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A hundred meters? Do you have radar?
No even my 60 year old eyes can detect another road user at 100 meters. An adult at 100 meters subtends an angle of one degree - about the same as the top line on an eye chart.
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Can you qualify your statement please .... I assume you are not simply charging across red lights all the time
Absolutely not. When cycling I
never charge across a red light. When cycling I treat red lights as if they were STOP signs. I stop at the white line. Make sure that no pedestrians are wanting to cross (and that there are no police about
)
Make sure that there is time to safely make my manoeuvre. If visibility is blocked so that I can't be sure that the road is clear then I wait for green.
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are you saying you stop at a crossroads, look each and every way and check all traffic and mammals with your thermal camera before proceeding to go over on red?
No I check with my peepers the same as I would at a STOP or GIVE WAY sign. If radar or thermal imaging is needed to check for safety then I accept the judgement of the lights and wait for green
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do you want to do away with all lights?
Not all of them. Many serve a useful purpose, enhancing traffic flow and increasing road safety. But many do the opposite, obstructing traffic without any obvious benefit in safety. I would change these lights so that green means you have priority and a flashing red light has the same meaning as a STOP sign
I am increasingly irritated by the way traffic lights are being used to slow traffic rather than to optimise traffic flow. Originally traffic lights had two movement phases and a short transition phase. With the simple rubber pad controllers a red light would quickly change to green on the approach of a vehicle if the other road was clear.
Many modern lights often allow only one road to move at a time, have long all-red periods so that non-existent pedestrians can cross and seem to have little adaptation to traffic volume. The technique of phasing lights so that vehicles travelling near the posted speed find a series of green lights seems to have been lost. Or even reversed to ensure that every light is met at red.
Apart from my PC, traffic lights are the only inanimate objects at which I routinely curse aloud. They are an insult to my intelligence and judgement and are turning motorists into unthinking zombies. [/rant]