Traffic Lights

[martint235]

So I'm aware that it's allowed to go through a broken traffic light but when is a traffic light judged to be broken. Near Selhurst Park, the current sequence is Crystal Palace bound traffic, green man, Crystal Palace bound traffic, green man, CP bound traffic, Croydon bound traffic. Repeat. Naturally people got miffed and just drove through.

Is this legally permissible?

 

[summerdays]

Not knowing the area, are you saying there is a pedestrian phase between each red rather than once in the full sequence of all the lights?

If they aren't broken then surely it is not legally permissible to go through the lights on red. And even if they were broken and you went through on red, you should still do so with great care.

 

[jefmcg]

Near Selhurst Park, the current sequence is Crystal Palace bound traffic, green man, Crystal Palace bound traffic, green man, CP bound traffic, Croydon bound traffic. Repeat

I think that's great. I am fed up with the almost universal assumption that it's ok to let pedestrians stand by the side of the road for long minutes waiting for lights to change. This is unfair and encourages pedestrians to risk running across on a red. I'd be happy if more lights favoured pedestrians.

Are there buttons, or is it a walk signal when there isn't anyone waiting to cross?

 

[vickster]

Have you reported it as a fault to TFL? If you think it is...i.e. the lights are changing without the button pressed. There are a couple of crossing not too far from me that suffer from the button pressing pixie from time to time. Reporting to TFL sorts it quickly especially of causing tailbacks

 

[KnackeredBike]

There is a staggered traffic light junction on my way to work that fails to sense cyclists so you would sit at red until a car comes, which at 5.30am can be a long time. Reported to the council without improvement. I cycle through it as for my mode of transport it is broken.

That said I cycled past a 2.5 mile queue approaching temporary traffic lights one day. Turned out the light was allowing about three cars through northbound before giving a good couple of minutes to southbound traffic. I was surprised people weren't just jumping the lights to get a good amount through. Cycled back later with roadworks cleared and all the workmen were at the side of the road looking sheepish, I wonder if the police had intervened...

 

[Sixmile]

There is a staggered traffic light junction on my way to work that fails to sense cyclists so you would sit at red until a car comes, which at 5.30am can be a long time. Reported to the council without improvement. I cycle through it as for my mode of transport it is broken....

I've got the same issue with a junction on my commute. Took around a minute for a car to arrive, then another minute waiting for the lights to change. I've thought about contacting the council but the decision to put the lights there was theirs and it was beyond idiotic for a junction that does not need them. I doubt that they'd take my concerns on board.

 

[martint235]

Not knowing the area, are you saying there is a pedestrian phase between each red rather than once in the full sequence of all the lights?

If they aren't broken then surely it is not legally permissible to go through the lights on red. And even if they were broken and you went through on red, you should still do so with great care.

Let's call it Road A and Road b .. it used to be Road b, road a, pedestrians, road b etc. It's now Road a, pedestrians, road a , pedestrians , road a, pedestrians, road b, Road a and so on. So both roads are the same size and I'd say equal importance so would you count these as broken or just a new sequence skewed towards Road a heavily

 

[vickster]

Report to TFL, let them decide

 

[summerdays]

Let's call it Road A and Road b .. it used to be Road b, road a, pedestrians, road b etc. It's now Road a, pedestrians, road a , pedestrians , road a, pedestrians, road b, Road a and so on. So both roads are the same size and I'd say equal importance so would you count these as broken or just a new sequence skewed towards Road a heavily

Ok that is weird... is it triggered by people waiting at the lights or timing sequence?

 

[martint235]

Ok that is weird... is it triggered by people waiting at the lights or timing sequence?

No there's no triggers. To be honest I think someone has just screwed up the sequencing. But the question still stands: Road B does get a "turn" but has to wait. It's been like this all week, Monday everyone waited fairly patiently but since yesterday morning it's a free for all, surely this is illegal?

This morning a car came up the wrong side of the road past the queue facing me (I'm Road B too) and then inched his way across the junction

 

[jefmcg]

yesterday morning it's a free for all, surely this is illegal?

No, it's not legal and it's very dangerous.

Please report it.

 

[KnackeredBike]

No there's no triggers. To be honest I think someone has just screwed up the sequencing. But the question still stands: Road B does get a "turn" but has to wait. It's been like this all week, Monday everyone waited fairly patiently but since yesterday morning it's a free for all, surely this is illegal?

This morning a car came up the wrong side of the road past the queue facing me (I'm Road B too) and then inched his way across the junction

Most of the sequencing is semi-automatic these days but approaches are typically manually programmed with a priority from 1 to 9 with (1) being a fire station and (9) being Nigel Farage's driveway. It sounds like someone has, remotely or otherwise, given the approach a wrong priority.

 

[martint235]

Fixed this morning. I could tell from the lack of a traffic queue (I know many will find this hard to believe but Croydon isn't that popular a destination at the time I'm heading towards it)

 

[mjr]

I've thought about contacting the council but the decision to put the lights there was theirs and it was beyond idiotic for a junction that does not need them. I doubt that they'd take my concerns on board.

You'll never know if you don't contact them! www.WriteToThem.com

Sometimes stuff I report gets fixed. Sometimes I get a foad letter. Sometimes I get an unintelligible autoresponse which seems to mean "we're not going to do anything about this unless you shame us in public"