I like traffic lights, no matter where they've been - The online computery journal thingy of a turtle

Plus, people seem to assume that colour blind people see in greyscale, which of course they don't.

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Actually, I didn't know that, either! I never had to learn, since I'm not color-blind.

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Think it's just inexperience. Most folks are used to the vertical bar of lights, after all. I still remember the horizontal ones that were up in Omaha when I was living there, tho.

Another way lights get you is when they're mounted only on corner posts, instead of overhead--that's how a lot of them were over here years ago, when I was a kit (cue crotchety voice), but now for the most part they're all overhead-mounted somehow. Still kind'a miss the corner-post ones, tho.

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I like when they have a corner post signal head to supplement the overhead one. Often when a big truck blocks the view of the overhead one you can still see the corner one.

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The thing that worries me is the turn arrows. They used to be green or off. Now, with the advent of LED technology, the arrow turns from green to red in the same location! What are color blind people supposed to make of that?

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Haven't seen that.

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They have a few here (Actually, some have 4 lights (from top to bottom (no horizontals in MB) red, yellow, green and green or yellow arrow), some have 5 (green and yellow arrow separated), some are standard lights with ANOTHER set of lights posted on the median visible for people making left turns that have arrows for turning people only, operating independently from the solid colour lights (of red, yellow, and green arrow). And, to make it even more confusing, there are also lights with a completely unique signal I haven't seen anywhere else at the top, the light, when lit, remains black, except for a thing vertical bar of white across the light. "How are you supposed to see that?", the answer is, you aren't supposed to. It's a transit priority signal, to give the bus a 10 minute head start (when cross-traffic has a yellow) to get into the lane lest it be bogged down. This can be seen in the online Manitoba Driver's Handbook, page 31 of the PDF file found here.)

And you thought Texas was confusing? (Try reading the rest of the manual! You'll know why I still dont' have my driver's license, and I turn 35 in a few months!)

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I haven't seen that before. All the ones around here, even the LED ones, use one lens for each color.

Railroads used to commonly use signals with one lens that changed color. They had an internal filter wheel. Presumably they didn't have color-blind engineers. Some are phasing them out in favor of three-lens, traffic light style signals because the fewer moving parts make them more reliable.

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the red light is always on the left on horizontal lights

In Japan, it is not. Authoritative anime seems to agree. Or vice-versa.

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I seem to recall that they write from right to left, too. Maybe Israel has the green light on the left.

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How about different speed limits at night? Or stack interchanges? Or U-turn lanes under overpasses?

Or how about kolaches?

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Simple mnemonic: You know how we read from left to right, and from top to bottom? Pretend the lights are text. They should read "red yellow green" in that order, regardless of whether they're horizontal or vertical.

Red
Yellow
Green

Red Yellow Green

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Around here (Miami, Fla) nearly all lights are the horizontal variety. It must be a regional thing.

This is the first time I've ever heard anyone complain about this bring a problem. :)

-Z

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Wow. Vertical lights? Where? Only vertical lights I'm used to are turn signals.

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I don't think we have horizontal ones over here in the UK. All our traffic lights are arranged vertically with the red one at the top. Also, UK lights always have a black backing-board which makes the lights stand out better. In France, I've seen lights without that board, where the lights are just held in their vertical pattern by brackets, without the board tying the whole thing together and making it look like a single unit. The one I remember had the lights fixed to the side of a building just beside the road junction. It was most weird - without the usual board and pole, I didn't even recognise them as traffic lights for a few moments!

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