Sheffield Council and 'Their' Traffic Lights

[Mandem]

Yesterday morning we were off to Derby for the day, and after leaving our house at Crookes we went down to Broomhill, down the dual carriageway past the Childrens Hosp. then on to the inner ring road, down to St. Mary's gate then turned right along Bramall Lane, then up Chesterfield Road, and eventually on to the Unstone By pass. I counted 35 sets of traffic lights and pelican crossings.

We then went into Chesterfield on the by pass, out through Clay Cross and Alfreton and on to the A38 and into Derby, by the time we got to the train station in Derby I had counted 5 sets of lights.

Perhaps Sheffield Councillors should visit other towns and Cities and see that YES, traffic does flow better without all the traffic lights.

[ChrisTodd]

There are lots of traffic lights in Sheffield, way too many really.

 

You drive into town from Grenoside and you can't go very far without getting stuck at a set of lights.

 

Around Hillsborough there are so many sets of lights together, and they seems to add to congestion if anything.

 

It would have been nice for a bit more imagination by the planners to reduce the sets of lights.

[daftlad]

There are lots of traffic lights in Sheffield, way too many really.

 

You drive into town from Grenoside and you can't go very far without getting stuck at a set of lights.

 

Around Hillsborough there are so many sets of lights together, and they seems to add to congestion if anything.

 

It would have been nice for a bit more imagination by the planners to reduce the sets of lights.

 

 

Imagination and planners-two words which do not go together. The amount of traffic lights in Sheffield is ridiculous, no wonder there is congestion all the time. But we all know that the council is anti car so its not really surprising. Its about time they woke and realised the reason people are in their cars is because its cheaper than the bus

[Planner1]

Yesterday morning we were off to Derby for the day, and after leaving our house at Crookes we went down to Broomhill, down the dual carriageway past the Childrens Hosp. then on to the inner ring road, down to St. Mary's gate then turned right along Bramall Lane, then up Chesterfield Road, and eventually on to the Unstone By pass. I counted 35 sets of traffic lights and pelican crossings.

We then went into Chesterfield on the by pass, out through Clay Cross and Alfreton and on to the A38 and into Derby, by the time we got to the train station in Derby I had counted 5 sets of lights.

Perhaps Sheffield Councillors should visit other towns and Cities and see that YES, traffic does flow better without all the traffic lights.

 

Try comparing like - for - like. Clay Cross, Alfreton, Chesterfied and Derby are rather small compared to Sheffield. If you look in major cities, they all have lots of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. That's because there are more people and more vehicles on the road. Traffic lights are needed because at busy times, there aren't sufficient gaps in traffic for vehicles to safely get out of side roads. Pedestrian crossings are needed on busy roads because thre aren't sufficient gaps in the traffic for pedestrians to cross safely.

[Mandem]

Try comparing like - for - like. Clay Cross, Alfreton, Chesterfied and Derby are rather small compared to Sheffield. If you look in major cities, they all have lots of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. That's because there are more people and more vehicles on the road. Traffic lights are needed because at busy times, there aren't sufficient gaps in traffic for vehicles to safely get out of side roads. Pedestrian crossings are needed on busy roads because thre aren't sufficient gaps in the traffic for pedestrians to cross safely.

 

I can't agree with that, as we go to Birmingham quite often as well, and the way we go and where we go in Birmingham has very few traffic lights, and certainly no where near as many as Sheffield.

[cgksheff]

It is suggested (by the Transport Reasearch Laboratory) that in many locations Mini Roundabouts are safer than Traffic Lights.

 

But I think that the former have to be paid for by the Council and the latter by Department of Transport.

Is this true?

[mahonia]

JOB 4 LIFE IN SHEFFIELD = TRAFFIC LIGHT ENGINEER:hihi:

 

Penistone Road must be the worst for lights in one strech, Ive drove the bus many times when the lights have been out of sequence, it's a nightmare:help:

[metalman]

When I used to cycle home I counted 28 sets of lights between the University and Hillsborough, and I think some more have been added since then. It must be all of two and a half miles.

[Haydn1971]

I had counted 5 sets of lights.

 

I could show you a route where you could travel all the way to London from Park Square and only hit one set of signals on the way... about 400yds from Park Square... putting flippancy aside, I agree with Planner1 that you have to compare like for like... Sheffield is one of the biggest city's in the country, consider that with the exception of central London, all other major city's have major grade seperated roads through the city centre - it's only when you leave these 60's concrete snakes you will find similar concentrations of traffic signals

 

Traffic lights can be frustrating, but do serve more than one function, most people just feel they are to give in turn priority to each arm of a junction, but perhaps more important a role is control of side road traffic joining a major route, thus keeping through traffic moving more smoothly...

 

Another example of intelligent use are the signals on three roundabouts to the south west of the City Centre, which have signals set back to create breaks in straight ahead traffic so that a single through movement (ring road or city to suburb) doesn't get a bigger bite of the cherry at the detrement to the other movement.

 

Also, would you really like to cross a road that fronts the railway station without a set of traffic lghts ?

 

Sheffield Councillors should visit other towns and Cities and see that YES, traffic does flow better without all the traffic lights.

 

Traffic might appear to flow better without traffic signals, but I can assure you that a busy roundabout such as Park Square has a much higher capacity with traffic signal contral than under priority control. The basic concept is that with traffic signals you reduce the size of the gaps between vehicles by removing the need for each vehicle to pause to give way to circulating traffic and controlling the minor flow such that it doesnt get an artifically bigger bite of the cherry than it actually needs.

[mahonia]

 

Traffic might appear to flow better without traffic signals, The basic concept is that with traffic signals you reduce the size of the gaps between vehicles by removing the need for each vehicle to pause to give way to circulating traffic and controlling the minor flow such that it doesnt get an artifically bigger bite of the cherry than it actually needs.

 

ERM! please can you tell me why this theory does not seems to be working in Woodseats Then:confused: