Hi Richard, I passed my driving test on my 47th birthday Monday. Just wanted to say a massive thanks, your video's helped me so much, and I will continue to watch
The big issue with the louvered lights is that HGV drivers can't see the lights as the louvers are blocking the view completely. You, therefore, get no warning of the lights changing before they go to red! They are highly dangerous.
I’m a transport manager managing a whole bunch of HGV’s in London and was just about to say the same thing. We have introduced the topic to some of our internal DCPC training recently.
My issue is that driving a bus at 20 mph past canon street station for example, if you stop between the 2 ped crossings or go slow enough you'll get people cross the road in front of you if you approach defensively, or they'll walk into your blind spots when you're stopped. So what tends to happen is you can't see the amber/green lights when you're high up in the cab (in an old routemaster) and so you get a red light thrown in your face. You can either run the red (which is obviously terrible driving) or you can stop the bus but send your passengers through the lights via the front window. Very frustrating and I feel terrible for it as well.
These are a nightmare in an HGV. If there are horizontal louvres on the green light you can't see the light so it looks like all the lights are out. In that instance you can either presume the lights are on green and go through or presume the lights are broken and slow right down. Either option can cause problems. Going through when the lights are broken is obviously dangerous and slowing right down when the cars behind you can see the green causes confusion to the vehicles behind.
@@Admiral_Jezza Does seem like you've got to wonder if they're creating a bigger problem than the one they're solving. Would it be possible, maybe, to erect extra lights higher up, or differently louvred, so they _would_ be easily visible to lorry drivers? Or would such lights be easily visible to _everyone,_ bringing us back to square one. (Don't worry, you don't have to answer that; if you're a traffic engineer though, then by all means, feel free to weigh in! Or even if you aren't! 😁)
@@Leo_Pard_A4 All the materials in your house, nearly everything you own, eat and drink has been on a lorry at some point. What is this ambitious plan of yours?
0:41 No elevate yourself to the height of an HGV cab. We NEVER see the louvred lights! We have to look closely to see them reflecting on the louvres and in bright sunlight, that aint easy.
I'm in the US, and I've only encountered one louvre Installation. I absolutely considered it dangerous. It's a pair of intersections which are extremely close to each other. Regardless of travel direction, the second one from your perspective has its lights louvred. I expected the installation to be like your first example, where the green green light is louvred and the red light is not. However, all of the lights of the second intersection are louvred. Going through the pair when the front intersection is green conditions you to keep constant speed despite unable to see the second intersection's lights -- slowing down just in case is a huge traffic disruption. So when the front light turned yellow just before entered, I expected constant speed to be the correct action -- expecting the second intersection to be green and maybe turning yellow after it's too late to stop. Instead, shortly before the stop line, the louvres align and reveal the light to be red! Hard break required. All they have to do to make it safe is ditch the louvres on red and yellow. I'd have seen it was turning from a comfortable distance and came to a normal stop
We have several "tuned" signals in my city. (I say tuned because they use optical trickery and not simple louvers.) I find them annoying but I don't consider them dangerous.
@@jovetj Do they function similarly to the ones I described? Because the reason I consider them dangerous is much more specific than "has louvers", and my suggested fix doesn't remove all of the louvers.
@@klikkolee They function like the ones depicted in this video. If the driver isn't close enough to the signal to see the aspect of the signal, the driver needs to slow down and use caution.
The absolutely best education driving channel not only on RUclips, but worldwide. Me being a silly goose was thinking it's so the lights don't get vandalised. Thank you for everything you're doing, mate!
Lol not even close. Not being funny but you should know it all this anyway. You should know this even if your pedestrian because you're supposed to know the Green Cross Code and if you're a driver or a cyclist or a motorcyclist there's absolutely no excuse.
Shocking that crime and vandalism has got so bad in this country that we could even consider that this is to prevent stuff like that. What a s**t country this is.
Cool! I always thought it was to help with sun glare making the lights look illuminated when the shroud alone wasn't doing a good enough job. Learned something new!
I came across a set of these recently that I found really quite disconcerting, because I was coming at them from a hill, so I couldn't see that they were on green - I thought the lights were broken. Seeing the other comments, it looks like this is what HGV drivers experience literally every time they encounter them. Lovely. Good to know what they are intended for at least, thanks for the video.
Great videos @conquer driving. I finally passed my driving test yesterday after failing once before. I have watched so many of your videos and they have been a huge help so wanted to say thank you for all your help and knowledge and I wish you all the best. To anyone with tests coming up you’ll be fine just take your time.
Hi Richard, I just passed my test at Belvedere, first time, 2 minors! Thank you for all your videos, they are so awesome for learners to supplement lessons. Your teaching style is clear, calm and easy to understand. We appreciate you!
