Suikerbossie traffic lights & general road safety

[Velouria]

Sorry to have to tell you, the general rule is that the vehicle approaching from the right has right of way. So, if you get to the circle a vehicle in the circle or entering from your right, has the right of way

 

Would anyone like a lesson on dual lane circles and what the rules are around those? From my experience it appears people are generally lacking in knowledge on that subject as well

 

 

Edit: Claremont circle mentioned earlier is the exception. Don't know what mastermind decided it should be different. I can imagine it causes much confusion.

Yoh - the return of the MintSauce! To comment on circles...

 

While there are statutory rules on how a circle (and in particular a mini circle) should work, the general rule is - don't be a d!ck. If you see someone has been waiting for ages - let them in. 

 

(In Somerset West, during The Great Circle Wars of the early 2000s, traffic on Lourensford Road would never yield to any of the side roads, which resulted in one disgruntled side street resident to modify the "Yield to the Right" sign to read "Yield to the Rich" - the direction of Erinvale)

[Velouria]

In Saudi I've actually seen timers at the robots, so while the robot is green you can see the number of seconds the robot will remain green for, before the Orange light comes on.

"Traffic signal countdown timers work well at fixed-time signals, Hurwitz said, but they may not be practical for actuated signals; at those intersections, he said, a light typically changes only one to four seconds after the decision to change it is made – not enough time for a countdown timer to be of value."

 

from https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/traffic-signal-countdown-timers-lead-improved-driver-responses

 

And then there is the risk of vehicles speeding up as the timer decreases in order to make the light...

[DieselnDust]

another big accident waiting to happen is the Uxbridge ?main rd intersection in Lakeside. Cyclists routinely run that light when red thinking there won't be a car coming out the side street on the mountain side. A few Cyclelab groups are regular offenders here. to create enough stopping distance requires one to treat every intersection the same ...i.e. anticipate that the vehicle coming from the side street hasn't seen you and ride accordingly. At traffic circles assume no one knows whats going on because its true

[Capricorn]

doesn't matter how much engineering is applied: at the end of the day, someone still has to apply good judgement and actually apply the brakes in a conservative fashion to ensure they come to a stop at the requisite location. this is human nature, and beyond all good engineering attempts outside of autonomous vehicles, jail cells and coffins, using beautifully engineered wood.

[Cippo]

A traffic light has 5 colours, fresh green, stale green, fresh red, stale red and amber (orange). Common sense should prevail when deciding to brake or drive through. Even though a light is green I still make a point of scanning the intersection to see if other traffic has stopped or taking that last gap. 

[MintSauce]

False. Traffic circles have different rules to roundabouts, and if youre unsure, there will be the correct signage to guide you.

 

https://www.arrivealive.mobi/driving-around-traffic-circle-roundabout

 

 

 

 Erm...it appears to say exactly what I said...? 

 

"In South Africa we often refer to roundabouts as “traffic circles”..."

 

"As you enter the roundabout, traffic coming from your right has right of way. This means that traffic streaming into the roundabout from the entrance to your right will keep coming as long as no one is coming from their right.

 

These cars may not even slow down as they enter the roundabout, because they have the right of way. You must stop and wait until there is a break in traffic"

[Mamil]

and more and more people are taking fresh red to mean "there's still time for me to squeeze through ...oh sh!t there isn't --- doesn't matter I'll just brazen it out"

 

 

A traffic light has 5 colours, fresh green, stale green, fresh red, stale red and amber (orange). Common sense should prevail when deciding to brake or drive through. Even though a light is green I still make a point of scanning the intersection to see if other traffic has stopped or taking that last gap. 

[andreas17777]

Seeing the numbers I want to agree with you and logically it sounds like it would work, but it doesn't align with the time I skidded a bit into an intersection. I checked, from where I remember braking was about 75-78m ahead of the stopping line. With the mtb 40m would've been fine, but with the road bike, 70m wasn't enough.

