Signs and other Portents

June 2nd, 2005

senji

2005/06/02 17:32:00 - Signs and other Portents

This sign appeared on the A14 under Girton the other week. It works out as a little over 1 casualty (KSI I assume) every working day of the year, and the odd few left over for weekends. It's not entirely sure if they mean the entire A14 or just the bit in Cambridgeshire.

While I was stopped I also took photos of the strange camera like thing which lurks over the side of that bridge, and the marks on the ground and strange lampposty thing that goes with it. I'm particularly amused by the note on the device, which reads:

This Unit Is A Traffic Flow Monitor

This is NOT a Camera
This is NOT a Speed Trap
This is NOT a Tax Disc Reader

I wonder if they've had problems with people destroying them?

The third thing in Girton to recently catch my attention was this new sign. We've been on National Cycle Route 51 for some time now. Mainly what this means is nice cheap self-adhesive signs on lamp-posts (which are occasionally confusing), but we've actually got a real sign now (left). I think this is a good idea, and the execution doesn't seem to be too crap yet…
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( < | 4 glosses | comment | > )

ilanin	2005/06/02 17:07:58
	The "strange lamposty thing" is blatantly a solar panel to provide the electricity to power it. Well, probably. It looks like one to me. ( reply \| thread )

brrm	2005/06/02 17:12:51
	The lampposty thing is a solar panel, I think. The road marks are a buried induction loop for detecting metal things (cars, in this case). The traffic flow cameras work by timing particular number plates between points - presumably the induction loop triggers the camera. There are also similar blue cameras on very tall poles, used by Trafficmaster to measure traffic flow. ( reply \| thread )

teleute

2005/06/03 07:48:39

all the traffic lights round here have the same marks which Adrian told me are to detect cars. However, they don't seem to work for bicycles, but since hardly anyone cycles round here, I assume that the road planners didn't think it mattered. They always look worrying to me, as if there is some big hole in the road and someone has just taped a new piece of tarmac over the top and is hoping no one will notice. I always worry that I'll stop over one of the squares and then fall through and disappear...

( reply | thread )

mobbsy	2005/06/03 07:59:08
	The induction loops can be tuned to detect bicycle sized lumps of metal. There are even a few bicycle-specific detectors for crossings in Cambridge, like the one on Parker's Piece near the Pizza Hut, and the one from Midsummer Common going across Maid's Causeway. ( reply \| parent \| thread )

( < | 4 glosses | comment | > )

Signs and other Portents - Squaring the circle...

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