CoalHeart wrote:
Wrong. So wrong in fact that I don't even know where to start, so I won't.
Your opinions are nothing more than trying to defend your poor driving habits. I was going to mention that I drive OTR for a living. That I have a Class A CDL, that I've also had extensive training, both educational theory ( including state-of-the-art simulators) and real world training on closed courses ( with skid plates even) learning everything from hydroplaning passenger cars to jackknife recovery in big rigs. ( 18 wheelers).
You've taken all this training and have never learned how traffic light sensor loops work? Hmm...
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EDIT: I will leave you with this though. What is the primary cause of most so called accidents? It's actually quite simple. It's two objects trying to occupy the same space at the same time. A gap, by definition, means this isn't happening. There's no logical, physical or common sense way that a gap could cause an accident.
Yes, but it was pretty clear I wasn't talking about eliminating any gap at all (cause that would require literally tapping your bumper into the car in front of you, which is silly). I was talking about leaving a gap larger than that which the sensor will allow before tripping. And, as I stated above, that gap is calculated based on the normal speed of the traffic lanes and the correct safe distance cars should be maintaining while driving at that speed.
I was talking about leaving a gap between where you are and where you should be to maintain that distance and ensure that the loop senses a car traveling over it every X seconds so as to prevent it from changing the light. Trust me, this is not an unsafe distance.
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Elinda wrote:
The correct driving gap according to every driving manual I've ever seen. One car length for every 10mph speed.
Whatever the correct distance is for the speed in question is what's calculated in the timer on the sensor (plus a bit of leeway actually). So if it's a 40 MPH road, they'll calculate the time it takes to travel say 5 car lengths, and the sensor will trigger a light change if it doesn't pick up a car crossing the loop within that period of time. It's how sensor triggered lights work. Knowing this can help traffic flow better (and not **** off the person behind you who is unnecessarily stuck at a light).
[quote]Driving considerably slower than traffic can be a problem, but I don't see where too much gap can be a problem.
Except, again, that the traffic lights use the timing of cars crossing the loop to determine if there are still cars driving in a line through the intersection. So if you fail to stay close enough to the car in front of you to keep the sensor activating, the light will change.
Imagine there are 10 cars driving in a line towards a light that is configured for a 2 second delay between cars. The light turns green. Each car is maintaining say 1.5 seconds of distance between them and the car in front of them. All 10 cars will make it through the light. Heck. If there are 20 cars, they'll all make it through the light. But if the driver of car number 5 decides to drive such that there's 2.5 seconds distance between him and the car in front of him, the light will switch to yellow .5 seconds before he enters the intersection (technically before he hits the loop which is right in front of the intersection). He'll make it through (cause the yellow is on a 3 second timer), but the guy behind him probably wont, and the 3 other people who otherwise would have made it through the light will end out having to stop.
I'm not saying drive like a maniac, but if you look down the road in front of you and pay attention to what's going on, you can plan ahead. You can notice that a light has turned green and the traffic has started to move. You can realize that if you maintain your current speed, you will not catch up to the end of that line before too large a gap is created and you'll cause the light to cycle. You can then speed up a small amount *now* to close that future gap, then reduce speed to match the line of cars and cleanly pass through the intersection without tripping the light.
It's not hard to do, but does require both understanding how the light sensors work *and* having the forethought to adjust your speed ahead of time so as to time your entry into the intersection properly. The same concept applies to triggered left hand turns btw. If you are approaching an intersection and want to turn left at a protected turn lane, and you realize that the light is going to change "soon", and no one is currently sitting in that lane, it's a good idea to speed up to get on the sensor before the light changes. Otherwise, you'll have to sit through a full cycle until that light's "turn" comes around again. People who don't realize this will maintain speed and pull in too late to have their light triggered when the cross traffic light cycles out. And they end out spending more time at traffic lights.
Knowledge is power. Yadda, yadda.