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I hate yellow traps

Started by traffic light guy, July 16, 2017, 10:13:06 PM

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GaryV

Quote from: bzakharin on July 18, 2017, 11:33:45 AM

Quote from: Jet380 on July 18, 2017, 09:05:41 AM
Quote from: bzakharin on July 17, 2017, 03:41:48 PM
A flashing yellow arrow does not add any new information, and is therefore redundant (assuming there is a green ball concurrent with it).

But it's not always redundant. How do you say "through traffic must stop but left turns may proceed after yielding" without an FYA or a convoluted programmable lens setup?
I cannot think of any situation when such a phase would be needed.
To prevent a yellow trap.  Which is what this thread is all about, supposedly.

NB has green ball and green left arrow. (lagging protected, initiated because the sensors did not see any oncoming SB traffic)  SB has red ball and flashing yellow arrow - if it didn't have FYA, there would have been a yellow trap.


7/8

Quote from: jeffandnicole on July 18, 2017, 01:16:09 PM
Quote from: 7/8 on July 18, 2017, 09:09:19 AM
Quote from: Jet380 on July 18, 2017, 09:05:41 AM
Quote from: bzakharin on July 17, 2017, 03:41:48 PM
A flashing yellow arrow does not add any new information, and is therefore redundant (assuming there is a green ball concurrent with it).

But it's not always redundant. How do you say "through traffic must stop but left turns may proceed after yielding" without an FYA or a convoluted programmable lens setup?

And this is why I wish we could have the FYA in Ontario. There's an intersection near my house that often gives the opposing direction a green ball and left arrow, even if no one is going straight or right. With a FYA, I could legally make a left turn. But with the current situation, I have to wait for the green ball to show on my side.

Are the lights offset (ie: NB first, then SB next)?  I don't see how a FYA would help here if you're not getting a green light to begin with.  Almost sounds like that direction is the default movement, and when traffic comes from the other directions, it trips the light to cycle.

No, I'll explain it again to be more clear.

Here's the intersection from my perspective: https://goo.gl/maps/f6BYahq9G1z
I'm trying to make a left onto Fairway Rd. Since there are usually several cars trying to turn left from the opposing direction (coming down Lackner Blvd), they usually get the left arrow. For my direction, either
a) if there's a few cars behind me, I'll also get the arrow
b) if it's just me, I won't get the arrow
Since there's no actuation sensors for the through lanes on Lackner, the lights will often assume there's a few cars going straight/right, and therefore will give Lackner the arrow+ball. However, there's often only 1 car (sometimes none) going straight. Therefore, with an FYA I could safely turn left, but without it, I have to wait for the green ball.

I'll admit the time savings is small, so maybe this sounds petty, but considering the lights are already capable of green flashing arrows and yellow solid arrows (on a single lens), it seems easy for them to also do FYA's. Of course, the MTO would have to approve them first, but hey, that time savings adds up :)



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