Just passed my test around 40 minutes ago with 1 minor! Your videos helped me so much and really helped me to pass my test! Keep doing what you're doing and thank you for all that you do!
I appreciate a straightforward video that just dives right into its content. Very little bloat. Much appreciated. Come to Enfield, and you'll see that the bulk of people ignore what the light says anyway, whether they can see them or not. They're also fond of ignoring other road architecture, such as double yellow lines, crash barriers, cycle lanes, pavements, school zones, and ambulance parking. It probably has something to do with being just inside a motorway, then bordered by the North Circular on the other end, with a huge A-(st)road cutting through the middle of it.
A pedestrian crossing near me has louvered lights for pedestrians. You have to cross to the middle traffic island and walk a few meters up to see whether the crossing from _that_ island is green or not because the louvers are vertical. There are no roads for which the pedestrian light could be confusing. It's infuriating and creates dangerous situations where people rush across all the lanes and the island just because the cars are standing still and the people can't see the red person.
passed on Tuesday with a huge help from your videos. Had a bad instructor and these videos always cleared things up. Cheers mate, still enjoying the videos
For words in my head while I was doing my test yesterday. Safe, Legal, anticipation and observation. I have passed my driving test 😊. I watched a lot of your videos the day before test. It's all thanks to you. Thank you thank you x
Ohhh so that's how those annoying little things are called 😅 as a learner driver I don't like them, luckily we don't have too many of them in Blackburn. Thanks for going out of the car once again to show us this issue from outside👍🏻 hope you can fix your Seat quickly and efficiently, it would be great to see how it was done 😊
I would like to say thank you for your videos they have been a great help, I passed today with 3 minors errors, with the tips you have given It has helped me for sure!
Cool video! In Canada to solve the same problem we use a focused lense on only the green led. So it works the same way of not being visible to the distant traffic. But the yellow is kept freely visible, probably to reduce the panic of instantly seeing a signal light up to red.
Vancouver BC Canada had them for a while in selected places, but not on the red light. Some areas also used a full tube shade on the green light on some older installs. The last example was to stop cross traffic from seeing the phase of that signal to discourage the street racing of the muscle cars. Now most of these altered installs have disappeared and been replaced with standard lenses and shades with a yellow border around the unit.
I live in the U.S. and I remember a couple traffic lights near me used to have louvres on them. One used to be at an intersection that was one of the “six corners” intersections. The other one was at a highway junction at I-76 that had the exit ramp intersecting the surface street at a sharper than normal angle. The one at the highway junction actually replaced an older set of special 3M (the same people who make Scotch Tape) traffic signals that could only be seen in that specific lane.
Nice Mazda. Thanks for the explanation, forgot I used to wonder about this a long while ago. I grew up in an area had a few of these, always wondered about it.
Excellent video. Especially the part explaining the down side of louvres with a red light appearing out of nowhere. There is a junction local to me that is so big / complex it has two sets of traffic lights in quick succession between two exits. The second set is totally unexpected to anyone who doesn't know the junction well, and although the secondary lights are clearly visible in the distance, the primary lights on the stop line are covered with louvres making them virtually invisible. You see red light violations and near misses on a daily basis. There must have been many accidents. I've seen one and seen the aftermath of a couple of others. When I was an ADI (retired 5 years ago) I spend some time discussing this with the local highways agency. I was given a long explanation of their self imposed 'standards' which makes the design necessary, but no practical solution that the actual road user would find the slightest bit useful. (A1 (M) junction 4 Hatfield, Herts).
Btw when this junction was being rebuilt into its present design (4 lanes and numerous traffic lights), during the construction process the entire junction was conned off into 2 lanes and with no traffic lights. It was like that for several weeks - and the traffic flowed perfectly from all directions with no hold ups. I mentioned that when discussing the current design with the council's highways agency, but frankly it would have been more productive talking to next door's cat.
The traffic lights in my town have always handled this problem better. On lights like the one on the right at 1:04 they actually put longer shades on so you can see it perfectly fine from distance but can't see it from the other part of the road. Can always say I've never been a fan of these louvres and how you can't see them until you get close.
Why? That makes absolutely no sense. The theory test should only test knowledge that you need in order to drive safely. You don't need to know why these lights have louvres, you only need to know how to properly obey the signals. The theory test isn't there to test interesting trivia that has no practical use.
@@jmckendry84 Confusion about the purpose can cause confusion about how to obey. When I first saw them, I thought they were some sort of repeater for the light before them for traffic coming from other directions. That can certainly be dangerous, as it changes the meaning of the lights.
1:09 Now that's my pet peeve with GTA 3. 😪Why when the npcs have driven off and made the turn on green stop on the red light which is showing to the other side of the road👀
It's kinda weird to put an extra set of light just for pedestrians instead of just crossing at the intersection that's 5 seconds away. Doesn't seem to help with traffic either unless I'm missing something. Hell I imagine it will cause some car to pile up at the intersection because they didn't plan to stop instantly after crossing it and now they're in the middle of the road.
