From: Ian Jackson on
In message <8bih2iFou9U1(a)mid.individual.net>, Matt B
<matt.bourke(a)nospam.london.com> writes
>On 31/07/2010 10:38, Derek C wrote:
>> On Jul 31, 10:28 am, Ian Jackson
>> <ianREMOVETHISjack...(a)g3ohx.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>> In message<8bi4rrFhb...(a)mid.individual.net>, Matt B
>>> <matt.bou...(a)nospam.london.com> writes
>>>> On 31/07/2010 09:00, Derek C wrote:
>>>
>>>>> If you didn't
>>>>> have traffic lights, you might find it difficult to enter a main road
>>>>> from a minor one with give way signs at busy times of day.
>>>
>>>> What if you didn't have give-way limes or signs either, and there was
>>>> no defined priority - just an imaginatively cobbled or garishly painted
>>>> free-for-all zone in the middle? This is the case when traffic lights
>>>> break down (except for the cobbled or painted bit!), and in such
>>>> circumstances the junctions generally flow more efficiently.
>>>
>>> Apart from the bit about 'no defined priority', you are well on the way
>>> to inventing the (mini) roundabout!
>>
>> Yuk! 'After you'. 'No after you'. Crunch!
>
>Have you ever watched the classic Martin Cassini short documentary
>video on traffic lights?

No - but I have now.

> It's over 8 minutes long, but every second is worth watching!
>
><http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YV3Cru7aE>
>
A very short 8 minutes.
It confirms what I have come to realise - that traffic lights are there
simply to stop traffic as much as possible.
--
Ian
From: Tony Raven on
Matt B wrote:
>
> Have you ever watched the classic Martin Cassini short documentary video
> on traffic lights? It's over 8 minutes long, but every second is worth
> watching!
>
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_YV3Cru7aE>
>

I'm a great fan of the Naked Streets concept but the documentary seems
to be unaware of another role of traffic lights in a modern city. Many
are now networked and monitored to automatically manage traffic flows
and prevent gridlock occurring at bottlenecks which then propagates back
to jams throughout the system. Quite often when you are fuming at being
held up at a red traffic light with no cross traffic they may well be
throttling traffic into a bottleneck further along.

--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell
From: Tony Raven on
Matt B wrote:
>
> Have you ever watched the classic Martin Cassini short documentary video
> on traffic lights? It's over 8 minutes long, but every second is worth
> watching!
>

TfL are stripping out about 15% of the traffic lights in London. There
is a list of them here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/Signal%20Removal%20List_01_07_10.pdf


--
Tony

" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell
From: Steve Firth on
Mr. Benn <nospam(a)invalid.invalid> wrote:

> > I also note that when a motorist commits an offence the balance of
> > opinion among other motorists tends towards "the plonker got what he
> > deserved", whereas the psycholists all club together and whine that a
> > motorist would have got off without penalty, which is the sort of lie
> > that the psycholists like to repeat.
>
> That's because motorists are individuals. Psycholists are members of a
> tribe.

It's more than that, the majority of motorists are law abiding, have a
serious and sensible attitude towards being in control of a car and
behave themselves pretty well, especially when considered in an
international context of "how good are British drivers vs the rest". The
psycholists seem to be drawn from a population of complete and utter
twats who think that the law apllies to everyone except them and who
have utter contempt for their own and other people's safety.

URC/URCM typify the twattish attitude with their anti-safety messages
(e.g. cycling helmets, red light jumping, cycling on pavements, use of
pedestrian crossings) and their unthinking sheep-like suport for any
cyclist brought firmly and fairly to book for road traffic offences.
Utter pathetic fucknuts every last one of them.
From: Just zis Guy, you know? on
On Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:55:36 -0700 (PDT), Derek C
<del.copeland(a)tiscali.co.uk> wrote:

>On Jul 31, 10:39�am, Tony Raven <tra...(a)gotadsl.co.uk> wrote:
>> Derek C wrote:
>>
>> > How often do cyclists get fined?
>>
>> Fairly often but they usually accept the FPN of �30. �If they contest
>> any such penalty and take it to Court then they will usually get hit
>> with a much bigger fine plus costs if they are found guilty to
>> discourage people from clogging up the Courts contesting them. �All of
>> your examples and mine appear to be people who have contested it in Court.
>>
>> --
>> Tony
>>
>Come on Tony! Once in a blue moon, the Police send a few junior
>officers out for an hour or two to nick a few cyclists, because of
>political pressure from the general public who are fed up with their
>law breaking antics. They can't be caught by cameras because of their
>lack of registration plates, unlike cars.

This is probably a reflection of the fact that cyclists are far more
likely to be killed by a motorist jumping a red light than by jumping
it themselves.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/
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