h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good Idea. They drive down the side of the road as if they are no problem, yet they can stop up traffic for a quarter of a mile if there is no where to go in order to pass them (ie. a two lane road with no passing lane and no dotted yellow line).

I live in the more disciplinate northern part of Italy, but took driving lessons while in the South, as they were cheaper and much more effective.

There's an anecdote that a friend of mine brought from Naples. He and his family were travelling from the airport to the docks, in order to board on the boat to Capri. The taxi driver was speeding through without stopping at a single red light, but after some minutes, oddly enough, he stopped at one. He explained, "This one is dangerous." My friend's father remarked, "I see, it's redder than the others..."

Also, red and green are the two colours most likely to be mistaken by the colour blind.

No need. The pollution from the cars will kill them soon enough as it is.

I am told by a mate who restores old cars that the reason for the red and amber when clearing was that with old cars the clutch was not very good (apparently an understatement)so at traffic lights it was normal for drivers to select neutral while waiting, the red and amber indicated it was time to get back in gear

Aaaack!!
You've just re-invented the 4-way stop.
Have you ever noticed how people sit and stare at each other, immobile and waiting for somebody else to go first, sometimes with silly little sideways waves?
Or how they all try to go at once, resulting in squealing tires and a different type of hand signal?
(i.e.: no common sense)

I don't actually have a clue where MadK is situated, but I just thought I'd say we don't have 4-way stops in England.. so incase he's English, I thought I'd explain why he might not've related it to a 4-way stop

I'm sure he could say all this himself, but I felt like he wouldn't

Then meet me - I am the most friendly cyclist in Germany. Ok, nearly
I remember having been quite upset in traffic only once in life. But it likely was expensive to my counterpart, when I think of the bump in his car roof.
When I used the cyclist´s lane on the street the other day and this terrible Mercedes tried to turn right, it cut me.
Fortunately, it was obvious to me before and so I could bring my bike into a sliding movement towards the car´s right side
Nices scratches, really
And because I nearly collapsed, I had to bump the roof with my fist, of course .
Mercedeses are not as stabile as the rumor goes, I can tellya.
If you got the impression, it was a delight to me, you are right

Bye
eating Findus

Hmmm... In the old days I never did that...always held it on the clutch. It's with the newer cars I find it's easier just to slap on an emergency brake and wait for the light... however, I just watch the amber from the green for the other direction to re-engage gears.

(Or maybe I'm just getting old and weak, rather than the clutches? )

Rely on drivers' common sense... What a nice (though just a -tad- naive) dream.

Btw, kest.. why don't you stick a 'hello' or something on your user page so we can pop by now and then. You can use Plain Text if it's HTML that's throwing you off.

High,
Engineer Time...

I'll answer your questions in reverse order.

3)
The red light is always on top (or in New Jersey, where traffic lights are hung sideways, on the left) because a portion of the population is red/green colorblind. If you can't see the color, you can see the position.

2) Someone had a better answer than I did. In the states it's red-green-yellow-red. The yellow is to allow for reaction time, and indicated the point at which traffic is supposed to cease entering the intersection, and those still in the intersection to finish their turns, travel straight through, whatever.

In a part of Germany I was staying in, the lights went red-yellow-green-yellow-red, because it was very hilly and most folks drove stick. The extra yellow gave people a few seconds to get into gear.

1) I have absolutely no clue personally, but there are plenty of folks I can ask. I have actually seen some blue lights in the states, but it was more of a really greenish-blue.

How's George?

I happen to live on an Air Force base where ther are only two sets of traffic lights, and they traffic lights, and the rest of the intersections have stop signs. The traffic seems to flow really well as compared to nearby LA.

Of course the tremendous lack cars due to on base policies requiring every car to be registered or have a pass and every registration or pass to have a reason could be responsible.

I read this great story about a discussion on a Norwegian radio station about their traffic lights. These blokes decided that their lights had thin Englishmen living in them that operated the lights. Patrols went round to feed them but sometimes forgot so it would be a good idea to stop and feed them! Oh yes, the Englishmen were fed on celery (in some English town I can't remember- somewhere like Eastbourne) to make them thinner.

It's probably not true though...

Perhaps not, but don't tell anyone. People are more likely to stop to feed a tiny man that operates a safety device than a mouse.

That's why they always have the red on top. So that you know which one it is if you can't tell by the colour.

Update. The law here in colorado says that if you enter an intersection either on a green light or a yellow light you have the right of way to complete whatever action you originally started out to complete

The law in Britain is similar. If you pass the 'stop' line at traffic lights before they go red, you are entitled to keep going after the lights have changed. Which is just as well, because you wouldn't be able to turn across the flow of traffic at some junctions if this wasn't the case!

Oh I don't know - I like mice - surely men however small and imprisoned in traffic lights are better able to feed themselves. After all they must have a contract for their job and they can shout louder than mice...