Traffic lights are a puzzle to 96% of drivers! (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Traffic lights are a puzzle to 96% of drivers!

4:57pm Monday 20th April 2009 in News By Kathie Griffiths

Do you know your traffic lights sequence?

Yorkshire motorists need ‘enlightning’ the most when it comes to understanding traffic lights, according to a new survey.

Just four per cent of the 1,000 drivers quizzed on how lights work, truly understood the colour signals and a shocking one per cent of them admitted thinking red meant go, according to the poll carried out for a car insurance company.

Only 30 per cent of the road users could correctly identify even one of the four traffic light signals and just ten per cent of them came up with the right answer that when red and amber are shown together, drivers should not pass through or start moving until they see green.

The survey for E-sure, which credited Welsh drivers as being the most knowledgeable, also revealed 77 per cent of motorists spoken to had accelerated when approaching green lights in order not to have to stop with 14 per cent of them saying they did this on a regular basis.

More than three in five of those polled confessed to having gone through a red light, with four per cent admitting they had committed this offence several times.

The survey results came as no surprise to Tony McNiff – the man responsible for the Bradford district’s 348 traffic signals.

Mr McNiff, principal engineer for Bradford Council’s traffic lights, said: “We’re no worse in Bradford than any other Yorkshire city when it comes to drivers understanding traffic signals but a little awareness can do no harm.

“I think a lot of motorists just work on their sub-conscious and if they see amber on its own they know it’s going to turn red and should stop.

“There’s no doubt though that if everyone stuck to the rules there would be fewer accidents on the roads but people are so set on hurrying from A to B.”

He added: “Everyone thinks they are experts on traffic signals and people get in touch with suggestions on how they could be improved but it’s a whole science in itself.

“What not many people realise is that Bradford has the best traffic signals in the country – we have more puffin crossings than any other city in England, we have more LED signals which mean the lights are brighter and clearer and they are economic with power consumption – as a consequence of all that though they are a bit more expensive, the difference is between a Rolls Royce and a Mini Metro.”

A simple pedestrian crossing light can cost £15,000, a set of simple road signals could rise to £25,000 with a big junction set-up priced up to as much as £100,000.

e-mail: kathie.griffiths @telegraphandargus.co.uk