Safe Speed Forums

I was thinking the other day after hearing the advert that claims all the countries street lights could be powered if every household switched to low wattage bulbs. What is the real impact of cameras, unneccessary lights and other electronic traffic management devices (I think the speed bump argument has already been won).

What would happen if we removed every other street light?
what would happen if many minor traffic lights were replaced with mini roundabouts?
what would happen if we allowed a turn left with caution on red (in terms of emmision reductions).
How much power do all the speed cameras and their cctv protectors consume?
What is the polution caused by all the talivans?
should people be worried about having a gatso near their home in terms of Emmisions.

I have just got a car which displays fuel consumption as you drive.

Driving along at around 30mph it does roughly 30mpg.

Except in the local traffic aggravation scheme where it averages 10mpg.

And I bet when you drive it at 70 mph on the motorway it does a lot better than 30 mpg

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

I've been thinking about this one too. When I exit the road I live on, it's a T junction, with traffic light control, and I can only turn left as I'm pulling onto a 3 lane one way ring road. The phase is lengthy, so I can often be waiting for one to two minutes. What typically happens is that the road is empty, as all the traffic is held up at some traffic lights 400m up the road, but I can't pull out because the traffic lights are on red. So I wait, and wait, and wait. Then finally, a mass of traffic starts to descend on the T junction, a few of them get through, then the lights change, so they all have to stop, and I can pull out. It's quite common to only have 1 car waiting to pull out from my road when the lights go to green. If the red light merely meant give way, then cars could exit the minor road when the way ahead is clear.

That particular case sounds much more like pointless traffic lights. With upstream lights breaking up the flow, why does your road need lights at all?

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Traffic light controlled roundabouts can also have a negative impact on the environment. The A444 M6 junction has the lights timed to help the major flow of traffic during the rush hour when arguably needed, but during the day when the lights are no longer helpful, they are instead set to ensure that all traffic is forced to stop at least once.

A return to the road building policies of the seventies with grade separated junctions instead of the roundabouts which are now used would have huge positive environmental as well as safety gains.

That's an interesting question, and quite a complex one that goes back a long way. I was going to try to explain it all, but it got very long. Suffice to say, I'm not sure whether the lights have a positive or negative total effect. Any negative effect on traffic that has to use the road is potentially outweighed by deterring traffic from rat running. I think, at busy times, it typically now takes less time to pull out than it used to, but it's very hard to be sure.

They also installed humps before the traffic lights were added, to deter rat running, and whilst I was against the humps, I have to admit they have enormously reduced noise levels for residents.