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Traffic Lights

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Traffic lights

Traffic lights contol the flow of traffic, but what exactly does that mean?
Would the roads be safer and less congested if we were to abolish traffic lights altogether? Newsnight shown on BBC asked campaigner Martin Cassini why he thinks traffic lights cause more problems than they were designed to solve.

If you are studying for your driving test and are not not sure how traffic lights operate, then go to this page Traffic Light Sequence

They make us take our eyes off the road and stop us when it is safe to go. There is nothing more frustrating as a driver when you have to stop at a red light when there is no one there to stop for.
For those learning to drive, green on a traffic light does not mean you should go. It means you may go if it is clear and safe to go. Try telling that though to a motorist who has been waiting in a red light for 4 minutes and at the change to green, a pedestrian tries to cross the road. Hence possible road rage and a blow on the horn.

If there were no traffic lights and this irrate motorist had to navigate through other traffic, slowly, including pedestrians, then there would be no horn blowing as it would be assumed common courtesy would prevail and everyone had a right to go there own way. Whereas a green light gives drivers the false impression that they have right of way. Take this 'hypothetical' power away and you have a more considerate (mostly) road user.

The first traffic light was said to have been built outside the Houses of Parliament in 1868 and since then they have been added mostly randomly to help drivers emerge from side roads. THere are now around 14,000 traffic lights in the UK.

Would our roads be safer and less congested if we were free of traffic lights and free to filter in turn? Newsnight asked campaigner Martin Cassini why he thinks they would.

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