Speed sensitive traffic signals

T

TurboBuRick

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Feb 18, 2006
It's pretty obvious that the traffic signals in the area are speed sensitive. Allot of lights now change to yellow then red if your doing few mph over the limit. Stay at or below the limit and the light stays green. Anyone else noticing this?

RL
 
TurboBuRick said:
It's pretty obvious that the traffic signals in the area are speed sensitive. Allot of lights now change to yellow then red if your doing few mph over the limit. Stay at or below the limit and the light stays green. Anyone else noticing this?

RL
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I have not seen this in Kane county. Is this a Crook county issue? IL-Land of Corruption. Brad
 
I have not noticed this in the many parts of cook county I drive in, however just about any place I go there is people waiting at the light so I kinda expect it's going to change soon anyway.
 
Rafs-T-Type said:
Sounds like the man is out to getcha Rick ;)
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He's out to get us all.

I have to say though, the local popo have been pretty cool. I've been clocked speeding a couple times here lately and did not get pulled over.
The other day I came off a stop light pretty hard. Was up to 80mph in seconds. Did not hear the radar detector cause the music was too loud. By the time I realized the radar detector was lit up I was passing the nice officer who was tucked away off the road. No doubt he clocked me 75-80 in a 45. I gave him a wave to acknowledge his presents as I pulled my speed down to the posted limit. That's getting lucky. Needless to say right after that I stopped and grabbed a couple lotto tickets. ;)

One thing you can look forward to when you hit 40. :)

RL
 
Rafs-T-Type said:
I have not noticed this in the many parts of cook county I drive in, however just about any place I go there is people waiting at the light so I kinda expect it's going to change soon anyway.
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Here's what gets me. People are waiting at the red light. The light is green for cross traffic but there is no one coming. As traffic approach, blamo, the light changes causing drivers to jam on the brakes. The guy who developed the logic for the traffic signals must be one of those collage graduates. ;)

RL
 
TurboBuRick said:
He's out to get us all.

I have to say though, the local popo have been pretty cool. I've been clocked speeding a couple times here lately and did not get pulled over.
The other day I came off a stop light pretty hard. Was up to 80mph in seconds. Did not hear the radar detector cause the music was too loud. By the time I realized the radar detector was lit up I was passing the nice officer who was tucked away off the road. No doubt he clocked me 75-80 in a 45. I gave him a wave to acknowledge his presents as I pulled my speed down to the posted limit. That's getting lucky. Needless to say right after that I stopped and grabbed a couple lotto tickets. ;)

One thing you can look forward to when you hit 40. :)

RL
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Careful with that...30 over can now get you jail time :eek:
 
The red light cameras have have speed detectors built in them already. Illinois is just waiting for approval to activate them as speed cameras also. Sucks
 
Ever notice that alot of lights near shoppng malls and strip malls. That aint no accident. They do that to get people to stop and notice. Speed cameras are coming to Chicago and then state highways. Thats going to suck. Anyone that lives near elk grove ill knows the lights from foster to oakton are timed. If you catch the first light and your doing 53mph you will make every light. In rush hour forget it
 
chopped39 said:
Ever notice that alot of lights near shoppng malls and strip malls. That aint no accident. They do that to get people to stop and notice. Speed cameras are coming to Chicago and then state highways. Thats going to suck. Anyone that lives near elk grove ill knows the lights from foster to oakton are timed. If you catch the first light and your doing 53mph you will make every light. In rush hour forget it
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I see a market for automatic flip licences plate brackets.

Allot of streets you can ride the green light wave if you catch it at the right speed.

RL
 
TurboBuRick said:
I see a market for automatic flip licences plate brackets.

Allot of streets you can ride the green light wave if you catch it at the right speed.

RL
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I'll take one. Hook it up to a vacuum line so when the boost comes on the license plate goes down ;)
 
Hi TurboBuRick I live near the southside of Chicago. I just brought an 1987 GN. I dont know much about these cars. I wondering if you could give it a look over for me. My name is Dana, my number is 773-627-0753. My email is dlgray09@yahoo.com
 
Just a heads up from the cop side. There are no speed sensitive stop light controls. What you may be seeing is timed lights. If they have a series of lights that are timed so traffic can get through them better, they are timed so that traffic going the speed limit will continually get a green light. So if you are speeding on the timed lights, you will always hit a red light & end up going slower then if you were just cruising along at the speed limit.
These are your basic light controls:
  • Metal (magnetic) sensitive triggers (usually in the ground right in front of the crosswalk), they trigger the light to change for cars waiting at the stop light
  • Opticom triggers, the radar looking things on top of most lights in major cities w/a white directional light bulb, they trigger for emergency vehicles with the correct type of strobe system in their light bars, you can tell when they have been triggered as the white light will light the direction the emergency veh is coming from & flash for the other directions (let's the other emergency vehs know to slow down as someone has control over the light from another direction
  • Timed systems, usually near bigger cities, designed to make commutes faster, lights are timed so that cars at the speed limit will continually get green lights.
  • Remote systems (usually near major sporting venues) so traffic control operators can move people in/out of the area faster & avoid traffic jams, they monitor the system by cameras
  • Rail triggers, triggered by train crossings, designed to let oncoming trains go thru & to keep people off the tracks & keep them from getting whacked by trains
Many systems have almost no triggers (i they just cycle through all of their lights no matter the time of day or traffic demand). The light controls aren't quick enough to change for speed so it would do no good to do that. They are very dumb systems designed for durability & consistency. The light timing is programmed by traffic engineers for the city/county/state that put them in. Some of them can vary the timing depending on time of day (so commute traffic can get longer greens during commute time). When one of the triggers activates, it only triggers the computer to start the light change cycle, which means it activates the yellows for cross traffic, then the reds. That timing can not be changed & is usually based on the speed limits (i.e longer yellow lights if the speeds are higher). The red light traffic ticket systems can have a speed read outs (most I've seen don't), but they aren't allowed to have any control over the light functioning (there would be a slight conflict of interest, i.e. illegal) .
BTW The lights near the malls aren't to help them generate business. It's directly related to the number of vehs & pedestrians that are estimated to be visiting the location to get them in & out w/the minimal impact on local residents. There's an amazing amount of paperwork/bureaucracy involved in planning it out.
 
Rick, I was thinking of this thread yesterday as I was headed down 191st st and got caught by every freaking yellow light from 45 to Wolf. :)
 
Looked like a GN meeting in your driveway.... Was going to stop by but was already late to pick the kids up.
 
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