Flashing "Prepare to Stop" Signs are finally being removed

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

ODOT has been promising to take these signs down for 5 years now.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/14/prepare-to-stop-signs-on-way-out.html

However, 3/4 of the way down the article...
"Dilemma zone"  detectors will replace some of the flashing lights. The detectors' radar technology monitors the speed of individual vehicles in the few seconds before they arrive at the intersection. When it appears that a vehicle won't be able to stop in time, a signal sent to the traffic light will extend the green light.

District 5 ODOT officials will place three such detectors along Rt. 33 this summer. Each detector costs about $10,000, Rutherford said.


Anybody else have experience with these "Dilemma Zone" detectors?

P.S.
From the comments for this article came this doozy:
We need to install crossing gates at intersections to provide a physical stop. A large percentage of the motoring public no longer respects red lights, and I doubt 1 in 10 slows for a yellow. We need to increase gas taxes and use the money to install physical crossing gates at road intersections.

[kphoger]

Re:  editorial.....

Gee, that wouldn't be very good if....
(a) the gate got stuck,
(b) you intended to turn right on red,
(c) someone came up to carjack you,
(d) you were driving a semi-trailer and didn't have time to completely clear the intersection.

[JREwing78]

ODOT has been promising to take these signs down for 5 years now.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/14/prepare-to-stop-signs-on-way-out.html

However, 3/4 of the way down the article...
"Dilemma zone"  detectors will replace some of the flashing lights. The detectors' radar technology monitors the speed of individual vehicles in the few seconds before they arrive at the intersection. When it appears that a vehicle won't be able to stop in time, a signal sent to the traffic light will extend the green light.

District 5 ODOT officials will place three such detectors along Rt. 33 this summer. Each detector costs about $10,000, Rutherford said.


Anybody else have experience with these "Dilemma Zone" detectors?

Interesting. You'd think it'd make more sense for the detector to hold the red light for cross-traffic longer than to extend a green light.

Of course, you could also build in a 2-second delay after the mainline goes red before turning the cross-traffic lights green. No need for extra sensors or the like.

[thenetwork]

ODOT has been promising to take these signs down for 5 years now.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/14/prepare-to-stop-signs-on-way-out.html

However, 3/4 of the way down the article...
"Dilemma zone"  detectors will replace some of the flashing lights. The detectors' radar technology monitors the speed of individual vehicles in the few seconds before they arrive at the intersection. When it appears that a vehicle won't be able to stop in time, a signal sent to the traffic light will extend the green light.

District 5 ODOT officials will place three such detectors along Rt. 33 this summer. Each detector costs about $10,000, Rutherford said.


Anybody else have experience with these "Dilemma Zone" detectors?

Isn't that what a series of trip loops embedded in the road prior to the intersection already supposed to do????  I personally like the advanced flashers -- especially on roads where traffic is moving/used to moving along at 55+ MPH, and a sudden light change means people tend to hit their brakes a little harder than normal.   Unless I pass the flashing signs before the first "blink" is completed, I always prepare for the stop. 

If Ohio was really smart, they would follow what I believe Maryland does -- change the physical sign to a text, or symbolic SIGNAL AHEAD sign with the yellow flashers always on and either have the word "RED" turn on as an LED, or have the RED segment of the symbol light up or flash when the light is preparing to change or has already changed to red. 

[vtk]

Why are they removing the "prepare to stop" flashers in the first place? The article says it's because of speeders trying to beat the light – so a few opportunistic dumbasses ruin a perfectly good traffic control device.

Those dilemma detectors can't be a complete solution, anyway. If there's steady traffic on the mainline, it's got to turn yellow for somebody. Without the flashers, you have a sudden yellow light for high-speed traffic, which has its own problems.

How about this? Turn the light yellow when it needs to turn. Then use the detectors to extend the yellow, to accommodate drivers who judged they were too close / going too fast to stop. Of course, there needs to be an upper limit, or drivers will figure out they can ignore the yellow completely...

[thenetwork]

How about this? Turn the light yellow when it needs to turn. Then use the detectors to extend the yellow, to accommodate drivers who judged they were too close / going too fast to stop. Of course, there needs to be an upper limit, or drivers will figure out they can ignore the yellow completely...

I am totally against extended yellow lights, even if they are designed to be extended on a "case-by-case" basis.  Reason being is because drivers like me have established a rhythm for the timing of the light sequence changes.  (If I know the green-to-red cycle is exactly 3 seconds, when I approach a changing light, I use the 3-second pace to determine if It is better for me to pass through the yellow light at my current legal speed, or do I brake for the pending red). 

Now if you have people that try to establish a rhythm for extended yellows, and then they approach a regular light, they will more likely run a red light than not.

Easiest fix:  add a second or two in the sequence so there is a longer all-red at the intersection before one street gets the green.   I remember driving through some towns with consistent cycle-timed signals that would have a few extra seconds of all-red (pissed me off, but it assured the intersection would be clear for the street getting the green light next).

[vtk]

Yellow lights give me way too much stress. My job takes me all over Ohio, and I regularly encounter traffic lights on rural expressways and in speed-trap towns. The length of a yellow varies significantly, and if anything, I've gotten worse at judging whether or not to stop since taking this job. The on-board camera is triggered by sudden changes in acceleration, and my employer will analyze the footage and usually find something to discipline me for, even if it had nothing to do with the event that triggered the camera. Stop and risk harrassment from my bosses; go and risk harrassment from law enforcement. Advance warning that a light is going to change makes my job much easier. Extra red time may be safer, but it's nonetheless red as I'm rolling through, and to a cop that's all that matters.

[Mdcastle]

I actually like the flashers a lot. Minnesota has a lot of signals in 55-65 mph speed zones and if I'm going to have to stop at that speed I like to know in advance.

[US71]

Mississippi has a lot of Prepare to Stop flashers.

[agentsteel53]

"prepare to stop" makes a lot of sense for traffic lights on roads with speeds over 60 mph or so. 

because I drive all over the place, I have no idea what yellow light timings are at any given intersection, so I cannot pace myself.

[US71]

"prepare to stop" makes a lot of sense for traffic lights on roads with speeds over 60 mph or so. 

because I drive all over the place, I have no idea what yellow light timings are at any given intersection, so I cannot pace myself.

Missouri likes Red Signal Ahead

Though there is a Stop Ahead that lights up along US 71 near Jane, MO. It's simply white LED on a black background.

[agentsteel53]

Though there is a Stop Ahead that lights up along US 71 near Jane, MO. It's simply white LED on a black background.

to me, that might be ambiguous.  I would be anticipating a stop sign.