Whilst I understand the use for them, they are sometimes set incorrectly, or don;t take into account how tall someone is, or the height of their vehicle. Add in some glare from the sun and some of the lights become near impossible to see or only visible when you're really close and sometimes too late to notice. Instead of louvres, why not just have an extra protruding piece of plastic at the side of the light which blocks the lights being visible from the direction of confusion? This way the full lights are visible for the intended use, but adds that blocking aspect to remove confusion as to whose light it is.
In my city, no signals have simple louvers. Where needed, special signal heads are used which can focus/aim the signal aspect in desired ways. Where this much-more-expensive option is overkill, extra "tunnel visors" are added to the lens just as you suggest which blocks the view of the signal from conflicting directions.
The angle of the louvres is critical. E.g. there’s a pedestrian lights set in Hammersmith that have their red light louvres angled down so much that they can only be seen by the driver immediately at the lights craning forward and looking upwards. The TfL ‘traffic engineers’ would say this is safety. But of course, TfL are in the income business.
There's some of these on a junction I sometimes use to drive to second college and they don't block the light from a distance at all, unlike the examples shown in this video. I can see the lights for the junction in front of me turn amber and green through the slats. Fortunately I haven't witnessed anybody at the stop line behind it mistake that as the green light for them and crash into someone, but it's not too much of a stretch to assume it's happened before.
I’m in the US and have no clue what an HGV is, but in the US these are often used to prevent drivers from seeing the status of the lights until they are close to them, to encourage drivers to drive slowly and with caution due to not knowing the status of the traffic light until they can fully see if they have a green/yellow/red light
As you say mate louvres can be helpful but at the same time they can be extremely dangerous, not seeing the green and amber traffic light in itself is dangerous but not seeing the red traffic light until the very last moment is the most dangerous, something needs to be done about that, sorry to hear about the crack and the coolant, things happen, that’s life, hope you get it fixed very soon. 🙃
We would be much better to fit direction arrows on all colours including red, as most countries do. A small repeater at a low height on the post, as in France would also help. Ray
Here we have a such thing as hawking lights. They work great for crossings. They could also change the way the lights work to, which could even cut down on costs.
This is really interesting. Louvred lights are not a thing in my country, this video is the first time I see them. I'd be confused as hell if I saw this stuff while driving.
Honestly, this is most often solving a problem cause by having too many damn traffic lights. If the UK had traffic lights only before the intersection, then only the cars for whom these lights are relevant would see them. Significantly less confusion!
In my city, in the US we do have some intersections with polarized lights, but the problem is even the red light is polarized as well, so even from a short distance, you can't see any lights, and this is dangerous because people almost miss the light entirely and keep going because it's difficult to notice if you're not looking for it.
around where i live I've only seen louvres on the green and not the amber. i used to think that louvres were used for lights that were always green, but that kinda doesn't make sense as why would they be there in the first place. there were lights put at a staggered junction (that used to be an accident magnet) that has louvres due to the staggered nature of the junction
We have these louvres (or maybe they are a sort of panel) on Emstry Island, shrewsbury. A notorious accident spot. The louvre (or raised panel) doesn’t hide the light unfortunately. For example: Traffic entering the roundabout from London Rd on a green will suddenly catch sight of the red light for traffic coming from the right from the A5 and Thieves Lane. What a shock it is when you first experience that dread that you have gone through a red light and entered the roundabout in the path of on coming traffic. (Edited. To be clear. But you haven’t gone through a red light)
Top tip. If two drivers are claiming they each had the green light. Check to see if the signals are still on. If conflicting greens light up the controller will switch off in a fraction of a second.
There's some in Sheffield on the roundabout near Forgemasters coming from Meadowhall and I always wondered why because they're so hard to see unless you're right underneath them.
Just a British problem. In Germany we don’t have something like that on our signal lights. Also our signal lights always stand in front of the intersection, not behind it, so other traffic is never irritated by the wrong signal lights. Only if several streets ending parallel in an intersection, there are sometimes plates between the signal lights, so you can’t see the wrong signal light from your position.
Whats the difference between amber gambler and blinking green option? most European countries blink green then yellow/amber than red. I don’t understand the justification of switching quickly from green to Amber makes people stop more likely than when it’s blinking green then Amber and then red
On approach a driver should be expecting a green light to change to amber and thence to red. There is 3 seconds of the amber stop light before the red stop light shows; as it won't be an emergency stop as the light was expected to change, deliberately putting your foot down to get across the line before the red shows is just as bad, if not worse, than not stopping for the amber stop light - far too many people misunderstand amber to mean get ready to stop.
