I found this YT video to be informative, and surprisingly entertaining, on how traffic lights work. He shows the modules in the control box and explains what each does and how the system determines when or if to switch statuses.
How Traffic Lights Work
- Thread starter rstsco
- Start date
Thanks for posting.
I must watch it later so I can absorb it.
It's ironic that here I expected -and was ready for- the "half-hour video" because it easily could contain lots of varying applications etc.
However, we get a merciful 8 minutes.
I must watch it later so I can absorb it.
It's ironic that here I expected -and was ready for- the "half-hour video" because it easily could contain lots of varying applications etc.
However, we get a merciful 8 minutes.
We used to have a few of us that had complete sets of controller box keys to use when a storm would put the lights in flash due to surge. We could simply reset the controller and resolve the conflict situation and not have to stand out in the pouring rain trying to direct traffic. The sign and signal department eventually got mad at us for doing this as a simple reset wiped out the stored conflict trigger codes and they had to go through entire menus to determine what caused them. We had a sit down and told them the conflict always happened after a storm and they said, "oh that's just electrical surge". We asked if there was something we could do that would reset the lights and not wipe the memory, because their response time was over an hour and we had more intersections than officers to handle traffic duty. They taught us the codes to punch in to reset the lights and keep conflict codes intact. No more flashing traffic lights, waiting for then to respond, or standing in the rain with crazy traffic. Learned a lot about how they work after these lessons.
Good stuff.
Thought they were mostly controlled by timers.
Starts to make sense as when I travel the shore communities during the busy summer
you can follow groups of cars and seem to time the lights avoiding the reds on the main
thoroughfares.
I'm a bit puzzled by the strobes in use for emergency vehicles. I mostly see ambulances and police cars
stopping and crossing intersections where the lights are not in their favor.
Thought they were mostly controlled by timers.
Starts to make sense as when I travel the shore communities during the busy summer
you can follow groups of cars and seem to time the lights avoiding the reds on the main
thoroughfares.
I'm a bit puzzled by the strobes in use for emergency vehicles. I mostly see ambulances and police cars
stopping and crossing intersections where the lights are not in their favor.
It might be those controllers don't have the necessary circuitry. Also, it's possible you're noticing those trying to get through an intersection on a red light more than those just being able to drive through. Watching human behavior may be causing you to focus on them, e.g. are they going to stop and give way, or are they going to ignore the lights and sirens because their light is green, darn it!
Not all communities use the Opticon strobes/sensors. One of the major response safety procedures is to ALWAYS stop and cross an intersection "with due regard for safety" when you are confronted with a red traffic signal. Good practice, but no everyone does this. Easy to get tunneled and not widen the big picture and be aware of whats going on around you in these situations though. Even with all the training.
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He should have started with "A red light facing you means STOP". I don't go thru any intersection on a green without looking both directions.
Train crossings too. This takes "any time is train time" to the extreme. I fast-forward to the important part...47 second video and the first 30 seconds is all fluff.
There is an intersection near our mall on a busy road that's a disaster. The light nearest the fwy is controlled by Caltrans. The next one a few feet away is controlled by the city of Victorville but only for East West traffic. The SB and NB is controlled by the city of Hesperia.
These lights are completely out of sync. You get past the first light but the 2nd is red so you are staying the intersection etc. it's a mess.
Caltrans and the city have been fighting over this mess for many years
These lights are completely out of sync. You get past the first light but the 2nd is red so you are staying the intersection etc. it's a mess.
Caltrans and the city have been fighting over this mess for many years
Amazing. They can explain an entire complex traffic light control system in 8 minutes.
Some guy changing a spark plug will ramble on for the first 8 minutes on how to acquire a new spark plug.
And the feds control the airspace above both intersections. Gotta love it!
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