Traffic light

“ The frequency of street intersections is the cause of excessive stops and starts in cities. Every intersection also introduces substantial elements of delay and congestion.
If the permissible speed of moving traffic is 35 miles per hour, a halt of only half a minute at a traffic light consumes time in which each halted vehicle, but for the stop, would have advanced nearly 4 average city blocks. ”

“ If the crossing is not equipped with such lights, but vehicular traffic is regulated by traffic light signals or by an authorized official, pedestrians shall not step onto the carriageway while the traffic light signal or the signal given by the authorized official indicates that vehicles may proceed along it ”

“ In any country, included USA, there is a white line in front of any traffic light. If the traffic light changes to red and somebody stops after passing the line by 10-cm e.g., this is illegal in the USA and the driver is called in court. In Europe this 'illegality' produces at most smiles. ”

“ From nightfall and during the night, or when atmospheric conditions render it necessary, every vehicle or combination of vehicles on a road shall show at least one white light in front and at least one red light in the rear. When a vehicle, other than a cycle or a motorcycle without sidecar, is provided with only one white light in front, this shall be placed on the side nearest to traffic coming from the opposite direction. In countries where two white front lights are obligatory, such lights shall be placed one on the right and one on the left of the vehicle. ”

“ The red light stands for no through traffic; the green light stands for passage permitted; and the yellow light stands for warning.
Article 27 Warning lights, warning signs or protective safety facilities shall be put up at the level crossing of railroads and roads. Where there are no guards for a railroad crossing, warning signs shall be put up at a certain distance from the crossing.
Article 28 No units or individuals shall, without authorization, put up, remove, occupy or damage traffic signal lights, traffic signs and traffic line markings. ”

“ But instances are rare indeed in which the congestion of through highways in cities has been attacked at its principal root—the frequent grade intersection of cross streets. Instead of eliminating this principal cause of traffic delay, city authorities have generally resorted to the installation of traffic lights for control of the intersecting traffic streams and the prevention of accidents, and this expedient measure has in some cases been so applied as to increase rather than reduce the obstruction of traffic. ”

“ Double parking;
xi. When parking will obstruct movement of traffic;
xii. On narrow roads;
xiii. In tunnels;
xiv. On bridges;
xv. At entrances of garages (private and public) ;
xvi. Near road works and construction sites;
xvii. If parking obstructs visibility of a traffic light or sign.
14. Lights – The following conditions should be observed in using lights:
a) Make sure front and back lights of vehicle are according to its design;
b) Use high beams on roads with no electric lights and dim lights when a vehicle
approaches from the opposite direction ”

“ Without prejudice to the obligation to obey an instruction to stop given by a light signal or a sound signal, no road-user shall enter a level-crossing at which the gates or half-gates are across the road or in process of being placed across the road, or at which the half-gates are in process of being raised ”

“ Article 39 In light of the specific road conditions and the volume of traffic flow, the traffic control department of the public security organ may take such measures as regulating, restricting and prohibiting the flow of traffic with regard to motor vehicles, non-motor vehicles and pedestrians. Under conditions of large-scale mass activities or construction on a wide scale, for which restrictive traffic measures need to be taken, or decisions directly relating to the road traffic activities of the public need to be made, the matter shall be made known to the public in advance. ”

“ Groups of pedestrians led by a person in charge or forming a procession, must display, on the side opposite to that appropriate to the direction of traffic, at least one white or selective-yellow light to the front and a red light to the rear, or an amber light in both directions ”

“ It is not, therefore, a regulatory requirement to directly light these signs within a system of street lighting. However, some signs may be sited where they will not receive adequate illumination from headlamps, and it might be prudent to provide direct lighting regardless of the regulatory requirements. Examples include signs mounted unusually high above the level of the carriageway, on the off side of the road or at the entrance to a side road. Retroreflection is also less effective where the sign is presented at a large angle to the direction of oncoming traffic. ”

“ The problem can occur even when there is more than one lane. At times of light traffic flow, a vehicle being driven in the left hand lane at 70 mph might close unexpectedly rapidly on a slow-moving lorry, or on a queue of vehicles waiting to pass it. ”

“ On installations at junctions where pedestrian traffic is regular but not exceptionally heavy, we consider it desirable that additional three-light signals (showing the same signal as the appropriate primary signal) should be provided so that a pedestrian about to cross the road at the junction can see at least one signal immediately facing him. ”

“ Article 38 Vehicles and pedestrians shall go by traffic lights; where traffic policemen direct traffic on the spot, they shall go by the direction of traffic policemen; and where there are no traffic signals, they shall follow the principles of ensured safety and unimpeded traffic. ”

“ During the late 1930’s when driver behavior, highway capacity, and traffic control were under intensive study, considerable research was devoted to the effect of highway lighting on traffic operations and safety. For several years prior to this time, illuminating engineers had studied means of reducing nighttime accidents, which were proportionally higher then those in the daytime. ”

“ In this country where the road pattern is so complicated, we think it would assist travellers in finding their way between important towns if a system of Primary routes other than motorways was established, the roads in which would be clearly distinguished by having directional signs of a particular colour. Moreover, we foresee that this distinction might eventually enable a code of improved driver conduct, aimed at improving traffic flow and safety, to be applied generally to these Primary routes. ”

“ In built-up areas where the road is adequately lighted and outside built-up areas where the carriageway is continuously lighted and the lighting is sufficient to enable the driver to see clearly for an adequate distance and to enable other road-users to see the vehicle far enough away ”