Theirs a junction near me with them in the same situation but you can see both from a distance. And some cars that are not aware of the junction skip a red light or beep at you thinking you haven’t noticed the green light.
They're a disaster. On a bright day you can't see if it's green or amber because the stupid slats obscure the light. You can hold up traffic because you've no idea if it's on green or amber because your really struggling to see the light through the slats obscuring it.
As a lorry driver sitting hire up i sometimes can't see the lights at all even when i'm close. I've been sat on the white line before now wondering what colour the lights are.
In CA they use white strobe lights to warn of a pedestrian xing. The strobes are controlled by the pedestrian at the crossing. Drivers begrudgingly stop. Also, on 1/1/2022 “ jaywalking” is no longer crime, but the pedestrian does not have the right away, and must cross carefully. Some drivers stop to allow jaywalkers to cross, which makes it incredibly dangerous.
I always thought that these were to help with traffic lights that get hit with a lot of sunlight at certain times of the day making it difficult to see which light is shining. 😅
In the US Its much more common to run across what are called "optically programmed" traffic lights. They pretty much do the same thing with lenses inside the traffic light head itself.
Ex pat. Why is it at some junctions you have a traffic light at "Normal" height and on the same pole there is another light much higher, thst is 2 traffic lights on one pole at different heights?
Hello Sir, I have been watching your videos for a year now. I want to request you to make a video on "How to drive a car with wing mirrors only". As most of the time, family members may be sitting at back seats, which makes center mirror ineffective. Looking forward for the video
I was in Dallas recently and saw louvred lights for the first time and they really pissed me off, but so did nearly everything else about driving in Dallas. But now that I think about it, in some of the suburbs surrounding New Orleans, ive seen some lights that *act* like louvred lights, where the green light fades into view as you approach. I wonder if that was on purpose?
Instant like... but why? Because, I got my answer within a minute of the video. No messing about... still watched the rest of course.
same
it is pretty obvious really...
100% so refreshing
Wait bro, let me tell you my life story first.
In the beginning....
yeah, delaying the answer just makes me lose interest in the video
Hi Richard, I passed my driving test on my 47th birthday Monday. Just wanted to say a massive thanks, your video's helped me so much, and I will continue to watch
congrats and happy birthday
Thanks
Aww congratulations! Such an achievement! X
Nice one
@clairew1987Thanks
The big issue with the louvered lights is that HGV drivers can't see the lights as the louvers are blocking the view completely. You, therefore, get no warning of the lights changing before they go to red!
They are highly dangerous.
I’m a transport manager managing a whole bunch of HGV’s in London and was just about to say the same thing. We have introduced the topic to some of our internal DCPC training recently.
My issue is that driving a bus at 20 mph past canon street station for example, if you stop between the 2 ped crossings or go slow enough you'll get people cross the road in front of you if you approach defensively, or they'll walk into your blind spots when you're stopped. So what tends to happen is you can't see the amber/green lights when you're high up in the cab (in an old routemaster) and so you get a red light thrown in your face. You can either run the red (which is obviously terrible driving) or you can stop the bus but send your passengers through the lights via the front window. Very frustrating and I feel terrible for it as well.
They ought to apply the louvre to the red light instead
Not green=stop
@@erkinalp until the lights are not working.
@@RickLeslie that's intended: no lights=also stop
These are a nightmare in an HGV. If there are horizontal louvres on the green light you can't see the light so it looks like all the lights are out. In that instance you can either presume the lights are on green and go through or presume the lights are broken and slow right down. Either option can cause problems. Going through when the lights are broken is obviously dangerous and slowing right down when the cars behind you can see the green causes confusion to the vehicles behind.
I always drive my lorry erratically around town to keep everyone else on their toes.
Truck drivers not being able to see them should be reason alone to get rid of them.
@@Admiral_Jezza Does seem like you've got to wonder if they're creating a bigger problem than the one they're solving. Would it be possible, maybe, to erect extra lights higher up, or differently louvred, so they _would_ be easily visible to lorry drivers? Or would such lights be easily visible to _everyone,_ bringing us back to square one.
(Don't worry, you don't have to answer that; if you're a traffic engineer though, then by all means, feel free to weigh in! Or even if you aren't! 😁)
I think the plan is to get rid of the trucks. @Admiral_Jezza
@@Leo_Pard_A4 All the materials in your house, nearly everything you own, eat and drink has been on a lorry at some point. What is this ambitious plan of yours?
0:41
No elevate yourself to the height of an HGV cab. We NEVER see the louvred lights! We have to look closely to see them reflecting on the louvres and in bright sunlight, that aint easy.
I'm in the US, and I've only encountered one louvre Installation. I absolutely considered it dangerous.
