No red amber on light sequence

[upsidedown]

In Jersey for a couple of weeks, doing fair bit of cycling.
The traffic lights here go from red straight to green with no red/amber.
The effect on driving is surprisingly big, there is no amber creep or racing away from the lights, also stops late amber crossers mixing with red/amber crossers.

Not sure why they do it different here but it seems to work well.

 

[dondare]

I do not see any point in amber at all. Legally it's the same as red but it always gets treated the same as green.

 

[StuartG]

Probably a throwback to the days when cars were difficult to get going.

For a start you ALWAYS when stopping at a red light engaged handbrake and disengaged gear releasing the clutch. If you didn't you failed your test and more importantly your clutch would burn out.

Hence to get going you have to engage gear, apply a little accelerator, hold on brake while the gears meshed (no synchromesh). This took a little time and if done too quickly would result in a stall holding up everyone. Hence a little warning was a great help so you could move instantly the green showed.

Of course now people wait on the clutch and the amber is GO! So really we should catch up with the times and go continental straight to green IMHO.

 

[BSRU]

They should get rid of red/amber as it is practically meaningless, plus it will save money on electricity and spare parts.

 

[Dan B]

Of course now people wait on the clutch and the amber is GO! So really we should catch up with the times and go continental straight to green IMHO.

I believe that waiting on the clutch is still a fault if you do it in the driving test, and a major fault (i.e. fail) if for example someone crosses in front of you while you're waiting. Reason being that if you get shunted from behind and your foot slips, you've just created another wheelchair sale


[ edit: er, maybe I'm misinterpreting you. By "waiting on clutch" I mean "holding it at the bite point", and it occurs to me that perhaps you're instead talking about depressing the clutch fully and holding the footbrake down as well. I thnik this is probably more common ]

I like red+amber as a cyclist because it lets me get the jump on the queue more effectively (i.e. I always go, illegally, on amber) and I am usually safely past the junction before car drivers catch up and start attempting stupid overtakes. If they are going to remove it here I'd quite like them to replace with a "cycles-only" green phase - it would work well with an ASL box

 

[BSRU]

I believe that waiting on the clutch is still a fault if you do it in the driving test, and a major fault (i.e. fail) if for example someone crosses in front of you while you're waiting. Reason being that if you get shunted from behind and your foot slips, you've just created another wheelchair sale


[ edit: er, maybe I'm misinterpreting you. By "waiting on clutch" I mean "holding it at the bite point", and it occurs to me that perhaps you're instead talking about depressing the clutch fully and holding the footbrake down as well. I thnik this is probably more common ]

I like red+amber as a cyclist because it lets me get the jump on the queue more effectively (i.e. I always go, illegally, on amber) and I am usually safely past the junction before car drivers catch up and start attempting stupid overtakes. If they are going to remove it here I'd quite like them to replace with a "cycles-only" green phase - it would work well with an ASL box

I would have thought if you foot slips of the clutch you stall it and it being stuck in gear it is not going anywhere.

 

[dondare]

I would have thought if you foot slips of the clutch you stall it and it being stuck in gear it is not going anywhere.

Not if you're being shunted. Then you'd leap forward.

 

[BSRU]

Not if you're being shunted. Then you'd leap forward.

But you'd also leap forward even with the handbrake on.

I am sure during my driving lessons waiting on the biting point is fine but handbrake should be used if you are stopped for a reasonable time.

 

[HLaB]

No Red - Red/Amber. I'm sure other countries are the same I know Ireland is, their lights go straight from Red to Green but tbh it doesn't make much difference except as a ped you seem to have less time to cross before traffic comes straight at you but thats probably just their signal timings

 

[hackbike 666]

I like the traffic lights in Thailand...they have a countdown on them.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

iirc in Jersey they drive French stylee at traffic lights. Like an old school GP. The lights go green and the whole queue moves off in one go like on big automotive snake. Unlike in dear old blighty where the light goes green the first car drives off, the second car waits a bit ('No dear, I'm not releasing my handbrake until the vehicle in front of me has moved away'), then goes, the third does the same, and the fourth and by the time the fifth car moves off he will be racing the lights to get through on amber, whilst the sixth guy will just stream through on red.

Can anyone account for this foible of British driving? I reckon the rural french get 2 x as many cars through for the same duration and the parisiens at least 2.5 x as many as we do. If green means go if it is safe to do so why do we wait for a gap to open up? are the French more trusting (unlikely) or just better lovers drivers?

 

[661-Pete]

Forgive me if I'm missing something, but I always thought Red+Amber is an opportunity to put car in gear. Even on modern gearboxes it saves a second or two. No stuff about releasing clutch to bite point, for that you should wait to green. But I'm quite accustomed to the French system, straight red->green, what I do like about France is the small repeater lights at eye level. Intended for motorists but helpful to cyclists too.

 

[Spinney]

iirc in Jersey they drive French stylee at traffic lights. Like an old school GP. The lights go green and the whole queue moves off in one go like on big automotive snake. Unlike in dear old blighty where the light goes green the first car drives off, the second car waits a bit ('No dear, I'm not releasing my handbrake until the vehicle in front of me has moved away'), then goes, the third does the same, and the fourth and by the time the fifth car moves off he will be racing the lights to get through on amber, whilst the sixth guy will just stream through on red.

Can anyone account for this foible of British driving? I reckon the rural french get 2 x as many cars through for the same duration and the parisiens at least 2.5 x as many as we do. If green means go if it is safe to do so why do we wait for a gap to open up? are the French more trusting (unlikely) or just better lovers drivers?

Cars typically stop at traffic lights with about a foot or so between them. If they all set off at the same time, they would then be travelling at 20-30 mph (in town), with a foot or so between them. Rather less than the recommended spacing...

 

[al78]

I would have thought if you foot slips of the clutch you stall it and it being stuck in gear it is not going anywhere.

The car will lurch forward before stalling.

 

[rusky]

Forgive me if I'm missing something, but I always thought Red+Amber is an opportunity to put car in gear. Even on modern gearboxes it saves a second or two. No stuff about releasing clutch to bite point, for that you should wait to green. But I'm quite accustomed to the French system, straight red->green, what I do like about France is the small repeater lights at eye level. Intended for motorists but helpful to cyclists too.

+1!

Also, even driving on the wrong side I find it sooo less stressful driving in France.