slip road traffic lights

[Mel]

What are these for?!! On Wednesday morning I was joining the M1 northbound at junction 28 (near Alfreton0. There were about 6 or 7 cars spaced out along the slip road, and then the first one stopped. The lights were red and the front driver had spotted them. I was impressed! I hadn't spotted them as I was doing what you are supposed to do on slip roads, judging the traffic on the Motorway, and keeping my eye on the car in front. Anyway we all duly stopped for about 30 seconds. The lights went green and off we went except instead of 6 or 7 well spaced cars joining the M1 there were now about 9 cars in a lump! What was the point of this? There had been a nasty smash on the SOUTHBOUND carriageway just before J28, so northbound traffic was a bit slower due to rubbernecking but not that much.

Can anyone enlighten me.

mel

 

[Gafferbill]

Mel......... our motorways and major routes are being managed now more like the railways always have been.

The are managed from a control room that has the big picture in order to try and keep traffic moving.

Technology has enabled this to happen.

Slip road traffic lights are one of the tools they are using.

You only know what was happening at M1J28 from your vantagepoint at the time you were there.

They actually share some off this technology and information on this website!

http://www.trafficengland.com/index.aspx

 

[Chrisbee]

I only hope they're a bit more on the ball with the signals than they are with the matrix signs or they would forget to turn the lights to green when congestion has eased!

 

[Chrisbee]

Further to my last post, on the M2 this morning in bright sunshine, there were matrix signs warning of the fog which had cleared 4 hours earlier. no wonder people ignore warning signs.

 

[WilliamLX]

This is part of something that really really annoys me. Traffic light proliferation. I am 40, when I learned to drive some 22 years ago there were no lights on slip roads, there were no lights dotted around roundabouts, and on roundabouts you took the inner lane until you had passed the exit before the one you wanted and then you indicated and moved to the outer lane to make the turn. Now you have to know the road you are on as they have specific lanes marked out for every exit, often have traffic lights dotted around the roundabout etc. It is madness. One roundabout (Broadway) on the A12 'Westlink' road that links the M2 and M1 through Belfast requires me to negotiate 5 sets of traffic light to get from where I join the roundabout to where I leave it. These lights seem to be phased to ensure that if you get stopped by the first set, you get stopped by them all. It undoubtedly leads to increased congestion, something which I would say goes for about 90% of traffic lights. If these lights are managed intelligently to ease traffic flow, then how come you often see a busy road get more and more congested while a set of lights let far fewer vehicles through on each Green cycle than build up on each red, while the there is hardly any traffic on the other road involved at the junction??

 

[Chris_374413356]

We now have more road signs than ever before, of course the problem is which speed limit am I in, is 30,40,50, and now on the news today they are bringing in more 20's. So I spend more time looking foe speed signs, speed (sorry safety) cameras, people in front people behind... no eating apples behind the wheel, the list goes on on and on.

Needless to say I don't condone speeding or dangerous driving but please give the law abiding motorist a break.

 

[RogerP]

sore subject this.

for my commute home I travel M6 J9 - J10. There are lights on both slips and the round abouts. At rush hour you get queuing onto the island at J9. The lights at the top of the slip only allow 4 or 5 cars at a time. That bunches the cars trying to get onto the carriageway.

However when the lights are off there's no queuing , no bunching and cars safely merge into the flow.

Mindless.

And dont start me on the lights at J10 , suffice to say when there's a power cut in the area (as there is fairly often) J10 is a joy to negotiate no queues just free flowing traffic.

Sad thing is I know the guy who approved the road layout and he's accutely embarrased about it all especially as its on his commute as well!!!

 

[Mel]

thanks for the replies. I am with RogerP. It seems to me that buching cars together on the slip road makes matters worse not better; but hey, what do i know!

mel

 

[Icemaker]

they have just installed these slip road lights on the clockwise slip at denton island joining the m60 manchester ring road, i can honestly say i have never had any problems with traffic at this slip road untill the day these lights where switched on.

now we have queing traffic right back to debdale around 1.5 miles away and all the way up to hyde on the m67 during the peak. as it happens everyone knows why these lights have been installed and thats quite simply becouse manchester city councill are so p****d off with the con charge being rejected that since it was rejected we have seen most lights in and around manchester having the phasing changed to stop cars more often and we now have 5 second gaps from one set going to red to the other set changing to green so nothing moves at all at the junction for this time.

its been know for a long time that manchester council seem to be creating congestion to force theire ill thought out plans on the people but fortunately we can see right through the plan.

 

[scottironsbtinternet.com]

There is a junction like this in Glasgow,I just ignore the lights and go for a safe gap in the traffic

 

[Thorpedo]

Around 28 years ago I used to join morning rush hour traffic into the centre of Bristol traveling down the M32 and getting stuck in endless traffic jam being directed at junctions and roundabouts by Mr plod the policeman.

The traffic authorities thought it would be a neat trick to try removing the traffic Bobbies as an experiment and let the roundabouts etc do what comes naturally.

Hey presto, first morning of experiment traffic flowed as never before and while I used the route the Police never directed traffic again.

May not be so simple nowadays as traffic must have trippled since then but I often wonder whether there are too many controls on traffic flow.

 

[WilliamLX]

I would say that with out a doubt there are too many traffic lights. I have yet to come across a M-Way slip road where traffic flow has been improved by the installation of lights. I honestly don't know if this is just stupidity or part of some grand scheme to make motoring unbearable.

 

[emmitdb]

Greetings,

Can I also have a moan regarding those drivers who, on motorway slip roads believe without question that the occupier of the inside lane on the motorway MUST, WITHOUT QUESTION move over to accomodate their stately progress onto the said motorway, regardless of the fact that their speed is far slower than the traffic already on the motorway.

I've encountered cars doing a regal 45mph drifting aimlessly into my path when I'm towing.