It's a pair of intersections which are extremely close to each other. Regardless of travel direction, the second one from your perspective has its lights louvred. I expected the installation to be like your first example, where the green green light is louvred and the red light is not. However, all of the lights of the second intersection are louvred.
Going through the pair when the front intersection is green conditions you to keep constant speed despite unable to see the second intersection's lights -- slowing down just in case is a huge traffic disruption. So when the front light turned yellow just before entered, I expected constant speed to be the correct action -- expecting the second intersection to be green and maybe turning yellow after it's too late to stop. Instead, shortly before the stop line, the louvres align and reveal the light to be red! Hard break required.
All they have to do to make it safe is ditch the louvres on red and yellow. I'd have seen it was turning from a comfortable distance and came to a normal stop
We have several "tuned" signals in my city. (I say tuned because they use optical trickery and not simple louvers.) I find them annoying but I don't consider them dangerous.
@@jovetj Do they function similarly to the ones I described? Because the reason I consider them dangerous is much more specific than "has louvers", and my suggested fix doesn't remove all of the louvers.
@@klikkolee They function like the ones depicted in this video.
If the driver isn't close enough to the signal to see the aspect of the signal, the driver needs to slow down and use caution.
I have been driving for 38 years and you have just taught me something about Louvres. Interesting video . Thank you
The absolutely best education driving channel not only on RUclips, but worldwide. Me being a silly goose was thinking it's so the lights don't get vandalised. Thank you for everything you're doing, mate!
As a fellow silly goose, I still watch these videos even tho I have my licence cause geese don’t understand all the time
Lol not even close. Not being funny but you should know it all this anyway. You should know this even if your pedestrian because you're supposed to know the Green Cross Code and if you're a driver or a cyclist or a motorcyclist there's absolutely no excuse.
@@elixier33 seeing as you just know it all, is there any reason you’re here on this video other than to “well.. ACTUALLY……” to other people?
Shocking that crime and vandalism has got so bad in this country that we could even consider that this is to prevent stuff like that. What a s**t country this is.
You're correct when you said "worldwide"! I'm American, and I learned how to drive a manual car from watching this channel.
You should record the process of fitting the radiator for less experienced people that would like to start working on their own cars
Even a video on basic car work would be good
Agreed, I bought a 2023 Bmw M3 as my first car and I’d love to make upgrades to it!
@@AM-mv6ro an m3 as a first car? wow
Agreed, Richard is a great teacher and would explain things like this very well
@@moamed2006haha thanks bro, I work hard to play hard!
Cool! I always thought it was to help with sun glare making the lights look illuminated when the shroud alone wasn't doing a good enough job. Learned something new!
Great video! Been driving for 20 years but never questioned why some lights have louvres.
I came across a set of these recently that I found really quite disconcerting, because I was coming at them from a hill, so I couldn't see that they were on green - I thought the lights were broken. Seeing the other comments, it looks like this is what HGV drivers experience literally every time they encounter them. Lovely.
Good to know what they are intended for at least, thanks for the video.
Great videos @conquer driving. I finally passed my driving test yesterday after failing once before. I have watched so many of your videos and they have been a huge help so wanted to say thank you for all your help and knowledge and I wish you all the best. To anyone with tests coming up you’ll be fine just take your time.
That's fantastic news! Thank you for watching and congratulations on passing!
Hi Richard, I just passed my test at Belvedere, first time, 2 minors! Thank you for all your videos, they are so awesome for learners to supplement lessons. Your teaching style is clear, calm and easy to understand. We appreciate you!
Just passed my test around 40 minutes ago with 1 minor! Your videos helped me so much and really helped me to pass my test! Keep doing what you're doing and thank you for all that you do!
I appreciate a straightforward video that just dives right into its content. Very little bloat. Much appreciated.
Come to Enfield, and you'll see that the bulk of people ignore what the light says anyway, whether they can see them or not.
They're also fond of ignoring other road architecture, such as double yellow lines, crash barriers, cycle lanes, pavements, school zones, and ambulance parking. It probably has something to do with being just inside a motorway, then bordered by the North Circular on the other end, with a huge A-(st)road cutting through the middle of it.
A pedestrian crossing near me has louvered lights for pedestrians. You have to cross to the middle traffic island and walk a few meters up to see whether the crossing from _that_ island is green or not because the louvers are vertical. There are no roads for which the pedestrian light could be confusing. It's infuriating and creates dangerous situations where people rush across all the lanes and the island just because the cars are standing still and the people can't see the red person.
Just passed my test 1st time today, your videos have been extremely informative and helpful, thank you so much Richard! :)
That's great to hear! Thank you for watching and congratulations on passing!
passed on Tuesday with a huge help from your videos. Had a bad instructor and these videos always cleared things up. Cheers mate, still enjoying the videos
For words in my head while I was doing my test yesterday.
