who has the green light anyway ?

RobAMerc

Has anyone noticed how at very many junctions (in Dublin anyway) there is an every increasing period where it feels like no-one has a green light and cars from each direction are just sitting there in a Dublin councils ever increasing attempts to frustrate the motorist ?

I am particularly finding it annoying how the Amber walk signal seems to get more time than the Green for anyone of the directions of cars, even though there is no one crossing the damn road and probably 5 cars queueing in each direction !

Clearly the council is doing this to frustrate motorists in an attempt to drive us out of our cars no ?

em_cat

Unfortunately it seems it’s the populist opinion is very much anti motorists from all sides. This includes a popular motor journalists, which surprised me.

It doesn’t particularly annoy me that much that amber lights are given a few more seconds. If it means that a pedestrian has a little more time to get across, that is if they are there, then that’s a good thing.

also glad I drive a Mercedes as the hold function is great this sort of thing…

Ubbquittious

I wonder is this Eamonn Ryan having a go at drivers again

antodeco

If I remember correctly, all lights were altered slightly during the pandemic to all pedestrians/cyclists more time to cross to stop groups congregating.

em_cat

No it was from The Sunday Service Bob Flavin. He wasn’t having a go at motorists as such, more that he was saying that cities need to do away with cars. I just found it odd as his career is motoring journalism. However I do know that councils are under pressure to appease the anti motorist crowd.

Personally I just wish we’d all realise we have to share the road space and it’s no harm to give a bit of extra time to pedestrians and a bit more space to cyclists.

markpb

There’s a delay after the the light goes red to allow for the half a dozen dozy drivers who think it’s acceptable to drive through an amber or red light. Every junction, every time.

1874

I'll probably start noticing if its a general thing, if its so easy to change light timing & sequences then they should add in an amber before green, that would save a lot of time.

Timings of some traffic lights are appaling and cause people to floor it to make it, bridge over N4 near texaco garage is appalling for that, drivers going westbound who take the slip across to Lucan village (which leads to a rat run over the liffey) routinely keep crossing when the light has already gone green, but the light timings are ridiculous coming from the other side too. While drivers shouldnt do it just so they wont get caught before the next light, the poor light timing encourages bad behaviour of routinely breaking red lights.

What we really need is to implement an amber before the Green light illuminates at all traffic lights nationally to alert people the Green light is about to turn on. Not a prolongued amber, just long enough for amber to come on and go off, right before green (or even better see what others do elsewhere for timing, but not having the amber on long enough so people start jumping the lights before Green comes on).

Doesn't need to be a huge effort to do this, if it cant be done remotely, then anytime repairs or routine traffic lights maintenance occur at any junction, just upgrade the program (PLCs?)/time the lights to add amber as suggested. There is a silly amount of time wasted by drivers first at the lights not moving off on the green, worsened when the light sequence is short or the timing poor.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118510025#Comment_118510025

It is pretty much this unfortunately, I suspect from the geniuses in our roads departments, claiming it is for safety. Alas it is a self fulfilling prophecy, by giving the extra time at several junctions, more people are tempted to follow through after the lights have turned red. Rather than having an instant change and accepting that Green does not mean go and that drivers running reds should know there is an increased risk of being in a traffic accident.

RobAMerc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118509728#Comment_118509728

good god, what a stupid idea if that really was the goal. More like the pandemic was used to drive through an anti motorist policy. The issue is, there is no pedestrians at the lights in a lot of cases and in reality this was a nonsense anyway as folks can just stand apart at a traffic lights ( self regulate ), we dont need to de-prioritize road traffic to stop pedestrian congregation.

magicbastarder

as per above, the 'all lights on red' has nothing to do with covid. it's because of the volume of RLJers.

RobAMerc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118509755#Comment_118509755

I am a car nut, and I have no issue with keeping cars out of city centres, where there is adequate public transport. Making me sit at a traffic lights for far longer than needs be because I have to wait for non existent pedestrians on main arteries about city suburbs that dont have adequate publlic transport is ridiculous.

