Missing fly-lights in Cork (Badly programmed junctions)

Solair

This has been annoying me for a while in Cork City and I really haven't seen it anywhere else in Ireland.

While in general the traffic light setup in Cork is very modern, and most junctions are pretty well put together, there are several major junctions where they have clearly programmed the lights as if they had a fly light, but haven't installed one!

So, for example, if you are coming along by the back of City Hall (Old Station Road) from Anglesey Street, you meet a set of light just before the Elyssian (behind the Garda HQ)

The lights turn full green. However, they three lanes of traffic coming towards you are held, making it possible to turn onto the South Link dual carriage way. There should be a green right fly light to indicate it's safe to turn right, but there isn't.

The regular users of this road are all familiar with it and blast the horn at anyone who hesitates (expecting the traffic to start flowing towards them).

There are others too e.g. the top of the Silver Springs fly over and I am sure people have probably encountered a few more.

The problem is that it causes traffic hold ups, but also it enforces this notion that a green light means you can turn across the traffic. I know 2 people who were learners who assumed that was the case based on learning on those junctions!

The other thing in Cork that is a bit weird. When traffic lights fail or are switched off, they sometimes flash red! Flashing red means absolutely nothing in Irish rules of the road. They're clearly running on some foreign system that defaults to this pattern.

I don't know who is doing this, I doubt it's Peek / Siemens traffic, but it strikes me that there are few too many home-brew City Council light setups that don't quite comply with the rules of the road in Cork City.

niloc1951

Solair wrote: »

This has been annoying me for a while in Cork City and I really haven't seen it anywhere else in Ireland.

While in general the traffic light setup in Cork is very modern, and most junctions are pretty well put together, there are several major junctions where they have clearly programmed the lights as if they had a fly light, but haven't installed one!

So, for example, if you are coming along by the back of City Hall (Old Station Road) from Anglesey Street, you meet a set of light just before the Elyssian (behind the Garda HQ)

The lights turn full green. However, they three lanes of traffic coming towards you are held, making it possible to turn onto the South Link dual carriage way. There should be a green right fly light to indicate it's safe to turn right, but there isn't.

The regular users of this road are all familiar with it and blast the horn at anyone who hesitates (expecting the traffic to start flowing towards them).

There are others too e.g. the top of the Silver Springs fly over and I am sure people have probably encountered a few more.

The problem is that it causes traffic hold ups, but also it enforces this notion that a green light means you can turn across the traffic. I know 2 people who were learners who assumed that was the case based on learning on those junctions!

The other thing in Cork that is a bit weird. When traffic lights fail or are switched off, they sometimes flash red! Flashing red means absolutely nothing in Irish rules of the road. They're clearly running on some foreign system that defaults to this pattern.

I don't know who is doing this, I doubt it's Peek / Siemens traffic, but it strikes me that there are few too many home-brew City Council light setups that don't quite comply with the rules of the road in Cork City.

Would this be the source of the problem?

Many junctions with right turning lanes have vehicle sensor cable embedded beneath the surface, a tell-tail for this is a square about the size of a car cut in the surface with some tar poured into the cut to fill it and cover the cable.

As is often the case the job is only half done and the 'waiting box' which should indicate the position a right turning vehicle should halt is neglected to be painted. As a result many drivers do not move forward over the sensor loop and the controlling program gets no signal that a vehicle is waiting to turn right and so goes straight to amber/red for all traffic which had green for straight on or left and green for oncoming traffic skipping the right turn green.

Now, this is of little consequence if oncoming traffic is light but in conditions of heavy oncoming traffic it can leave right turning traffic unable to legally complete its manoeuvre being tempted to jump across in front of oncoming traffic against a red.

Now do I hear someone saying "so that's what that box is for, I often wondered" :mad:

Solair

No, that's not the cause in this case anyway. There is no fly-light physically installed on the set at all.

However, the programming behaves as if there were.

So, the full green comes on, yet the cars coming towards you are held. If you hesitate / wait i.e. are unaware of the weird setup, people blast the horn !

moyners

It's the same at the Dennehys Cross junction. When you're coming down the hill from Wilton and are turning right you get a green light a few second before oncoming traffic coming up the hill. That's great because it allows you to make the turn on the busy jjunction but there's no light to let someone who's unfamiliar with the junction know they can go.

Solair

It's also causing drivers to assume it applies on other junctions too. I've had a few incidents where drivers have turned across me at lights!