Safe, Legal, anticipation and observation. I have passed my driving test 😊. I watched a lot of your videos the day before test. It's all thanks to you. Thank you thank you x
Interesting - I always thought they were just to prevent sun glare over the light 😆
That’s really interesting, Richard. Thanks for creating content which is both enjoyable to watch and easy to understand.
Yes, I've always wondered why! Great explanation and makes sense now. Thanks Richard
Indeed, seen them so many times & never realised!
Hi Richard, just wanted to thank you for your videos. I passed my test today with zero physical lessons, just watching your videos really!
I'm on my 5th lesson now and I must say u are the absolute best omg u have helped me so so much! I hope u get a massive pay rise!!
This is a good example of over engineering, resulting in complicating an issue more than it previously used to be, instead of solving it.
As an added bonus, many louvred lights cannot be seen from the cab of an HGV
Ohhh so that's how those annoying little things are called 😅 as a learner driver I don't like them, luckily we don't have too many of them in Blackburn. Thanks for going out of the car once again to show us this issue from outside👍🏻 hope you can fix your Seat quickly and efficiently, it would be great to see how it was done 😊
I would like to say thank you for your videos they have been a great help, I passed today with 3 minors errors, with the tips you have given It has helped me for sure!
That's fantastic news! Thank you for watching and congratulations on passing!
Cool video!
In Canada to solve the same problem we use a focused lense on only the green led. So it works the same way of not being visible to the distant traffic. But the yellow is kept freely visible, probably to reduce the panic of instantly seeing a signal light up to red.
Passed my test in just 16h just over a week ago thanks to you
That's great to hear! Thank you for watching and congratulations on passing!
Vancouver BC Canada had them for a while in selected places, but not on the red light. Some areas also used a full tube shade on the green light on some older installs. The last example was to stop cross traffic from seeing the phase of that signal to discourage the street racing of the muscle cars. Now most of these altered installs have disappeared and been replaced with standard lenses and shades with a yellow border around the unit.
I live in the U.S. and I remember a couple traffic lights near me used to have louvres on them. One used to be at an intersection that was one of the “six corners” intersections. The other one was at a highway junction at I-76 that had the exit ramp intersecting the surface street at a sharper than normal angle. The one at the highway junction actually replaced an older set of special 3M (the same people who make Scotch Tape) traffic signals that could only be seen in that specific lane.
Nice Mazda. Thanks for the explanation, forgot I used to wonder about this a long while ago. I grew up in an area had a few of these, always wondered about it.
Thank you for this. I asked this question but couldn't be arsed to look it up.
Over the years, I thought they were to prevent vandalism. Thanks for the quick video.
Great video, straight and to the point and actually answers the title.
So we can hang this in the Louvre 😮
Thank you for the Monday regular weekly videos 😅
Excellent video. Especially the part explaining the down side of louvres with a red light appearing out of nowhere. There is a junction local to me that is so big / complex it has two sets of traffic lights in quick succession between two exits. The second set is totally unexpected to anyone who doesn't know the junction well, and although the secondary lights are clearly visible in the distance, the primary lights on the stop line are covered with louvres making them virtually invisible. You see red light violations and near misses on a daily basis. There must have been many accidents. I've seen one and seen the aftermath of a couple of others. When I was an ADI (retired 5 years ago) I spend some time discussing this with the local highways agency. I was given a long explanation of their self imposed 'standards' which makes the design necessary, but no practical solution that the actual road user would find the slightest bit useful. (A1 (M) junction 4 Hatfield, Herts).
Btw when this junction was being rebuilt into its present design (4 lanes and numerous traffic lights), during the construction process the entire junction was conned off into 2 lanes and with no traffic lights. It was like that for several weeks - and the traffic flowed perfectly from all directions with no hold ups. I mentioned that when discussing the current design with the council's highways agency, but frankly it would have been more productive talking to next door's cat.
Wonderfully explained!
And i had no idea their official name was "louvre" - I always just called them the funny hatched traffic light box.
This is what makes you different from other driving instructors who do videos in YT 🙂
should try driving a truck ... cant see them from any position. quite anoying.
I concur.
@@RUBBER_BULLETconcur driving (im so. sorry)
Louvres are dangerous - they make the lights invisible to any driver not at the right height.
The traffic lights in my town have always handled this problem better. On lights like the one on the right at 1:04 they actually put longer shades on so you can see it perfectly fine from distance but can't see it from the other part of the road. Can always say I've never been a fan of these louvres and how you can't see them until you get close.
been driving awhile now, they should add this on the theory test,
Why? That makes absolutely no sense. The theory test should only test knowledge that you need in order to drive safely. You don't need to know why these lights have louvres, you only need to know how to properly obey the signals.
The theory test isn't there to test interesting trivia that has no practical use.
