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The Arrangement and Installation of Automatic Traffic Signals.

24th December 1929
Page 36
Page 36, 24th December 1929 — The Arrangement and Installation of Automatic Traffic Signals.
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FROM time to time we have referred in the pages of The Commercial Motor to various aspects of automatic traffic regulation, pointing out the need for placing the signals so that they are readily seen by all road users. Two further points demand attention. First is the question of indicating to the driver of a vehicle whether the amber-coloured light will give place to the red light or to the green light. Obviously the driver who has come to rest immediately the green light disappears knows the position. In the case of another driver approaching the crossing a few seconds later, however, there is the uncertainty as to what the next signal will be ; this causes hesitation and often occasions unnecessary slowing down of the traffic stream.

In Leeds an interesting new scheme is being adopted ; when the red light is due to be extinguished, instead of changing to amber, both the red and the amber are illuminated simultaneously. When the correct period has expired these lights give place to the green one, which in turn is followed by the amber light and then the red one, thus completing a cycle of operations. It will be realized that the amber light is a signal for stopping, whereas when the red and the amber are seen together the driver is warned that in a short space of time he may proceed. The second point which demands attention is that the signals should be applicable to all forms of traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular ; If this be done, there is less possibility of accident, because each stream of traffic, whether along the road or across it, has only to look ahead and not to the sides as well. An allied question is that of putting white lines acrOss the road at some distance from the traffic signal. This means that the signal is not obstructed by vehicles close to it—so that the drivers farther back can see it—and Ma space between the white line and the farther end of the island is available as a safety zone for pedestrians.

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Locations: Leeds

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