I wish we could all get along too. If we could just stop cyclist breaking reds, or get pedestrians to cross on green rather than hitting the button and then not waiting for the green, or people cross where they shouldnt and causing cars to have to slow or stop, causing cars to bunch up ...

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118510287#Comment_118510287

I don't entirely buy that. Red light jumping started to happen a lot in 2020 and got noticeably worse in 2021, so much so that it happens at every junction even when there is almost no dead time between sequences. It's just become an acceptable way to drive now.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118511326#Comment_118511326

Depends where you live but red light jumping is the norm here in Dublin and has been for at least 15 years. Every junction I am at, if its rush hour I guarantee a minimum of 1 from every entrance onto the junction at every turn of the lights but often there will be 4 and up to 6, this isn't new or increased over the past two years. If I was a Garda in a foul mood I'd just sit at any junction on the N11 out of uniform and write up 4 tickets a minute.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118509728#Comment_118509728

The dead time on the N11 was there long before Covid.

KildareP

The daytime red light jumping seems to have crept in big time during lockdown when there was feck all traffic on the roads and so the chances of someone coming against your red being extremely slim that you could 99% of the time get away with it.

Night time red light jumping was also a big issue long before Covid for similar reasons.

However, I'm not sure amber-before-green would work either, judging by how it's treated up North and from the few times I've been over in Wales/England it may as well just be green. The racers will race the amber and the dozers will doze through that as well, while the red light jumpers will just prolong their window because "ah shure it's still only amber the other way".

magicbastarder

it's definitely been getting worse over the last 5 years or so, it's not recent.

i remember about three or four years ago deciding to keep an eye out, while out collins avenue/malahide road direction; at all of the first ~12 junctions i passed through, at least one person ran a red. i stopped counting at that point.

colm_mcm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118510025#Comment_118510025

Went through a junction today as it was going from amber to red. Thought to myself “that was badass” then I saw a car and an artic which was a good 100m behind in the rear view going through after me.

Del2005

All motoring has got worse over the last few years. The RSA has focused too much on speed and DUI while completely ignoring that all our other traffic laws are routinely ignored. Nearly every car now has Bluetooth yet I still see people with the phone to their ear, red lights don't matter anymore, people watching movies on their phone while driving, not keeping left and worse drifting across lanes, tailgating etc. Then we have the widespread illegal use of MPVs on our roads which is completely ignored by the Gardaí, proposed changes to our laws don't make them currently legal.

The amber before green is no answer, in the UK all drivers just move off on amber

What we need is a properly resourced traffic police that enforces all our road laws not just a select few. Look at the USA where they nearly all stop at Stop signs and don't speed outside schools, because the police actively enforce these laws, but has a huge problem with DUI as they can't breathalyse drivers.

Wildly Boaring

Driving in town a lot lately.

Some amount of morons not pulling off at lights. All looking at the **** phone.

And yeah the red light jumping is gone crazy altogether. Few cameras on lights would give us all more green time and calm a few down

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118514514#Comment_118514514

MPVs are illegal? In what way?

colm_mcm

Mechanically propelled vehicles

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118530319#Comment_118530319

Thanks Colm_mcm, not sure that is what was being referred to in the quoted post though.

I consider MPV to mean Multi Purpose Vehicle which was a term used for "People carriers" like the Renault Espace, Opel Zafira and their ilk. The bit I am confused about from the post I quoted is the "proposed changes to our laws don't make them currently legal". So if MPVs are not currently legal, then how are they illegal? What are the proposed changes to the law and why are they allowed to be sold and put on the roads at all? 🙂

Witcher

He's on about electric scooters

magicbastarder

no, MPV means mechanically propelled vehicle in a legal context. i.e. any vehicle where the mode of propulsion is exclusively mechanical, i.e. from an e-scooter up to a 40 foot truck.

what Del2005 was referring to was people using e-scooters or out-of-regulation e-bikes without licence/tax/insurance, as legally these are currently classed as MPVs and fall under the same laws as all other MPVs.

