"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

And it felt wrong not having a
red-and-amber "get ready to go, put the car in gear/drive, take the
handbrake off" phase to traffic lights, but I gather a lot of Europe is
like
that.

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any other
European countries, we were only on the motorways in Belgium last
holidays, and I don't think I noticed what the situation was in
Switzerland.

I think Germany has no red-and-amber phase - I think I remember noticing.

The one thing that I remember reading about the Netherlands is that the rule
of priority on roundabouts is the reverse of ours: instead of traffic
waiting to join the roundabout having to give way to traffic already on the
roundabout that's coming from their left, its the other way round: traffic
on the roundabout has to give way to traffic waiting to join - which
frequently causes total gridlock! The EU apparently once tried to get the UK
to adopt this practice but were told where to go ;-)

I must admit, after driving in America and having to keep down to fairly
low
speed limits on single-carriageway roads (35 where we'd probably have had
50
or 60), it was nice to get off the train from Gatwick into my own car and
drive on the right side of the road on country lanes where I was able to
drive at a reasonable speed, or on a dual-carriageway where I wouldn't
have
to contend with someone overtaking me on my nearside or going dead-level
with me mile after mile, and in a car that didn't change down
automatically
into second gear every time I dropped below 30 or negotiated a roundabout!
Before I went, I was apprehensive of how I'd adjust to driving on the
other
side of the road, but I had no problems with that.

One doesn't, I understand. I don't yet drive, but I'm told by those who
do that this is invariably far less difficult than anticipated.

I think being on the opposite side of the car (the correct side for road)
helps a great deal. And at least in an automatic I didn't have the added
distraction of having to change gear frequently and remembering that the
layout of the gears is one of the things that's *not* a mirror image. Only
occasionally did I have to remember at junctions not to pull out
instinctively onto the wrong side of the road I was joining.

One thing I did notice driving and walking through small towns was how much
more willing American drivers were to give way to cars pulling out from side
roads or to pedestrians wanting to cross the road. When I was on foot,
several cars stopped simply because I'd turned to face the opposite side of
the road to admire a building! Even in the centre of Boston, cars were
willing to give way to pedestrians who weren't on "crosswalks" (also signed
as "PED XING" which had me puzzled till I worked out what it was an
abbreviation for!) or to drivers on side roads. However I also noticed that
pedestrians never seemed to assume that they had a divine right to cross a
side road that a car was waiting to turn into - maybe the rules of who has
priority over whom are more sensible over there.

In article ,
(Martin Underwood) wrote:

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

And it felt wrong not having a
red-and-amber "get ready to go, put the car in gear/drive, take the
handbrake off" phase to traffic lights, but I gather a lot of Europe
is like that.

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any
other European countries, we were only on the motorways in Belgium
last holidays, and I don't think I noticed what the situation was in
Switzerland.

I think Germany has no red-and-amber phase - I think I remember
noticing.

I think our red and amber is unique. The only other country with a variant
that I recall is Italy with green and amber.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message ,
Colin Rosenstiel writes
I think our red and amber is unique. The only other country with a
variant that I recall is Italy with green and amber.
I didn't notice that, but I do remember that the lights in Naples were
only for advice or decoration.
--
Clive

Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

I had written:

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any other
European countries, we were only on the motorways in Belgium last
holidays, and I don't think I noticed what the situation was in
Switzerland.

I think Germany has no red-and-amber phase - I think I remember noticing.

I didn't think Germany did, but last holidays we were driving in both,
and my husband commented, when we got into Germany, that they followed a
similar system to us. So perhaps they've changed - or else, perhaps
they have red, followed by separate amber, followed by green? I was too
busy navigating to notice!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 May 2005

"Mrs Redboots" wrote in message
...
Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sat, 25 Jun 2005:

I had written:

France certainly is; Germany is more like us. Not sure about any other
European countries, we were only on the motorways in Belgium last
holidays, and I don't think I noticed what the situation was in
Switzerland.