 

Am I perhaps misunderstanding you - do you just mean slow down to a speed one can respond to more acutely, or do you mean come to a dead stop? Dead stop doesn't sound right to me, but while slowing down/skidding is favourable, controlling a bike braking from speed can be disastrous too.

Ok, so I take back what I said. Just went for a ride and tested reaction time and breaking down a hill towards a traffic light. I was going around 63 km/h 50m out when the light turned yellow. Had no chance of stopping, I did feel unsafe. So just be cautious when approaching a light, like most cyclists do.

[porqui]

Ok, ........ 50m out when the light turned yellow. Had no chance of stopping, I did feel unsafe.

 

So what  did you do, go through the red light ??

 

At least you tried !!

[Dubber]

So, if you get to the circle a vehicle in the circle or entering from your right, has the right of way

 

 

That is true for a Roundabout/Circle.  The rules are different at a mini-roundabout/mini-circle.

 

At a mini-roundabout a vehicle entering from the right would potentially have to give way to a vehicle entering from the left if the vehicle on the left was at the intersection first.   Sounds intuitive, but often the person on the left gets to the circle first,starts to enter and then a speeding driver enters from the right (after the other driver) and blasts the guy on the left for not yielding...

 

Mini-roundabouts/circles and full circles are denoted by different traffic signs...

[Headshot]

Sorry to have to tell you, the general rule is that the vehicle approaching from the right has right of way. So, if you get to the circle a vehicle in the circle or entering from your right, has the right of way

 

Would anyone like a lesson on dual lane circles and what the rules are around those? From my experience it appears people are generally lacking in knowledge on that subject as well

 

 

Edit: Claremont circle mentioned earlier is the exception. Don't know what mastermind decided it should be different. I can imagine it causes much confusion.

Yes and no. The way you have put it implies that every driver coming from your right has right of way in perpetuity versus you and the stream of cars behind you. This defeats the object of a circle but appeals to people because they don't have to be courteous to other drivers and can just sommer drive.

 

In fact, from an explanation I heard from a traffic dept employee, several years ago, it is the person who arrives at end enters the circle first who has right of way. So, if the driver to your right arrived at the circle after you, you may enter the circle before him. Most Saffers don't actually know that and get irate when a car enters the circle ahead of them from their left even though they've been part of a long stream of cars and arrived at the circle long after the car that has entered ahead of them. 

[seven]

Yes and no. The way you have put it implies that every driver coming from your right has right of way in perpetuity versus you and the stream of cars behind you. This defeats the object of a circle but appeals to people because they don't have to be courteous to other drivers and can just sommer drive.

 

In fact, from an explanation I heard from a traffic dept employee, several years ago, it is the person who arrives at end enters the circle first who has right of way. So, if the driver to your right arrived at the circle after you, you may enter the circle before him. Most Saffers don't actually know that and get irate when a car enters the circle ahead of them from their left even though they've been part of a long stream of cars and arrived at the circle long after the car that has entered ahead of them.

Not to detract from the thread, but...

There are 2 sets of rules, depending on the type of circle:

1... traffic calming (small) circles... 1st at the circle should enter the circle 1st...

2... large circles (think Welkom style)... vehicle from the right (vehicle already in circle) has right of way...

[Stretch]

Come live in a country that had never has 4 way stops but a million roundabouts... The rule that right has way applies firmly.

[Eddy Gordo]

Botswana has lots of traffic circles. Traffic flows extremely well with very little backlog.

[Spinnekop]

Not to detract from the thread, but...

There are 2 sets of rules, depending on the type of circle:

1... traffic calming (small) circles... 1st at the circle should enter the circle 1st...

2... large circles (think Welkom style)... vehicle from the right (vehicle already in circle) has right of way...

This should be pinned somewhere.

 

Educate!!!

[DieselnDust]

Botswana has lots of traffic circles. Traffic flows extremely well with very little backlog.

But people know how to drive in Botswana..