Could this be a case of faulty traffic lights?

aidanodr

Hi Guys,

A strange one happened to me on the way home last night - I turned right onto the start of the south link in Cork city from Anglesea Garda Station / Elysian ( "Cork-Onions" would know this ). A little further on one meets a set of traffic lights where people can get onto the link - from the left - from Boreen-manna road.

On the way up to these lights I spotted that they had gone red, I slowed my approach and then stopped at these lights. To my left was a Garda Car just stopped coming onto the link as their lights were going red. So anyway I sat there and waited - eventually the lights turned green and I took off.

Next the Garda car came up behind me as I went out the link toward the city dump and eventually pulled me in. I got out and asked what the issue was. The Garda said they followed me out and stopped me as they were wondering why I was stopped at what they saw was a green light for a considerable time.

By the time he finished he had me convinced I was stopped at a green light. (Oh no Colour Blindness ) So much so I am still questioning myself.

So the question to you guys- Is it possible for one side of a traffic light unit to be displaying RED ( the side facing me ) and the other side away from me but in vision of the Garda car ( to their right ) to be GREEN? All the time the lights for the Garda coming onto the link being RED of course.

As you might be thinking - the question of Alcohol / Drugs came up. I was coming back from working. They were happy none of this applied and said my mind was off elsewhere and that was it. Not once did the possibility of faulty lights come up.

Aidan

JackFrosty

Your gonna need someone local to you to sort this one out!

Bandara

its just culchie traffic lights.

Cookie_Monster

The one facing away from you may have been green with a right turn filter on also for, crossing infront of you hence red for you?

Thats how i read the post anyway but could be wrong...

johncm

those lights are strange. There is a time delay on them for some reason. (the lights if your on the link heading to town go green before the lights for heading towards the dump)

Owen

I know that junction very well. There are a number of issues with it. From their perspective, they can see that the lane on their left has a green filter light when theirs is red, so naturally they assume that yours must be green too coming from the city end, and that the traffic on their left filters in. However, this is not the case, and should be your defense argument.

Those lights are also notorious for having a radar on top to detect cars waiting to enter the link that's only directed at the left of the two lanes. So if you're in the right one trying to join the link, the lights will not change until a car comes along and stops in the left lane.

cyclopath2001

aidanodr wrote: »

So the question to you guys- Is it possible for one side of a traffic light unit to be displaying RED ( the side facing me ) and the other side away from me but in vision of the Garda car ( to their right ) to be GREEN? All the time the lights for the Garda coming onto the link being RED of course.

Yes, it could be to allow some cars to turn before others. We have it here in Dublin.

Maybe the Gardai just wanted an excuse to talk to you and smell your breath?

aidanodr

Hi Guys,

For those not from Cork:
Google Map of area

The green coloured road is the link, a two lane, each side, dual carriage way. Where the boreen manna rd joins in from the maps right, their is a grid of traffic lights.

The Garda were stopped on the boreenmanna rd lane ready to cross over to the inbound dual carriageway into the city, going north as you look at the map. I was stopped on the outbound lane, going south as per map.

The lights would be where the RD word is as part of the S CITY LINK RD Label.

Just for the record this is an academic exercise now, as no charges were brought. I am just curious for my own sanity - as I am full sure the lights at my side were red while the garda claimed they were green

Thanks all so far
aidan

Hogzy

Dont mean to be Hijacking the thread but has anyone noticed the screw up in the traffic lights if your coming down the airport hill onto the Kinsale Roundabout! There are 3 traffic lights facing you as you come on, One on the left one on the right and one in the center at the other side of the road, They all change color at different times, although they change about 1sec apart its still dangerous as it can be confusing as to which one you should obey, i just stop if i see one red one but its an issue that should be fixed ASAP!!!!

aidanodr

Hogzy's location:

Kinsale Roundabout on the link

The Airport rd he mentions is listed as Kinsale Rd on the map

A suggestion - add google map links for people to get an idea of location? Just taking others into consideration.

http://maps.google.com/

Add in your location, zoom into the area, change from map to satellite and back up top right. Up top right also is a button called LINK, click this and it gives you a url link to paste here or an email etc of the google map you choose

Aidan

Hogzy

Red dots are the location of the traffic lights in question, Green arrow is direction of traffic approaching roundabout and the blue arrow is the direction the Airport/Kinsale Road goes!!!

aidanodr

Nice one Hogzy,

I noticed actually that the shots of the link need serious updating - the pics are years back, As you can see the overpass in your pic is still under construction - that was finished ages ago

With respect to your issue - I noticed - after a bit of googling last night that the UK Councils have submission areas at their web sites to alert of faulty traffic lights. Havent looked deep enough yet but I wonder does Cork or Dublin Or .... County Coucil / Corporations have such a good idea?

Aidan

Hogzy

Jsut checked the cork COCO website there, F all info available (Typical of an Irish state Organisation) They dont even have an email address for every department!

Who would i contact about this as they only list contact info for (see link)

Link

South Dublin COCO has a way of reporting traffic faults through a internet form procedure...Nothing of the sort for Cork tho