Graham Smith Thanks Graham! Someone who knows what they are talking about! Can you clarify for everyone if possible? “Does flashing headlights cause the temporary lights to sense the approaching vehicle or is it movement within the sensor range?” Kind regards, Ashley

No, Ashley Neal, that’s an urban myth that arose out of the fact that, prior to something like 2002 when the law changed, temporary traffic signals used to be advisory, not mandatory. If approaching a temporary traffic signal that was turning red, a courteous driver would flash their vehicle’s headlights to indicate to traffic stopped at the opposing head that it was okay for them to proceed. And that’s how the myth that flashing headlights causes temporary signals to change arose!

That's great! I know exactly how they work, but it's nice for someone with good knowledge to back me up. Do you mind me pinning your post to help educate others about this post? Ashley

Not a problem.

Graham Smith in was based on emergency service with flashing lights, or it's that for fixed lights

Mark S looks like he was trying to move it but hay who are WE to judge

@@AppleGameification What on earth are you watching? The engine isn't even on when the learner stops behind him, whilst the learner is stationary the guy turns his engine on and puts it into reverse, the lights turn green but they dont move because of the digger and the van reverses a little bit but then stops too. The light turns red again before the digger has even completely passed so neither of them can go. Ashley then states the sensor needs to be triggered before it changes and to give the Van a chance to move first, there's a 20 second gap between the digger passing and them moving forward and in that 20 seconds the Van didn't move in the slightest.

@@AppleGameification You see him walking over to the van after the digger has already cleared and there was still no effort made before they started talking but even if that's the the perspective you wanna take, lets just go with it. Who knows how long they could have been speaking for, it could last 30 seconds, a couple of minutes, maybe longer and in the meantime that sensor isn't being triggered. So everybody should just wait around for the workers to have a little chat shall they? You're a moron, jog on.

@@Kitumi578 So the digger should be fined for driving on a red light

gezzer got out and sorted it out tho didnt he ? white van man saves the day yet again

Ronnie Pickering used to bench press mobile traffic lights.

Who?.

De Factio Ronnie Pickering would of had a bare knuckle fight with that digger driver for holding him up for a few seconds.

But I’m Ronnie pickering

@@wesleyrodgers886 Ronnie fucken pickering

I'm not sure how the guy in the "JCB" could have known the lights were changing. I'm gonna guess he needed to go that way and saw that the car was stopped, so he took that opportunity. Seems fair to me.

They're worse than the public imo 🤣

It never occurred to you what the black box was on top of the temporary traffic lights?

@@gregoryashton Well no, I don't take that much of an interest in them lol. Or if I did, I'd probably assume that it was something to do with the workings of the light or something.

Alison Williams It is something to do with the workings of the lights. It’s the sensor 😂

@@gregoryashton I meant where the wires go and that!

Alison Williams I’m with you on this mate. Thought they were on a timer.

mattyyeddy❤™ // RTM-Matty I did motorcycle basic training day and we came up to 3 sets of temporary traffic lights and all 3 failed to detect the bikes. I now have a passion of hating them and a love for my instructor that blasted through them.

When I’m on my motorbike I normally give it a good look and if it’s clear I go through them because of that exact problem but when I’m in my car I tend to just wait😂

@@mattyyeddy I do the same on my bicycle. If there's then oncoming I tend to be able to dive between the cones and let it past!

I FAIL TO COMPLY WITH THEM AND GO THROUGH ON RED

They had nothing but nice things to say about you? Lol

they can be on timed if necessary. but should always be on sensor if possible

Nope….as long as they stayed ahead of you 😜

It should have really been in the closure. The excavator drove out of it without being road legal and therefore not insured for the road, I assume.

Construction equipment like that digger have a similar exemption that farm tractors have for use on the road so unless the young lad operating it was driving off to the shops it's perfectly legal to be used on the road to proceed and from sites where it's to be used. Now on the insurance thing I'm no expert but I'm going to assume that this vehicle would be covered by the construction/rental company's fleet insurance policy.

@@Maxsdiscos you assume wrong , there is no way a main contractor would let a vehicle move on a road without being road legal . health and safety and liability being the reason

John Worsfold did you pass that test?

