Really long traffic lights (4mins +). Any idea why?

graeme

Not a local discussion, just curious if anyone knows:

Was driving through Old Street around 5am on Saturday morning. Junction of East Rd leading onto City Road just as you reach Old Street roundabout. Was held waiting at those traffic lights for 4 minutes. Traffic could move freely down City Rd all this time, though there wasn't a lot of it.

On the way back around 6am, similar area, heading north up City Rd, wanting to turn right into Provost Rd so I could make my way back up New North Rd ... again held for over 4 minutes. Not a lot of traffic coming the other way, just seemed to be held for the fun of it. I was at the head of the queue, and was getting peeped by traffic behind me. Some cars overtook me to turn right on red, and I followed. All of us jumped the lights.

I had tried flashing my lights at the sensor, but didn't have an affect.

Is this just when they re-phase the lights for the day? Or in general is that how long non-buses/bikes are expected to wait at these junctions?

Cat

Almost certainly a fault with the detector at the junction. At nights often side roads and filters only change when a vehicle is detected at the junction. There's a tfl customer service line you can use to report faults like this. They normally get looked at pretty quickly.