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Re: Driving Pet peeves



In article <3s7aj2$ets@condor.philabs.philips.com>,
John P. Curcio <jpc@philabs.philips.com> wrote:
>
>Ah, but once again, here is where we have a problem-- different laws
>in different places...
>
>In New York, it is entirely legal to enter an intersection while a
>light is yellow.  The law states that the light is a signal to the
>driver that the red is impending.  It does not even state what happens
>if the light should turn red while you are in the intersection.
>
>If you want a passage from the Vehicle and Traffic Law, I'll try to
>get it...
>
>-JPC
>

Hmm...  I don't see how this would be different in different places.  
According to the textbooks I have on traffic/signaling, its perfectly
legal to enter an intersection on yellow.  It can even turn red while
you're in it, and its still OK.  I'm trying to remember exactly where this
is from, but I don't recall at this moment.
If its done the way its _supposed_ to, the yellow and red-in-all-directions
(called an All-Red) is calculated together, and the All-Red is also
calculated on its own, and is subtracted to get the yellow.  This time
is calculated such that its long enough for a car entering the
"point-of-no-return" can make it across the street before the other side
turns green.  Some of the parameters are pretty conservative, so its pretty
safe.  Its true, though, that some jurisdictions don't have an All-Red
interval, and just extend the yellow (to a certain extent).
I have the equations and I'll post them if there's enough interest.
  BTW, these things are available in most any traffic engineering text. 


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School of Civil Engineering       **Kazuto Okayasu**      Microcomputer Support
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