@@jmckendry84 Confusion about the purpose can cause confusion about how to obey. When I first saw them, I thought they were some sort of repeater for the light before them for traffic coming from other directions. That can certainly be dangerous, as it changes the meaning of the lights.
Well, I never knew! Now it makes total sense! Been driving 12 years now and I never knew this.
Great topic. I never knew there were sideways louvers though, I can think of several intersections in my city where they would be handy!
1:09 Now that's my pet peeve with GTA 3. 😪Why when the npcs have driven off and made the turn on green stop on the red light which is showing to the other side of the road👀
It's kinda weird to put an extra set of light just for pedestrians instead of just crossing at the intersection that's 5 seconds away. Doesn't seem to help with traffic either unless I'm missing something. Hell I imagine it will cause some car to pile up at the intersection because they didn't plan to stop instantly after crossing it and now they're in the middle of the road.
Yes, it's no mystery why air polution goes skyrocketing when vehicles must stop and start every 50 yards! 😮
I was wondering this exact thing literally a week ago! Thanks for the answer.
Love your videos man, I always learn something new. Keep up the great work!
Whilst I understand the use for them, they are sometimes set incorrectly, or don;t take into account how tall someone is, or the height of their vehicle. Add in some glare from the sun and some of the lights become near impossible to see or only visible when you're really close and sometimes too late to notice.
Instead of louvres, why not just have an extra protruding piece of plastic at the side of the light which blocks the lights being visible from the direction of confusion? This way the full lights are visible for the intended use, but adds that blocking aspect to remove confusion as to whose light it is.
In my city, no signals have simple louvers. Where needed, special signal heads are used which can focus/aim the signal aspect in desired ways. Where this much-more-expensive option is overkill, extra "tunnel visors" are added to the lens just as you suggest which blocks the view of the signal from conflicting directions.
You can look at examples of the "tunnel visors" in use here:
41.224957205062914, -96.13876274324755
The angle of the louvres is critical. E.g. there’s a pedestrian lights set in Hammersmith that have their red light louvres angled down so much that they can only be seen by the driver immediately at the lights craning forward and looking upwards. The TfL ‘traffic engineers’ would say this is safety. But of course, TfL are in the income business.
Cracking video and informative as always, cheers!
There's some of these on a junction I sometimes use to drive to second college and they don't block the light from a distance at all, unlike the examples shown in this video. I can see the lights for the junction in front of me turn amber and green through the slats. Fortunately I haven't witnessed anybody at the stop line behind it mistake that as the green light for them and crash into someone, but it's not too much of a stretch to assume it's happened before.
I’m in the US and have no clue what an HGV is, but in the US these are often used to prevent drivers from seeing the status of the lights until they are close to them, to encourage drivers to drive slowly and with caution due to not knowing the status of the traffic light until they can fully see if they have a green/yellow/red light
As you say mate louvres can be helpful but at the same time they can be extremely dangerous, not seeing the green and amber traffic light in itself is dangerous but not seeing the red traffic light until the very last moment is the most dangerous, something needs to be done about that, sorry to hear about the crack and the coolant, things happen, that’s life, hope you get it fixed very soon. 🙃
Oh wow I didn’t even know these existed that’s so smart
Ah! I actually learned something here! I thought it was something to do with the mitigation of glare from rising/setting sun directly on the lights…
We would be much better to fit direction arrows on all colours including red, as most countries do. A small repeater at a low height on the post, as in France would also help. Ray
They also have those in Tokyo, on the “go” signals for the pedestrian crossing between the two “Marunouchi Buildings” near Tokyo Station.
I always thought it was to help you see them in bright sunlight, but good to know.
They're used to slow cars down as well as you said as a side effect. It's a useful one.
Here we have a such thing as hawking lights. They work great for crossings. They could also change the way the lights work to, which could even cut down on costs.
This is really interesting. Louvred lights are not a thing in my country, this video is the first time I see them. I'd be confused as hell if I saw this stuff while driving.
I always thought they were to block sunlight from shining on the light, no idea why.
Honestly, this is most often solving a problem cause by having too many damn traffic lights. If the UK had traffic lights only before the intersection, then only the cars for whom these lights are relevant would see them. Significantly less confusion!
In my city, in the US we do have some intersections with polarized lights, but the problem is even the red light is polarized as well, so even from a short distance, you can't see any lights, and this is dangerous because people almost miss the light entirely and keep going because it's difficult to notice if you're not looking for it.
around where i live I've only seen louvres on the green and not the amber. i used to think that louvres were used for lights that were always green, but that kinda doesn't make sense as why would they be there in the first place. there were lights put at a staggered junction (that used to be an accident magnet) that has louvres due to the staggered nature of the junction
That's pretty neat. I always assumed it's so they can be faster, like old American muscle cars had louvres on the rear window.
