OT - unbelievable

On or around Sat, 15 Jul 2006 17:24:53 +0100, "Nige" enlightened us thusly:

some of them.

and they must obey the rules and it's absolutely right that they get fined just the same as I would for infringing them.

properly done, a roundabout will do all of that

You and I will have to disagree on this - I think that the problem is that roundabout traffic is sometimes too fast for a vehicle at a standing start to merge into. Smaller roundabouts or sharper turns would make the traffic speed slower.

I agree - all of that. This type of traffic management is kiddie stuff. FFS my local big supermarket has a set of lights controlling the junction

- why these are operating at 2:00 in the morning is anybodys guess.

don't be fooled - it's a sticky plaster over bad design.

They are generally ingnored IME.

The 'problem' at many junctions is only apparent during times of peak usage. Well traffic jams are what happens when it's busy - there's little point in designing a traffic system for every eventuality.

At 8:00AM there is the expectation of delays. At 10:00AM they should really be the exception.

On or around Mon, 17 Jul 2006 16:18:01 +0100, "William Tasso" enlightened us thusly:

not when there's a constant flow of traffic across a roundabout. Granted, a PROPER solution to that is a flyover or underpass for the straight-in traffic, but that multiplies the build cost quite considerably, so it doesn't get done much. I see they're building one on the A419 by Swindon though.

well, yes, that is the problem. but slowing the traffic on the heavy through route unduly would create even more delays, I expect.

morons in planning. they should observe the lights for a week or three and work out when they're necessary, then switch 'em off the rest of the time.

yeah, but the typical motorway junction works best it seems as a big roundabout. adding peak-traffic-time lights just makes it a bit more reliable, I reckon. lights all the time is of course silly.

I thought you meant the lights, for a moment, there.

On or around Mon, 17 Jul 2006 22:11:34 +1000, Karen Gallagher enlightened us thusly:

yeah, but the implication was that the bloke didn't pas the red light by mistake, he did it deliberately, does so regularly and when caught in the act instead of just paying the fine and saying "OK, fair cop" he took it to court and challenged it. should be done for wasting police time.

I wonder what the result would be if a motorist did exactly the same?

2 roundabouts on the main road through stoke on trent are getting replaced with underpasses at the moment. its taken then 2 years so far and made it almost impossible to get to certain places without taking very long scenic routes or sitting in queues for hours.