@@mentalstarzgamer no, major fail for running a red light 😁

@Ashley Neal Any thoughts on that situation? Would that still be a fail if following the examiners instructions? (IT would be a bit unreasonable if it were the case I would think)

@@mentalstarzgamer I passed

@@tiberiancostal1358 I am pretty certain that in a situation like this, if an examiner issues an instruction that would be in breach of the rules it would basically be considered pausing the test which is something that sometimes happens if a situation occurs that can't be accounted for. Where I did my motorcycle test, the test centre road exited straight onto a very busy street ... normally if you were turning right you would force your way out, but you can't do that on test so regularly examiners would suspend the test, force it alongside you, and then resume the rest.

Well, the lorry shouldn't be mounting a pavement, either. That's an automatic fail, touching a kerb, crossing a line isn't.

@@AndrooUK Do you expect the truck to just sit there until the leaner (who was blocking both lanes) moved? If there was no one behind the learner should have reversed and stayed within the left hand lane. Crap parking on behalf of the white van and the digger should not have gone when it did.

The lorry could have stopped at the other side of the lights if he were on a test. It's clearly visible from there that the road is blocked ahead. That tipper was empty but I would have been hesitating pulling a fully loaded 44t lorry up the kerb on that grass verge.

All they had to do was reverse a little (if clear behind...obvs), let the idiot van driver rejoin the road which presumably would have triggered the sensor on the traffic lights. You're welcome!! 😆

@1986tredie idiot van driver because look where he parked....

ttyna catch me riding dirty

I'm swangin'

Patrolling u trynnz catch me riding enn

They use a doppler microwave so looking for the freq. change on reflection. Same used at pedestrian crossings for traffic and people crossing. In this case i think it was confused by the stationary van.

Worst advice on the internet goes to...

@@nathan9048 To be fair (s)he goes into no details about what treating it 'like a broken traffic light' actually entails, and said details, if provided, might potentially change your opinion of them.

No way! I was part of that line of cars - I remember it....small world indeed...

Glencoe is horrible at the best of times.

U talking about Jurassic park :)

But u literally saw it go green

Ditto... and I don't drive!

Lights like that have (or had, a few years ago) only 8 hour batteries. At one point on my dads commute to work there was a 1 mile stretch of road put down to single lane by roadworks. There was multiple corners so you couldn't see the road ahead. Workers would clock off at 6pm and turn off the generators and the lights would run until 2am at which point they all defaulted to red. He would pull up to the lights at 6am and usually wait an hour or so before police officers showed up to control traffic from 7am to 8/9am when the workers showed up and turned the generators back on.

We use both methods in the UK. Traffic lights and stop/go boards. Sometimes you will even get a convoy system though that is much more rare

Flagmen dont work around a corner

@@blanco7726theres these things called radios

Zuuzaa there is indeed lol. Just never seen flagmen on longer sites haha so didnt even consider it

I have seen them jumping in ditches to avoid car chases. Not sure it would catch on in the UK, some of our workmen are quite lardy.

Kph? You don’t seem foreign? Are you from Australia

lol

That’s exactly what the lorry driver shouted out the window.

This is even more awkward than the night when I got out of bed to go for a pee, went through the wrong door and found myself locked out of my hotel room, naked and dying for a pee. Saw a plant at the end of the corridor and relieved myself there, looked over to my right and realised that I was in full view of a wedding party and everyone was staring at me.

Yeah. Some construction workers aren't the brightest. In Australia, if they need to move anything in/out of the work zone via the controlled road, they'll switch the lights all red manually or turn them off and use manual stop/slow signs until the move is done.

it dont really matter if its breaking the law if nothings being done about it

1:02 and also stating the painfully obvious xD

He's awful

@@therealyoda6172 in what way

@@mad7206 hahahahahaahahhaha.

@@mad7206 just watch the video. If you think that's an acceptable way to treat someone especially your own student then there's no hope for you.

Correct star girl

I agree, gob smacked a learner was taught to block oncoming traffic and then does not reverse to give way to lorry.

@@TinedCleric oh dear. the traffic light senses movement. if you stop way back there behind the van, the light would never go green. it seems even the contractor didnt consider this when he parked in front of it.

jodelboy we have a set of lights like that near me. At night they’re vehicle approach activated only. But the sensor is positioned wrong, so you have to be positioned over the white line hugging the right of the road for it to pick you up. It won’t change unless it detects a car, but it runs through all the other cycles. I’ve seen police sitting at it confused and many people go through it on red.

