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Traffic light sequencing in the city

bobbyss

Coming down Moneenageshia Road to turn left onto Wellpark Road you are stopped at the red. Traffic comes from Wellpark Road either going left, straight or right. Why is the light red when this is happening if you are waiting to turn left off M Rd to Wellpark Road?

Similarly, if you want to turn left onto the Q Bridge after exiting Woodies you get in the short left lane and you are stopped at a red there. Cars coming from the bridge going east get the green to go left, straight or right. Meanwhile you are waiting in the left lane and would not be interfering if you could get a green.

I think the same things happen at the top of BnT going east. You want to turn left to Tuam Rd but again are stopped while cars from the Tuam Road are going left, straight or right.

These may be small things but they just add to he driving experience in the city. I wonder if there outstanding road safety issues at play here.

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bobbyss

Tatum Rapid Bedding wrote:

If you wish to turn right at a set of traffic lights that has an arrow to the right, drive into the junction when you see a green light, taking care not to block any oncoming traffic. Then, when it is safe, finish your turn. You should only wait for the filter arrow for turning right when you are in the junction and if it would be dangerous to finish your turn before the filter light appears.

What is meant by ' drive into the junction? Do they mean drive straight on and wait for a safe gap?

the-island-man

Ashleigh1986 wrote: »

This sums up galway city .
Going out of the galmont hotel and you come to the traffic lights at Lough atalia .
You want to turn left heading towards the huntsman .
Filter light comes on at traffic lights near you but no filter light on the set of lights that are facing you .
Of course most people are watching the lights across from you that don't have a filter light .
Happens all the time .

This happened me during the week!

[Deleted User]

bobbyss wrote: »

What is meant by ' drive into the junction? Do they mean drive straight on and wait for a safe gap?

Yeah that’s what they mean.

45mhrc7evo1d3n

bobbyss wrote: »

What is meant by ' drive into the junction? Do they mean drive straight on and wait for a safe gap?

That’s it exactly.

xckjoo

bobbyss wrote: »

What is meant by ' drive into the junction? Do they mean drive straight on and wait for a safe gap?

Except at Ravens Terrace (Fire Station) and the junction at the hospital as they need to be kept clear for Emergency Services access. That'll probably only catch you if you're doing your driving test though. Think most people have forgotten.

Mrs OBumble

xckjoo wrote: »

Except at Ravens Terrace (Fire Station) and the junction at the hospital as they need to be kept clear for Emergency Services access. That'll probably only catch you if you're doing your driving test though. Think most people have forgotten.

Or any other junction where there's a yellow box.

joeKel73

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Or any other junction where there's a yellow box.

No you can wait in a yellow box if waiting for a gap to turn right.

Rules of the Road...
"An exception is when you want to turn right. In this case, you may enter the yellow box junction while waiting for a gap in traffic coming from the opposite direction. However, don’t enter the box if to do so would block other traffic that has the right of way."

joeKel73

xckjoo wrote: »

Except at Ravens Terrace (Fire Station) and the junction at the hospital as they need to be kept clear for Emergency Services access. That'll probably only catch you if you're doing your driving test though. Think most people have forgotten.

Is this in the Rules of the Road? Sounds more like common decency than a rule or law. The route for emergency services access isn't marked with signage so might not very clear for non-locals.

xckjoo

J o e wrote: »

Is this in the Rules of the Road? Sounds more like common decency than a rule or law. The route for emergency services access isn't marked with signage so might not very clear for non-locals.

I was taught it when learning to drive all those years ago. In my head it was in the ROTR but could be misremembering. Thought it was in the "instant fail" category of mistakes

45mhrc7evo1d3n

J o e wrote: »

Is this in the Rules of the Road? Sounds more like common decency than a rule or law. The route for emergency services access isn't marked with signage so might not very clear for non-locals.

I agree, this is not in the Rules of the Road, nor is there any signage to that effect at the junctions mentioned. To be fair, if an emergency vehicle is approaching with sirens blaring, drivers will give way anyway.

xckjoo

Tatum Rapid Bedding wrote: »

I agree, this is not in the Rules of the Road, nor is there any signage to that effect at the junctions mentioned. To be fair, if an emergency vehicle is approaching with sirens blaring, drivers will give way anyway.

Well the idea would be to not block the junction in case you are unable to move when they're trying to get through. If the whole junction is blocked up you might not be able to get out of the way.