“ We recommend that the Regulations be amended to require a considerably higher standard. In particular all warning, mandatory and prohibitory signs, other than waiting restriction signs but including all speed limit signs (other than repeaters) and all advance direction signs should be illuminated by direct lighting wherever there is a system of street lighting. In places where street lighting is switched off or reduced for part of the night the lighting of these signs should be maintained throughout the hours of darkness. ”

“ Reflectorised signs should be so mounted in relation to the carriageway that they can be seen easily in dipped headlights. For, with the increasing volume of vehicles on our roads it will become more and more necessary for drivers to travel with their headlights dipped after dark so as not to endanger oncoming traffic. This also makes it more important for signs at junctions on unlit roads to have independent illumination. ”

“ Having regard to the present regrettable need to use dipped lights in the face of oncoming traffic on the motorway, and to the fact that on a three-lane carriageway the signs, on the left of the hard shoulder, are even further to the side of the fastest traffic than they are at Preston, we consider the use of reflecting material to be very much a second best alternative as compared with electric lighting. ”

“ There is ample support for a legislative determination that the peculiar character of this traffic involves a special type of use of the highways, with enhanced wear and tear on the roads and augmented hazards to other traffic, which imposes on the state a heavier financial burden for highway maintenance and policing than do other types of motor car traffic. ”

“ Where separation of grades at highway intersections is not feasible, and at all points where vehicles may be expected to cross, enter, or leave the interregional highway, the design shall be such as to insure a high degree of safety in crossing, entering or leaving it, without installation of traffic control signals, which shall in no case be employed. ”

“ At certain types of junctions where there is two-phase control, such as T junctions, staggered crossroads and junctions with one-way streets, we think that additional signals should more frequently be installed to ensure that pedestrians can see not only the signals controlling the traffic stream they are about to cross but also those for traffic flowing at right angles. ”

“ This was a privileged roadway; nothing but state-vehicles were allowed to use it, and those at a speed not exceeding one hundred miles an hour.
Other noises were subdued in this city of rubber; the passenger-circles were a hundred yards away, and the subterranean traffic lay too deep for anything but a vibration to make itself felt. It was to remove this vibration, and silence the hum of the ordinary vehicles, that the Government experts had been working for the last twenty years. ”

“ In our view a great deal more could be done by the use of carriageway markings to increase safety at junctions not controlled by traffic signals or police and to remove doubt from the minds of drivers and consequently to make such junctions safer. ”

“ At all points on rural sections of the system where traffic speeds are required to be reduced because of merging traffic or where an unusual degree of caution is required because of traffic or other conditions, the interregional highway and, as necessary, its connections, shall be lighted by fixed-source illumination to provide a maximum degree of safety and convenience of movement at night. ”

“ We believe that an effective step which could be taken to reduce these casualties would be to ensure that at the great majority of junctions, and certainly at those junctions where serious danger exists, the minor road is distinguished from the major so that drivers on the minor road are given a clear indication that they should give way to major road traffic. ”

“ Experience abroad suggests that these lane control signals should be repeated at intervals of not more than 300 yards and that they should not be placed where they can be confused with signals controlling intersections.
249. There is a serious danger that traffic signals in urban areas may fail to be seen because they become confused with the background lights of shops and advertisements. Powers already exist to prevent such lights being placed where they conflict seriously with the efficiency of traffic signals. ”

“ And with all the finesse of their work the traffic moves like molasses. Long double and triple files of touring cars and limousines, the combined cost of which would render statistics such as would gladden the heart of a Sunday editor, make their way up and down the great street tediously. If a man is in a hurry he has no business even to essay the Avenue. And occasionally the whole tangle is double-tangled. The shriek of a fire-engine up a side street or the clang of an ambulance demanding a clear right-of-way makes the traffic question no easier. ”

“ Its use is to be encouraged by furnishing special pathways for it to run upon wherever that is practicable. When used on the main thoroughfares extreme care is necessary. The motorcycle is a rapidly going machine and should be treated in the same category as the automobile.
The matter of lights for non-motorized traffic has been mentioned. It would be well for all to carry lights or reflectors. Motor-cycles with side-cars should carry two lights in front, one for the cycle and the other for the side-car.
Road and Traffic Regulations. ”

“ Bingaman, supra, the evidence in the present case shows that coupled cars, under control of a single driver, subject the highways to increased wear and tear because of their tendency to skid and sway on curves and in passing other traffic, and that the length of the caravans and the inefficiency and irresponsibility of the drivers, casually employed, increase traffic congestion and the inconveniences and hazards of automobile traffic. These circumstances have caused the state to make increased provision for the policing of the traffic. ”

“ It should be the aim to provide room for at least one vehicle turning into the minor road to wait at the crossing without obstructing traffic on the major road. More vehicles should be accommodated if there are large numbers turning. If signalled pedestrian crossings are sited too close to junctions, drivers might mistake a vehicular green signal for a priority signal over traffic on the major road.
15.21 Where part of a lay-by lies within the controlled area, the zig-zag markings should be laid along the edge of the main carriageway. ”

“ Where one-way systems have been introduced signal-heads facing the direction in which traffic no longer flows should be retained and their lenses masked to show only a cross so that pedestrians are warned before traffic starts to move again. ”

“ The lights whether on your car or another car are often serious sources of danger. If there is not enough illumination one is always liable to get off the roadway. If there is a large amount of illumination improperly controlled the glare is quite as dangerous to approaching vehicles. State regulations usually require two white lights ahead and one red light behind. ”