During our travels together we have seen many things that are different to home. Some are pretty obvious and others are more subtle. One of the more subtle things I have noticed are the different styles of traffic signals that are used around the world. Below are some that I have seen.
This one would win the weirdest and most unique title. There are a few of these in downtown Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island, Canada. They are unusual as they are horizontal rather than vertical like every other one I have seen. I was once told that traffic signals were always vertical so you could still tell what colour the light was even if you were colour blind. I guess that person didn't know about these lights in PEI.
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This is the style of traffic signal that is used around Australia. There is normally one set in the middle of the road and one on the left side. In some locations there is a 4 light set that has a green arrow at the bottom below the green light.
In most locations in America the traffic signals are overhead and there is one set for each lane. This comes in very handy for the people in the turn lanes.
In larger cities in America like NYC the lights are still hung overhead but there is not one for each lane.
I'm sure there are many more styles of traffic lights for me to discover in my future travels. Have you seen any unusual ones in your travels around the world?
Australia and English traffic lights are the same
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! I had never really thought about differences in light signals...thanks for sharing. And thanks for visiting my blog!
ReplyDeleteFun pics!
ReplyDeleteI've also noticed the differences in 'walk' 'dont walk' signs around the world. I particularly liked the NYC ones that counted down the time until they changed to 'walk'.
ReplyDeleteOur Aussie ones are simply green or red man walking signs, with a beep, beep, beep noise for green to assist visually impaired people.
What an interesting subject! I'm going to pay more attention to traffic light styles in the future.
ReplyDeleteSean, The Aussie set of lights, is that pic taken at Rutherford / Maitland on the New England Hwy ?
ReplyDeleteWhen we drove in Italy, in Naples, the main difference seemed to be that no one else stopped at the lights!!! Quite scarey.
ReplyDeleteThe French have quite unusual lights I think. They have some at driver height which is a great idea, but don't always seem to have some after the intersection, so you can't always seem them. They do honk incessantly if you haven't moved off in 0.4 seconds so I guess you don't really need to see the light itself all that well.
ReplyDeleteI notice the same traffic signals (top photo) about 50-years ago in Canada, not sure exactly what city, but in the northern part of New Brunswick. I thought and still do that whether mounted horizontal like these signals are or vertical, note that the Red Light is square shape, the Yellow Light is diamond shape while the Green Light remains round like we are accustom to. I thought this was a great idea.
ReplyDeleteNow we have all these left/right turn arrows that could complicate the issue in design. But it is interesting to see that these signals are still around.
No pictures of signals dangling from a cable across the road that swing with the wind.
Bob
I notice the same traffic signals (top photo) about 50-years ago in Canada, not sure exactly what city, but in the northern part of New Brunswick. I thought and still do that whether mounted horizontal like these signals are or vertical, note that the Red Light is square shape, the Yellow Light is diamond shape while the Green Light remains round like we are accustom to. I thought this was a great idea.
ReplyDeleteNow we have all these left/right turn arrows that could complicate the issue in design. But it is interesting to see that these signals are still around.
No pictures of signals dangling from a cable across the road that swing with the wind.
Bob