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Y'know what really grinds my gears?

Started by Link Prime, 12 April, 2014, 01:47:44 PM

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Fungus

At busy junctions it's obvious the button does nothing. Lights operate exactly the same regardless of people or button pressing. Also obvious that some buttons - quieter roads - respond to pressing.  My driving instructor - so long ago... - pointed out you can tell which are 'request' buttons, they're coloured differently. White? Not all lights are the same.

And if you find someone pressing the button after you have - and it's lit - then the natural response is to press it again yourself. I know I do  ::)
That really presses their buttons.

The Legendary Shark


When I drove for National Express back in the day, there were a couple of busy junctions down in that London where other road users just wouldn't let us out. Fortunately, there were pedestrian crossings close by so the second driver or hostess would nip out and press the button to stop the traffic so we could get out. We got shouted at a lot for that little trick!

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zombemybabynow

And if you find someone pressing the button after you have - and it's lit - then the natural response is to press it again yourself. I know I do  ::)
That really presses their buttons.


Love it  :thumbsup:
Good manners & bad breath get you nowhere

Dandontdare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QhHSl-bdpU

I won't start, 'cos I could write pages simply about crossing the road, subdivided into sections on Pedestrian Twats, Motorist Twats and Cyclist Twats.

Anyhoo, I'm off out to enjoy the sunshine and traffic fumes  :D

sheridan


The Legendary Shark

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Funt Solo

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 28 June, 2019, 05:12:31 PM
How necessary are traffic lights anyway?

That article made complete sense for someone who lives in a small country village with hardly any through traffic (that already has no traffic lights).
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

The Legendary Shark

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sheridan

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 29 June, 2019, 06:28:28 AM
Why is that?

Because in a busy city you could wait for the whole of rush hour before you'd be able to cross the road - case in point - almost every single time I encounter a crossing with lights, one car will zoom through the amber (they should be stopping if safe to do so) and then about two or three cars will zoom through the red light.  then a car or motorbike will stop half way across the white line, or in the advanced stop line.  That's with the lights - without it there'd be no stopping at all.

MacabreMagpie

Pedestrian crossings in big cities are always a bit of a mystery anyway. I always feel like I'm slightly taking my life into my own hands whenever I cross a road in London!

Weirdest experience I've had was in Manchester once where my friends and I joined a queue at one side of a crossing where the green man was flashing and a car had stopped but nobody was moving. Then the green man changed to the red man and everyone crossed whilst the driver sat and watched, bemused.

When we got to the other side I just turned to my friend and said "did we all do those traffic lights wrong, just now?!"

The Legendary Shark


Are zebra crossings any better than traffic light crossings down in that London? I only ask because around where I live the majority of motorists seem to be happy stopping for them.

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zombemybabynow

Good manners & bad breath get you nowhere

Mardroid

Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 29 June, 2019, 10:23:43 AM

Are zebra crossings any better than traffic light crossings down in that London? I only ask because around where I live the majority of motorists seem to be happy stopping for them.

It depends on region, really. In the town I used to live in South East London (Downham) the cars would always stop for you at the Zebra crossing.

There was another zebra crossing over a narrow part of a main road a few miles away in Peckham. This was a busier more built up busy place, still South London but closer to the centre. Cars rarely stopped at the zebra crossing. Quite an eye opener and nerve jangler.

I'm not entirely sure why that is. Sure Peckham is more built up than Downham but I think there are areas more central where zebra crossings are respected. Seems almost a cultural thing...

Jim_Campbell

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This is going to be... sweaty.


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The Legendary Shark


I used to drive coaches through London all the time and it was always... something. This was in the late 80s and even then driving in London was unlike driving anywhere else. It was literally like being in a herd (clowder?) of cats; nimble cats, fat cats, bad-tempered cats. You soon learned to nip from lane to lane, make cheeky use of bus lanes and to force the issue. Leaving Victoria at the same time, we used to race another National Express coach to the M1. Some of those races were terrifying and some like games of chess but most often not bothered with or run half-heartedly. Very occasionally, and always curiously satisfactorily, the two coaches would run together, assisting one another through the traffic like extremely polite whales.

I never really felt like a proper driver until I'd coped with London.


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