Not to start a whole other thing, but the RotR isn't a legal document. It's the RSAs interpretation of the laws. Be careful taking it as gospel on all things road related. In saying that, I've no idea if the junction thing is in law and I highly doubt you'd be charged for it anyway, unless something really terrible happens.

Storm 10

Traffic lights at the Town Hall are a complete joke, you get very little time to get out on a Green, this morning turning right for Eglinton Street the Green arrow came on and only two cars went right before they went Red again, its definitely the traffic lights that are playing a major part in the traffic delays.

joeKel73

xckjoo wrote: »

It's the RSAs interpretation of the laws.

Yeah it's not even that, it's more of a guide of how to play nice together on the roads. For roundabouts, for example, I think all that's written in law is that you turn left onto one (go clockwise)!

dilallio

Storm 10 wrote: »

Traffic lights at the Town Hall are a complete joke, you get very little time to get out on a Green, this morning turning right for Eglinton Street the Green arrow came on and only two cars went right before they went Red again, its definitely the traffic lights that are playing a major part in the traffic delays.

The city council tried to do away with the pedestrian lights there about 10 years ago but pressure from woodquay residents forced them to change their mind.

zell12

dilallio wrote: »

The city council tried to do away with the pedestrian lights there about 10 years ago but pressure from woodquay residents forced them to change their mind.

Link to source?

what_traffic

dilallio wrote: »

The city council tried to do away with the pedestrian lights there about 10 years ago but pressure from woodquay residents forced them to change their mind.

Not biggest fan of Galway City Council - but I doubt very much they would have even contemplated this? Court House, Town Hall Theater, two National Schools all with 30 meters of this junction.
Are you mixing up with the Standalone Pedestrian lights at Woodquay Car Park?

dilallio

what_traffic wrote: »

Not biggest fan of Galway City Council - but I doubt very much they would have even contemplated this? Court House, Town Hall Theater, two National Schools all with 30 meters of this junction.
Are you mixing up with the Standalone Pedestrian lights at Woodquay Car Park?

No. It was one of the council engineers who told me this back then. He said that Bus Eireann were saying that this junction was the biggest bottleneck during peak traffic. They were considering this as there was a nearby 'alternative' - the pedestrian lights at Woodquay car park.

what_traffic

dilallio wrote: »

No. It was one of the council engineers who told me this back then. He said that Bus Eireann were saying that this junction was the biggest bottleneck during peak traffic. They were considering this as there was a nearby 'alternative' - the pedestrian lights at Woodquay car park.

Thanks - ok my opinion of them is rock bottom now.

When was then?
I think they have learned a bit since then.
At least the latest proposal now is to remove the car traffic here rather than the lights.

dilallio

what_traffic wrote: »

Thanks - ok my opinion of them is rock bottom now.
When was then?
I think they have learned a bit since then.
At least the latest proposal now is to remove the car traffic here rather than the lights.

It was around 10 years ago - could be 1 to 3 years longer. My father-in-law (since deceased) was working for the council in one of the road-crews and I used to run into the engineer who managed his crew quite a bit, who told me this. I don't know though, how serious or advanced these plans were or at what stage they were abandoned.

xckjoo

Love the logic. Surely it's the small number of people that quickly cross the road that cause the issue, and not all the cars that permanently block up the junction. You don't even need the green man at busy times. It's so choked up you can just wander between the cars whenever suits.

irisheddie85

The sequencing at the town hall was changed in the last year or so.
It used to be headford green followed by eglington green followed by pedestrian green. When it was like this at peak traffic times no one could turn out of eglington street side as both sides of the junction were full of headford road traffic. Now it goes headford followed by pedestrian followed by eglington. With the new sequence it gives time for space to open up on either side of the junction for a few cars or buses to actually clear the junction on the green light.
As far as I can tell the reason for the green filter light to turn right up eglington street from headford road is because the last thing Galway needs is more cars trying to go around Eyre square at peak traffic times. The idea is the send traffic out what should be the main routes out of town like out the headford road instead of back through the centre of town.

(Replace the use of eglington street with Francis street but everyone knows what road I mean)

what_traffic

irisheddie85 wrote: »

As far as I can tell the reason for the green filter light to turn right up eglington street from headford road is because the last thing Galway needs is more cars trying to go around Eyre square at peak traffic times.

