Quick traffic light “hack”
Posted by Lamespotting on 04 May 2009 at 04:00 am | Tagged as: Howto
There’s a small bug that seems to be present in many traffic light controllers that allows you to deny an advance left turn to oncoming traffic. I’ve seen a few other drivers doing this (including a transit bus) so I don’t think this is anything new.
If you see an oncoming car in the left turn lane, don’t pull up to the stop light, pull up 1.5 car lengths behind it. You may be able to see where the sensor loop is if it hasn’t been paved over. Once the cross-traffic clears, both sides will just get a regular green light and you won’t have to wait for the turning traffic.
This only works when:
- That specific light is triggered by a sensor loop. If it’s timer based, this won’t work at all.
- The cars turning left from the cross-street didn’t cut the corner to tightly and run over the sensor.
- There isn’t anybody in the left turn lane on your side
A word of caution however: the turning car may be expecting the advance and may not notice that they don’t have it. Try not to drive into their side as they cut you off.
I don’t think it’s a bug – I think it’s designed to tell if there’s no oncoming traffic (ie, no car detected by the sensor loop in the opposite direction); if there’s no oncoming cars to hold, then there’s no need for the controller to give a left-turn light.
Now if they could make the sensors more sensitive to pick up my bike when I’m trying to make a left turn, that would be nice.
The other thing is, if there’s no cross-traffic, you can get around the red light entirely by making a right turn, then an immediate U-turn, then another right turn back to the direction you’re were heading.
If there is no one going forward, and a person in the left turning lane then why not give them the left turning signal?
I noticed the last time I was in Moncton, on (at least) one street that if there are no cars in the forward lanes (only in the left turning lanes) then the traffic gets their left turning signal and it eventually goes to amber then red, instead of blinding turning on the green light for no one. To me it made more sense.
Also, who thinks that the intersection from Regent to Prospect needs a double left turning lane and that the intersection from Knowledge Park to Regent (northbound) needs an overhaul to deal with the changed traffic patterns.