The sensors are usually fairly visible resealed cuts in the road in a rectangle similar size to a large car.... If you stop on top of the rectangle area, and then give the engine a bit of a rev (in neutral) usually they'll trigger. The spark plugs generate EMF, and the sensor is looking for s change in magnetic field. Not sure how we'll deal with it in electric cars.

Smart filter?

Marakim63 sounds good to me. Just try and plan these situations a little earlier so you lessen the chance of sharp braking with a car being close behind. Hope this makes sense? Thanks, Ashley.

That the problem! and also the point of the video. If you can possibly show the sensors some movement you can possibly encourage them to change. Thanks for watching, Ashley.

Cool. Thank You. It would be nice if there was a part in the Highway Code possibly where it could say "If a red light fails to change wait at least 4-5 minutes. If its still stuck on red proceed with care to the LEFT. Do not turn right unless otherwise stated". Of course I could imagine many people taking negative advantage of that rule I suppose.

Thanks for the reply. Im going to try and get my driving licence this spring. Im a little nervous because a car is a much bigger vehicle compared to a bicycle. Im pretty ok with my highway code in general. Stop for red lights, road markings, Stop/Give way signs ect.. .. . And if I make a mistake cycling I read over the highway code to double check what I did wrong as well as analysing the road.

I wouldn't risk it. You can even get punished for edging past a red light to let an emergency services vehicle through... It's pretty ridiculous, that our law pretty much says you can't mount a kerb or move past a red light to let an ambulance through without risking points and a fine. So you pretty much have to sit there and potentially let a stroke or heart attack victim not receive medical attention, otherwise you'll get a £50 fine and three points. The only exception is when a police officer explicitly requests you to, or you're escaping a threat to your safety, such as a terrorist trying to car jack or mug you.

alan scott an emergency vehicle diplaying blue flashing lights and two tone sirens CAN NOT force you to commit a moving traffic offence.

Red all ways seems like a very silly method. I think a new system should be introduced, like a constant flashing red. Which would indicate a fault and act as a stop sign. Stop and proceed with caution. Yield right of way to others already on junction.

You can also jump out if it’s safe and move ur hand fast up close to the sensor…..then quickly get back to ur car and they will change. How long depends on the total red time which is based on the length of the works.

It’s a traffic signal, same rules apply regardless of it’s a permanent or temporary installation. And that’s also the case with stop/go signs Doesn’t matter if your exit is clear, if it’s red you stop. You might not know if it’s 2-way, 3-way, 4-way etc controlled.

De Factio I meant in that the cars behind were clearly frustrated which made it seem awkward

No, they use radars to detect objects, not photocells

They do this all the time - sometimes it's not the sensors, they're just stuck on red. I've had it happen loads of times but luckily it's always been really late at night (when there's no workmen around to fix them), and I can see the end of the roadworks, so it's safe to go through.

Wrong..... Radar/doppler as nothing to do with light.

Has nothing to do with movement then either. Not like a PIR sensor on a security light. Just by being there it should see you. No?

It scans for objects repeatedly at a set interval (most likely somewhere between 100ms and 1s) and identifies whether there is movement within range, if nothing has moved it assumes nothing is there. The method is different, but the result very much like PIR except it works with all objects not just heat/animals/humans. It doesn't know what it's surroundings are, walls, houses, tree's, parked vehicles, road cones, etc, it pings out, takes a snap shot of the returning "image" and then does the same again and compares the two returning "images", if something has changed within a set tolerance then it assumes movement. I actually have an omni-directional microwave doppler radar sensor inside my car, when the ignition is off, it's dark enough and an object moves in range (currently 5 meters), it turns on my LED corner lights to make the car visible and hopefully stop blind idiots hitting it at night or in poorly lit carparks...... But only movement actually triggers it.

Strider9655 Thanks for your knowledgeable input. Much appreciated, Ashley

You're a clever guy obviously. But you can't fix stupid people!

Probably not but you look cool when you do it and they change 😂

S Miller I'd prefer to do a Jedi hand wave and have them change. Only really works when you have passengers

That's great! Thanks a lot, Ashley

You don't have to move, you can just flash your lights at the sensors, even if you confuse the oncoming traffic, they can't move anyway.

sanny terry That’s wrong. It’s often thought that’s how traffic light sensors work but it’s not the case. It’s movement

A flashing light is movement.

Ashley Neal flashing your lights alerts other cars of your presence so therefore flashing your lights at the lights alerts them of your presence 😂😂

Just read the pinned comment thread and had my question answered! :)

Don't expect a city boy to know the difference