Agree with this. Should be facilitating buses in the Centre.
Never understood road traffic layout and traffic light sequencing at Bhrendan Ui Eithir(road linking Bohermore with College Road and the Fairgreen Road. Both are designed to funnel vehicular traffic into Eyre Sq via Forster Street.

There is plans for change of this junction with the Galway Transportation Strategy.

westgolf

irisheddie85 wrote: »

The sequencing at the town hall was changed in the last year or so.
It used to be headford green followed by eglington green followed by pedestrian green. When it was like this at peak traffic times no one could turn out of eglington street side as both sides of the junction were full of headford road traffic. Now it goes headford followed by pedestrian followed by eglington. With the new sequence it gives time for space to open up on either side of the junction for a few cars or buses to actually clear the junction on the green light.
As far as I can tell the reason for the green filter light to turn right up eglington street from headford road is because the last thing Galway needs is more cars trying to go around Eyre square at peak traffic times. The idea is the send traffic out what should be the main routes out of town like out the headford road instead of back through the centre of town.

(Replace the use of eglington street with Francis street but everyone knows what road I mean)

Re courthouse lights specifically.. about 7/8 years ago the controller box failed and these lights were out of order for ten days or so. It was a topic of conversation both at council meetings and among locals how well the flow of traffic was moving. Proof positive that the signalling and sequencing is a mess.

irisheddie85

westgolf wrote: »

Re courthouse lights specifically.. about 7/8 years ago the controller box failed and these lights were out of order for ten days or so. It was a topic of conversation both at council meetings and among locals how well the flow of traffic was moving. Proof positive that the signalling and sequencing is a mess.

Lights out of order work really well until they don't and then someone is killed or seriously injured.

The lights on sqr stop working from time to time and traffic moves a lot quicker along there when they do but I wouldn't want to be a pedestrian trying to cross the road when they are out.

There are a lot more pedestrians going through the town hall junction and they deserve to use the junction as safely as possible.

joeKel73

westgolf wrote: »

Re courthouse lights specifically.. about 7/8 years ago the controller box failed and these lights were out of order for ten days or so. It was a topic of conversation both at council meetings and among locals how well the flow of traffic was moving. Proof positive that the signalling and sequencing is a mess.

Shows how well traffic could move if they'd finally starting controlling the lights centrally and monitor cameras. So many junctions in Galway with one road blocked up while everyone waits on the green light for an empty road.

[Deleted User]

J o e wrote: »

Shows how well traffic could move if they'd finally starting controlling the lights centrally and monitor cameras. So many junctions in Galway with one road blocked up while everyone waits on the green light for an empty road.

Being controlled centrally and/or monitoring cameras will not change that much

joeKel73

I think it'd make a huge difference across the city. A lot of the junctions are very inefficient, there's a lot of waiting for a green light phase for a road that's either empty or already blocked up.

A good example of the potential improvement is around Parkmore area during Race Week. There are junctions that are blocked up Mon-Fri all year round. But during Race Week with even more traffic dropping in the area everything runs smoothly as the Gardai man the junctions. They can see what flows are backing up and give them priority to pass through and they always keep someone moving through the junction.

[Deleted User]

What exactly do you think the lone person monitoring the caneras/lights is going to be doing?

Maybe flicking switches on a massive dashboard rapidly while scanning a wall of monitors just to get a handful of extra cars through each and every signaled junction in the city

Not likely.

Mrs OBumble

[Deleted User] wrote: »

What exactly do you think the lone person monitoring the caneras/lights is going to be doing?

Maybe flicking switches on a massive dashboard rapidly while scanning a wall of monitors just to get a handful of extra cars through each and every signaled junction in the city

Not likely.

Of all the jobs ripe for replacement by an AI robot, this would be the primest candidate.

Oh wait... intelligent control centre... isn't that what we already have?

Sometimes what looks sub optimal to you is actually the better opton for flow city wide: keeping you at junction A for an extra 20 seconds means junction C works better.l gor everyone l. Etc.

Ashleigh1986

The people on this forum that say ... " we already have an intelligent control center " .... Maybe able to answer these questions for me
(1) which lights are monitored ?
(2) what times are they been monitored at ?
(3) how many people are monitoring them ?
(4) what expertise has this person or people have ?
......I'm driving in galway city every week between 50 to 60 hours
Personally I would love to meet this person because beleive me
Give me street intelligence over book intelligence !!!!!