traffic lights

angelmum

was told by my instructor not to accelarate as i approach a traffic light. trying to practice on this but still confused and hope someone could clear this up for me.

on the road with max speed of 50kph the light is green for some time and im the first car do i maintain 50kph or do i need to slow down as an anticipation of the lights changing to amber? if the light turns on amber and im near the line with 50kph speed and there's no car behind me do i stop or continue on?

thanks

toastedpickles

I'd usually stick it into 3rd gear coming up to traffic lights and just keep your speed, if they do change, you have the time to slow down and the car wont be going very fast in third anyways I did this in my lessons and was told that's what you do, because it's easier to stop in third gear apparently

Hope this helps!

LowKeyReturn

Maintain speed, stop if safe to do so on an amber light.

The exception is pedestrian crossings. If the crossing has people standing at it and the lights have been green for some time it's acceptable to slow as there is a potential hazard.

Also just to confuse you even more - you can proceed on a red light if you have stopped in a yellow box when turning right. Most people aren't aware of this though so again be aware. (Oncoming traffic should always yield to a right turning driver in a yellow box)

TheChizler

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

Maintain speed, stop if safe to do so on an amber light.

The exception is pedestrian crossings. If the crossing has people standing at it and the lights have been green for some time it's acceptable to slow as there is a potential hazard.

Also just to confuse you even more - you can proceed on a red light if you have stopped in a yellow box when turning right. Most people aren't aware of this though so again be aware. (Oncoming traffic should always yield to a right turning driver in a yellow box)

Just to point out that oncoming in this context means traffic in the road crossing your junction after the lights have changed!

LowKeyReturn

OP sorry didn't mean to be confusing - just keep practising it'll come to you. It did me so it will for anyone!

Del2005

angelmum wrote: »

was told by my instructor not to accelarate as i approach a traffic light. trying to practice on this but still confused and hope someone could clear this up for me.

on the road with max speed of 50kph the light is green for some time and im the first car do i maintain 50kph or do i need to slow down as an anticipation of the lights changing to amber? if the light turns on amber and im near the line with 50kph speed and there's no car behind me do i stop or continue on?

thanks

It depends on how long the lights have been green. If they've been green for a while I'd take my foot of the accelerator and start covering the brakes, if there's traffic behind touch the brake slightly to show your brake lights. Then if the lights remain green just accelerate and if they change you can gently brake to a stop.

Driving is about reading the road so if your driving up to a green light you have to assume it's going to change and get ready for it, by maintaining the same speed you haven't anticipated the potential change of lights and may need to brake hard to stop in time.

If your on the line and the lights go amber you keep going. If you've not crossed the line and the lights go amber you should stop if safe, having already anticipated the light change you should be able to stop in time. With traffic behind it's more important to slow down before reaching the lights in case they change.

angelmum

its ok lowkeyreturn. appreciates all your inputs. really having a hard time between the thin line if its safe to stop on amber light or not. really really hard for me at the moment. i hope i get a hang of it. feels like i have no hope of passing the test at the moment

angelmum

thank you everyone for all your advises. seems like i understand now on your inputs how its supposed to be done just need to do it on the actual road without panicking.

LowKeyReturn

angelmum wrote: »

its ok lowkeyreturn. appreciates all your inputs. really having a hard time between the thin line if its safe to stop on amber light or not. really really hard for me at the moment. i hope i get a hang of it. feels like i have no hope of passing the test at the moment

You'll get there - it all becomes second nature.

In simple terms all your instructor was telling you to do was not speed up on approaching the lights. I used to do it too - without even knowing it.