Stopping too far back at red traffic signals - driver stupidity or lack of education?

JenB79

AFAIK some (or all?) traffic signals use cameras/sensors to control the flow of traffic. Stop too far behind the 'stop' line when the lights are red - say more than a few feet - and you could forever be stuck at the signals, depending on the range of the signal sensors.

I've seen this a good few times over the years and often getting out of the vehicle (when its safe to do so) and politely & quickly telling the offending driver to move forward slightly gets things moving again. But today what I saw outside my home was pretty much dangerous as I saw drivers jumping red lights at 3-way temporary lights (d/t roadworks). All because a driver instructor & his pupil (apparently) stopped roughly 3 metres behind the 'stop here' red board and a result the lights from his direction never turned green. I only noticed this once i heard a lot of beeping in the ensuing bedlam (its single lane traffic in the roadworks) and went outside to have a look. I guess the drivers who jumped the red lights wrongly assumed the lights were faulty as the queuing traffic behind the instructors car must have been around half a mile long - its usually no more than 4-5 cars long. Anyway once the driver instructor was told to move slightly, bingo his lights turned green a short while later and traffic began flowing normally again.

So is it mentioned anywhere in the Highway Code about stopping too far back at traffic signals? Because I can't see this anywhere.

BOWFER

If the sensors are only being triggered a few feet from the line, that's a fault.
They should see approaching traffic, not traffic right on top of them.

facade

I often stop short of the line at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, as I find that I can't see the traffic light if I get closer.

In The Olden Days there always used to be a repeater light on the other side of the junction, now it is a rarity.

BOWFER

facade said:

In The Olden Days there always used to be a repeater light on the other side of the junction, now it is a rarity.

Absolutely right.
New bypass near me, junctions off it don't have any repeater lights at t'other side.
You can see people adopting all sorts of poses in their cars trying to see the lights they need to.

JenB79

facade said:

I often stop short of the line at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, as I find that I can't see the traffic light if I get closer.

In The Olden Days there always used to be a repeater light on the other side of the junction, now it is a rarity.

That's strange, where i live, I mostly see repeater lights on the opposite side of the junction, for example here:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@57.4859234,-4.1456684,3a,75y,66.27h,72.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soeSF36bLpRhnqjLz8aaKfg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Unless you meant something else?

facade

JenB79 said:

facade said:

I often stop short of the line at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, as I find that I can't see the traffic light if I get closer.

In The Olden Days there always used to be a repeater light on the other side of the junction, now it is a rarity.

That's strange, where i live, I mostly see repeater lights on the opposite side of the junction, for example here:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@57.4859234,-4.1456684,3a,75y,66.27h,72.17t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1soeSF36bLpRhnqjLz8aaKfg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Unless you meant something else?

That is what I mean. We don't have them on every junction round here.

I wouldn't stop short of temporary lights, they are low enough down to see from close in.

JenB79

BOWFER said:

If the sensors are only being triggered a few feet from the line, that's a fault.
They should see approaching traffic, not traffic right on top of them.

That's weird, I've seen this happen at 2 different set of lights in my area excl. the temporary lights near my home. Would have been fascinating to know who the police would have put at fault if they were in the vicinity of the temp lights today. 

sheramber

red lights at 3-way temporary lights (d/t roadworks).

The OP is talking about temporary lights at roadworks, not main traffic lights.

Flight3287462

Why were other jumping red lights, if we follow your logic the learner would have been stuck on red and it wouldn't affect other drivers.

Yet your description suggests the learner was stuck on green.

I'm confused

JenB79

Flight3287462 said:

Why were other jumping red lights, if we follow your logic the learner would have been stuck on red and it wouldn't affect other drivers.

Yet your description suggests the learner was stuck on green.

I'm confused

Sorry if I didn’t explain it properly. Learner driver is at red light, at front of queue at temporary 3 way traffic lights, stopped approx 3 metres ( ~ 10 feet) before red stop board. It has been like that probably for at least 10 mins as traffic from opposite directions has gone through MULTIPLE times whilst the learner drive is still awaiting the green light. Assuming the lights are faulty, other drivers behind the learner (although not all) overtake the learner  and go through red lights. The learner driver is then told to move forward slightly (by one of the pedestrians) which he does, and shortly afterwards the light turns green at which point he drives ahead. 

Jenni_D

sheramber said:

red lights at 3-way temporary lights (d/t roadworks).

The OP is talking about temporary lights at roadworks, not main traffic lights.

The OP has clarified that this was the case today, but has seen the same (lack of) functionality at other, permanent, lights.