the less important road, and it's timed, you just have to wait.
3. If it's on a sensor, you should be triggering the sensor and getting a green that way.

#1 and #3 indicate that the signal should be done in a different way. If it's not scenario #2, the light should be changed (and if it is scenario #2, there are some cases where it would be beneficial for it to be timed most of the time and either sensor-based or flashing yellow/red in the middle of the night).

What about flashing yellow/red lights? I know later in the evening around the university, traffic lights automatically switch from regular green/yellow/red to a flashing yellow (on the main road) and a flashing red (on the minor road). Really helps that way.

[kalvado]

What about flashing yellow/red lights? I know later in the evening around the university, traffic lights automatically switch from regular green/yellow/red to a flashing yellow (on the main road) and a flashing red (on the minor road). Really helps that way.

Just as first thought: if one (or more) of main street approaches has less than good visibility, then that may not work. All way stop (all flashing red) may be a better alternative, but only if all sides are more or less equal in terms of traffic.