Lights out to keep moving

IMAGINE it. Morning rush hour in York. You drive in along one of the main routes into the city - Hull Road, Fulford Road or Shipton Road, perhaps - and not one of the traffic lights is working.

What would happen? Would the city centre be gridlocked? Or would the traffic actually move more quickly? It is a question the people of Carlisle are in the process of answering.

When the Cumbrian city was hit by flooding earlier this year, many of its traffic lights stopped working. Instead of causing snarl-ups, however, motorists noticed traffic was actually flowing more easily.

Now, in a groundbreaking experiment, highways bosses in the city have switched off all the traffic lights at the city's main Hardwicke Circus roundabout - which feeds traffic directly into the city centre - to see what effect it has on the movement of vehicles.

"The lights were off at Hardwicke Circus after they were badly damaged in recent floods," explained Coun John Collier, chairman of the Carlisle local committee of Cumbria County Council.

"Many drivers felt that during that time traffic flowed better.

The local committee have agreed to switch off the lights for a trial period to see if, under normal circumstances, this is the case. We shall be monitoring the traffic flow regularly to see if it is working."

Cumbria highways chiefs have spent £15,000 installing new signs and road markings to prepare for the six-month experiment. The lights were switched off for the first time at about 7am yesterday. And how did it go?

One of the main roads feeding into the roundabout was actually backed up slightly further than usual, conceded highways engineer Jim Smith, who was on site from 7.30am. But traffic on other roads connecting to the roundabout seemed to be moving more easily.

And while there had been one minor "rear-end shunt" there was no reason to think that would not have happened if the lights had been working as normal.

So is this an experiment that could be tried in York? Possibly. As our quick poll of motorists (see panel, below) shows, most people here support traffic lights, regarding them as a 'necessary evil'.

Former senior police accident investigator turned collisions investigation consultant Mick Natt, however, has no doubt that York has too many traffic lights.

"When you get a junction where the lights have failed, the traffic flows more smoothly," he said.

Any experiment in York would not be as simple as just switching off all the traffic lights in the city, however.

For a start, officials in Carlisle admit that while traffic may have flowed more smoothly when lights were down during the flooding, at least part of the reason for that was that fewer vehicles were entering and leaving the city then.

Several schools and even the council offices were closed, for example. So there is no guarantee that switching off the lights at the Hardwicke Circus roundabout will actually mean any improvement in traffic flows. That will depend to a large extent on how courteous and considerate motorists are.

Mick Natt believes it is very likely that in the early stages as they get used to the change, motorists will behave considerately, allowing each other onto the roundabout rather than just bulling ahead. "The problem with the experiment will be how long it lasts," he says. "Familiarity breeds contempt."

Six months - which is how long the Carlisle experiment is set to last - should be more than enough to judge whether it is going to work in the longer term, Mick believes. Even if it does work there is another problem. The Hardwicke Circus roundabout does not have any pedestrian crossings. People on foot use underpasses instead.

Coun Ann Reid, York's executive member for transport, points out that one of the main reasons for having traffic lights in York is to ensure pedestrians and cyclists can safely navigate their way about the city. "The main problem would be safety for pedestrians - and, in York, for cyclists," she said.

The council does sometimes get letters from people complaining about lights, and saying they should be removed, she says.

"But I think most people would probably not agree with that. Look at the Grimston Bar interchange with the A64, for example. For some reason, temporary traffic lights were put in there - and people said they were brilliant, we need them. Everybody wanted them."

Which is not to say that the Carlisle experiment isn't worth watching, she admits.

"Everything is worth monitoring. We would look at any work other authorities do with interest."

Not all of Carlisle's traffic lights have been turned off: only those at the Hardwicke Circus roundabout. Elsewhere in the city they are continuing to operate normally.

So are there any particular junctions or roundabouts in York where lights are not really necessary - and where pedestrians needing to cross the road are not an issue? It would be difficult to switch off the lights at junctions such as the busy intersection of Queen Street and Nunnery Lane, says Mick Natt, because there are so many lanes it could easily become confusing.

"I think you are looking at small junctions rather than major ones. For example, do we need traffic lights at St Leonard's Place/ Duncombe Place? And the only reason you need lights at Skeldergate/Tower Street is because it's not a roundabout any more. I would say it was easier to take the lights out there and return it to a proper roundabout."

Ann Reid points out there are many junctions in York where a minor road joins a larger one. She thinks that without lights at those junctions motorists coming in on the smaller road would not get a look-in.

Roundabouts such as that at the top of Moor Lane, where generally traffic flow was evenly spread, might be more realistic, she said.

But most of the junctions in York - except those with the A64 itself - incorporated pedestrian crossings. "And I cannot really think of anywhere where we would not have to try and deal with the pedestrian element," she said.

Would the Carlisle traffic lights experiment work well in York?

Dominic Spiteri, from Malton

It depends where. When you leave the A64 from Malton and turn into York, there are lots of traffic lights. They could turn a few of those off. You must have some lights so people can cross the road, near schools for example, but you don't need that many. Coming into York there's one set of lights then more half a mile on. In the city centre, near the fire station, you don't need so many.

Kevin Heslop, from York

I would not trust other motorists without lights. So I don't get fed up with them. I think they are necessary. There should be more of them, not less. If they worked in sequence better in places like Fishergate and Blossom Street that would make traffic flow better - but we do need them.

Shirley Fryirs from Scarborough

They are a necessary evil. We've just come into town and it was pretty grim, stopping and starting all the time. But we were coming through Scarborough the other day and the traffic lights had been switched off for some reason. Nobody would let anybody through. But I agree maybe the timing and sequencing could be adjusted.

John Messer, from York

I should have thought it would be chaos without lights. It is something I have never thought about, but I don't have any problem with traffic lights. With some people it might work (if lights were switched off) but with others they might be necessary. But I would have thought for pedestrians they were important.

Richard Frank, from Harrogate

Too many pedestrians have to cross the road, so I would say we need lights. They slow people down as well. If there were no lights, I think a lot of people would speed. And they make it easier to pull out of junctions. If we didn't have them, I think a lot of people would be stuck at junctions for a long time. So I agree with them, although it would be interesting to see what happened.

Updated: 09:31 Tuesday, March 08, 2005