In addition to the use of circular red and green indications for the open/closed status of toll plaza lanes now being non-compliant in the 2009 MUTCD, the 2009 MUTCD also recommends that circular red and green indications should not be used to indicate the payment status of tolls.
For the open/closed status of lanes, I can understand since they do not actually mean stop and go, however, for the payment status of tolls, they in a way do mean stop and go, since you cannot proceed until the toll is paid. While I understand this is only a guidance, rather than a standard like the requirement for lane control signals for the open/closed status of toll plaza lanes, I wonder what reason why circular indications are not recommended to indicate payment status of tolls?
there's a probably an issue for the colorblind, as well.
Quote from: Pink Jazz on October 11, 2015, 11:33:21 PM
For the open/closed status of lanes, I can understand since they do not actually mean stop and go, however, for the payment status of tolls, they in a way do mean stop and go, since you cannot proceed until the toll is paid.
I would think Green Arrow / Red X would work fine for Toll Plaza Lanes (not sure if there is any official opinion on that, though)
If you are in an EZ-Pass only lane in a plaza, you should keep moving even if the light is red (and deal with it after the fact) so, the red indicator probably isn't the best choice.
When the Pocahontas Parkway (VA-895) first opened, a news report stated the Virginia State Police had tested the ORT lanes at up to 100 mph.
I know from personal experience that the converted lanes at the toll plaza on the Dulles Toll Road near Tysons Corner work at 60 mph. I don't go that fast through there anymore because of a couple of times when I've seen confused drivers stopping in the E-ZPass Only lanes.
The Thruway has traffic lights mounted on the ends of the lanes. For cash lanes, it defaults to red for stop. For E-ZPass only lanes, it uses yellow. They turn green when the toll is paid.
Quote from: vdeane on October 12, 2015, 07:03:18 PM
The Thruway has traffic lights mounted on the ends of the lanes. For cash lanes, it defaults to red for stop. For E-ZPass only lanes, it uses yellow. They turn green when the toll is paid.
And when using a cash lane with E-ZPass (which sometimes happens at small plazas that can't have dedicated E-ZPass lanes) you're supposed to stop at the red until the toll collector presses a button to turn the light green. Usually it happens quickly but sometimes it's an annoyingly long wait if the collector is working both directions at a booth and they are tied up with someone (usually paying their toll) in the other direction.
ISTHA uses a system of yellow and blue lights for the I-Pass lanes, but they're merely an indicator of what's left in the account. For the regular lanes, they use two boxes, similar to pedestrian crossing signals with "STOP" on red and "THANK YOU" on green on the boxes.
https://goo.gl/maps/MCjcfkLhCb42
Oklahoma also has some square signals (resembling Ped signals) for people using Pike Pass.