I think Germany has no red-and-amber phase - I think I remember noticing.

I didn't think Germany did, but last holidays we were driving in both,
and my husband commented, when we got into Germany, that they followed a
similar system to us. So perhaps they've changed - or else, perhaps
they have red, followed by separate amber, followed by green? I was too
busy navigating to notice!

I'm pretty sure that there wasn't a red-and-amber when I went on holiday to
Austria with my parents in the early 80s and we drove through Germany from
Munich to Innsbruck: I remember commenting on it. Can't remember how it was
when I went to Hannover more recently.

I bet the only downside of not driving is that you get called upon to do all
the navigating - like non-drinkers get imposed upon to do all the driving
after parties etc!

In message ,
Martin Underwood writes
France certainly is; Germany is more like us.
Although I've not seen it anywhere else, I very much liked the pigs ears
on traffic lights (Little repeaters at eye height), that the French have
on all there lights.
--
Clive

Clive wrote to uk.transport.london on Sun, 26 Jun 2005:

In message 42beabf3$0$41915$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-
reader03.plus.net, Martin Underwood writes
France certainly is; Germany is more like us.
Although I've not seen it anywhere else, I very much liked the pigs ears
on traffic lights (Little repeaters at eye height), that the French have on
all there lights.

I do, too - it means they don't need repeater lights on the other side
of the junction, as motorists can see what they are looking at even if
they are at the front of the clue. Only thing is, when we were walking
in France, I kept thinking they were pedestrian crossings....
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 May 2005

Martin Underwood wrote to uk.transport.london on Sun, 26 Jun 2005:

I bet the only downside of not driving is that you get called upon to do all
the navigating - like non-drinkers get imposed upon to do all the driving
after parties etc!

Indeed, and my husband, like several others of my acquaintance, doesn't
follow directions well. Or slow down so you can read road signs.... and
expects you to know, by instinct, which way to turn! Then, when you
tell him, he says "Oh, I can't turn here, I'm in the wrong lane", and
goes merrily on in the wrong direction. Or takes the wrong exit from a
roundabout when you say "Not that one"......

Someone suggested GPS, but our rather out-of-date system doesn't help
all that much! It is, however, very useful when you have gone badly
wrong!
--
"Mrs Redboots"
http://www.amsmyth.demon.co.uk/
Website updated 23 May 2005

In message , Mrs Redboots
writes

I didn't think Germany did, but last holidays we were driving in both,
and my husband commented, when we got into Germany, that they followed a
similar system to us. So perhaps they've changed - or else, perhaps
they have red, followed by separate amber, followed by green? I was too
busy navigating to notice!

The most common traffic lights in Germany are indeed like UK ones:

http://home.att.net/~texhwyman/zeichen4.htm

--
Paul Terry

"Paul Terry" wrote in message
...
In message , Mrs Redboots
writes

I didn't think Germany did, but last holidays we were driving in both,
and my husband commented, when we got into Germany, that they followed a
similar system to us. So perhaps they've changed - or else, perhaps
they have red, followed by separate amber, followed by green? I was too
busy navigating to notice!

The most common traffic lights in Germany are indeed like UK ones:

http://home.att.net/~texhwyman/zeichen4.htm

Very interesting. There are some interesting features that we could do with
adopting he I like the idea of the red light as well as the green light
at filter junctions having an arrow. At a junction where there are separate
lights for straight ahead and turn left (or right), it's difficult to know
as you are approaching whether both sets of lights are the same (normal
junction) or separate (filter junction). Many times I've instictively braked
because I've seen a red light, only to realise that it's for the other
stream of traffic and that I've got a green. If the filter red light was
red, you could tell at a glance whether or not it applied to you.

What's the German rule on roundabouts (if they have them in Germany)? Do you
give way to traffic on the roundabout coming from your left (ie mirror image
of the situation in Britain) or does traffic already on the roundabout have
to give way to traffic that wants to join, as I believe is the case in The
Netherlands?