Miscreant

Fair enough.

Electric scooters/e-bikes had not been specifically mentioned anywhere else in this thread so lumping them in with the MPV term is where my confusion lay. Not many people would be aware at first glance of the legal term for this in any case.

Thanks for the clarification.

magicbastarder

at one junction i regularly pass through, i counted (roughly) how long it takes from a light turning red for one direction, before the next phase goes green. roughly 5 seconds, i'd say; probably 7s for amber and green. so given that there are three main phases of the whole cycle at this junction, that's about 21s where no-one has a green light. not that it makes an awful lot of difference, people drive through on the amber and green habitually.

RobAMerc

my initial reason for starting this threat was to bemoan the amount of time the green man gets when no one is standing at the lights, yet often 4 lanes of cars sit in wait.

it somehow turned into a "bash the motorist" thread bitching about the red light jumpers......

magicbastarder

what about the times when a pedestrian is staring at a red pedestrian crossing light yet there are no cars to make use of the green lights for cars?

though you did mention:

I am particularly finding it annoying how the Amber walk signal seems to get more time than the Green for anyone of the directions of cars

at the junction i can see from where i'm sitting if i lean forward, when the lights go green for pedestrians, there's not enough time to make it even halfway across the road before it goes amber. i would guess that the pedestrian light is amber for probably twice as long as it's green. most junctions near here (and i live on a busy road), the pedestrian crossings are triggered by a pedestrian button, they're not automatically built into the cycle in the way the lights for road traffic are.

RobAMerc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118542657#Comment_118542657

honestly, how many times across the city of Dublin does this happen in a day ?

I knew a while back, but the motoring forum on boards.ie is no place for a car enthusiast. its a forum to come kick car owners.

martyc5674

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118542657#Comment_118542657

Exactly- as a pedestrian you have to press “beg button” to cross the road! Hardly inspires confidence that the councils are promoting active travel.

My experience as a pedestrian is beg then wait at least a complete cycle of the lights before you get an opportunity to cross, pedestrians should be accommodated at the next change.

magicbastarder

I knew a while back, but the motoring forum on boards.ie is no place for a car enthusiast. its a forum to come kick car owners.

i'm a car owner, and there's a difference between kicking someone because they own a car and critiquing their opinion because you think they're wrong.

you're talking about driving through a city and are begrudging the fact that at times there are pedestrian lights showing green while there are no pedestrians around. but this happens a *lot* with green lights for cars too.

you're unhappy because at some junctions the light sequence assumes pedestrians will be there. at those same junctions the light sequence assumes cars will also be present. such is life.

RobAMerc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543138#Comment_118543138

your car ownership has literally nothing to do with it, why would you bring that up ? my comment about kicking car owners also had nothing to do with anything you posted, it was about how the thread had turned into a thread bitching about red light breakers.

anyway, I'll leave this forum to the crew who are here solely to attack motoring as opposed to being genuinely interested in it in any way.

magicbastarder

your car ownership has literally nothing to do with it, why would you bring that up ?

because you did! you were directly replying to one of my comments when you compained about car owner bashing, for god's sake.

you seem to think that people complaining about RLJers is car owner bashing. anyway, get off the cross, it's illegal to drive while nailed to it.

Wildly Boaring

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543330#Comment_118543330

My main gripe was the morons who are looking at their phones when we are supposed to be taking off from the lights.

Didn't think that was attacking car owners. Just morons.

I really think the cars should be smart enough to put the drivers phone on Android Auto or whatever and take the muppets out of the equation.

Stuck for 5 or 6 seconds behind one in Blanch yesterday. Then I got the fingers for lifting them out of it!!!

I also think the red light jumping is a scourge. The people setting the green times are having to accommodate them and hence we get less green time. Few red light cameras be a deterrent. I got caught in Luton sneaking through a left when late for a flight when I was a young fella. Put manners on me for 3 years in UK.

But yeah car owners.....grrrr!!!