We have these louvres (or maybe they are a sort of panel) on Emstry Island, shrewsbury. A notorious accident spot. The louvre (or raised panel) doesn’t hide the light unfortunately. For example: Traffic entering the roundabout from London Rd on a green will suddenly catch sight of the red light for traffic coming from the right from the A5 and Thieves Lane. What a shock it is when you first experience that dread that you have gone through a red light and entered the roundabout in the path of on coming traffic. (Edited. To be clear. But you haven’t gone through a red light)
Big Up Colchester!!
They also have those in Australia but in Australia the louvers are within the round shades instead of being a a square shape! :)
Did YT serve me the new Tom Scott? I am sure you do mainly car stuff, but it was cool.
Top tip. If two drivers are claiming they each had the green light. Check to see if the signals are still on. If conflicting greens light up the controller will switch off in a fraction of a second.
There's some in Sheffield on the roundabout near Forgemasters coming from Meadowhall and I always wondered why because they're so hard to see unless you're right underneath them.
Now thank goodness, my confusion between lovers and louvres has dissipated.
Just a British problem. In Germany we don’t have something like that on our signal lights.
Also our signal lights always stand in front of the intersection, not behind it, so other traffic is never irritated by the wrong signal lights.
Only if several streets ending parallel in an intersection, there are sometimes plates between the signal lights, so you can’t see the wrong signal light from your position.
Whats the difference between amber gambler and blinking green option? most European countries blink green then yellow/amber than red. I don’t understand the justification of switching quickly from green to Amber makes people stop more likely than when it’s blinking green then Amber and then red
On approach a driver should be expecting a green light to change to amber and thence to red. There is 3 seconds of the amber stop light before the red stop light shows; as it won't be an emergency stop as the light was expected to change, deliberately putting your foot down to get across the line before the red shows is just as bad, if not worse, than not stopping for the amber stop light - far too many people misunderstand amber to mean get ready to stop.
The video the world’s been waiting for.
Theirs a junction near me with them in the same situation but you can see both from a distance.
And some cars that are not aware of the junction skip a red light or beep at you thinking you haven’t noticed the green light.
It's a nightmare for bus or LGV drivers as the angle of the slats block out the colour of any light due to how high up the driver is.
They're a disaster. On a bright day you can't see if it's green or amber because the stupid slats obscure the light. You can hold up traffic because you've no idea if it's on green or amber because your really struggling to see the light through the slats obscuring it.
As a lorry driver sitting hire up i sometimes can't see the lights at all even when i'm close. I've been sat on the white line before now wondering what colour the lights are.
In CA they use white strobe lights to warn of a pedestrian xing. The strobes are controlled by the pedestrian at the crossing. Drivers begrudgingly stop.
Also, on 1/1/2022 “ jaywalking” is no longer crime, but the pedestrian does not have the right away, and must cross carefully. Some drivers stop to allow jaywalkers to cross, which makes it incredibly dangerous.
I always thought that these were to help with traffic lights that get hit with a lot of sunlight at certain times of the day making it difficult to see which light is shining. 😅
Similar purpose as for the ones with longer tunnel hoods so as not to confuse which direction of traffic said signal applies to
I never wondered, no, it's quite obvious, but very nice informative video.
I've noticed this same concept in los angeles, except the light has a lens that directs the light instead of louvers
I love your jacket, Richard!
You know I saw one of these the other day and wondered what they were for. Neat
This was kinda fascinating, never seen any like them before (though I've never driven in the UK so that's probably part of it)
In the US Its much more common to run across what are called "optically programmed" traffic lights. They pretty much do the same thing with lenses inside the traffic light head itself.
nice. trying to solve the problem that people can’t drive properly by adding stupid stuff so that cars can’t see lights far in front
Ex pat. Why is it at some junctions you have a traffic light at "Normal" height and on the same pole there is another light much higher, thst is 2 traffic lights on one pole at different heights?
Hello Sir,
I have been watching your videos for a year now.
I want to request you to make a video on
"How to drive a car with wing mirrors only".
As most of the time, family members may be sitting at back seats, which makes center mirror ineffective.
Looking forward for the video
1:25 amber is not shown on Australian traffic lights prior to the green ..no point.
Hi Richard, could u make a video about convex blind spot mirrors? best place to put them on the side mirrors and so on :^)
If you're nervous about taking your driving test, have a good stiff drink right before it, nothing beats liquid courage!
I was in Dallas recently and saw louvred lights for the first time and they really pissed me off, but so did nearly everything else about driving in Dallas.
But now that I think about it, in some of the suburbs surrounding New Orleans, ive seen some lights that *act* like louvred lights, where the green light fades into view as you approach. I wonder if that was on purpose?
I've always wondered about this so thanks very much