London Traffic Lights?

[PhilC]

I have noticed this and it is not good. Nearly 10% of the population are red-green color blind, so this border is important to enable drivers to see the traffic light phase from a distance, especially at night.
Is anyone else old enough to remember when the amber light was in a white painted block? This was similarly useful to color blind drivers.

I am one of that 10% who is red/green colour blind. I can remember the amber light in a white block, but I always thought it was to match the black and white stripes on the pole, not to help colour blind people. Of far greater use to me was the word "STOP" in black letters which used to be written across the red light lens.

The green light was always a blueish green which I could easily distinguish from both the red and amber lights. It wasn't until I was about 4 or 5 that I realised the light was green, I originally thought it was white. Some of the modern led green lights are a completely different shade which I see as a golden yellow colour, similar to high pressure sodium street lights.

[Gareth]

Yes I remember them too.
A possible reason for the Mellors is that they were on what were trunk roads and therefore funded by DoT or DoE, as was? There was a lot of de-trunking in the early 80s

The only photos I can find of Mellors in London show grey poles and backing boards. Oxford Street is an example, which has its signals changed in around 1976.

[yen_powell]

The green light was always a blueish green which I could easily distinguish from both the red and amber lights. It wasn't until I was about 4 or 5 that I realised the light was green, I originally thought it was white. Some of the modern led green lights are a completely different shade which I see as a golden yellow colour, similar to high pressure sodium street lights.

I'm red green colour blind too. I can see the difference in colours when they cover a large area, but when it gets to a smaller patch I struggle, for instance I have trouble with the London tube map telling brown from red when it is a thin straight line. I also only see stars as one colour although I am told they can vary from red, white, yellow and blue, I assume because it is a only tiny pinprick of light to look at. I also don't really see a difference in coloured cats eyes unless they are brand new and clean when the reds show up a bit better to me.

Night time makes it impossible to identify a yellow from a white or light grey car. I cope with traffic lights from a distance at night by noting the position really and also the brightness. The green seems brighter than the red to me. Add in an amber and it's plainly obvious where the other two are.

My first job was as a spectroscope operator in a scrap metal yard. In those days it was all done by eye, you matched lines for brightness on a twin split view of the metal to be tested with a piece of iron underneath which you knew the patterns of and navigated by, i.e. after checking for 18/8 Chrome/nickel, if a certain molybdenum line was as bright as a certain iron line it meant it was circa 2% on a stainless steel and you had 316, if it was dull or missing you had 304 or 321, so you then looked for titanium to separate them. When one day I casually mentioned my colour problems the owners went a bit frantic. They didn't realise it was the patterns, positions and brightness not the colours that mattered. Either end of the spectrum was invisible to the human eye anyway, if you wanted to see them it was .bolt on the camera' time.

[ElsieSeedlow]

Yes I remember them too.
A possible reason for the Mellors is that they were on what were trunk roads and therefore funded by DoT or DoE, as was? There was a lot of de-trunking in the early 80s

The only photos I can find of Mellors in London show grey poles and backing boards. Oxford Street is an example, which has its signals changed in around 1976.

As it is (was?) part of the A40 Oxford Street may have been a trunk road? I don't know, before my time, but I think we both agree there were Mellors in London once upon a time

[Chris Bertram]

Yes I remember them too.
A possible reason for the Mellors is that they were on what were trunk roads and therefore funded by DoT or DoE, as was? There was a lot of de-trunking in the early 80s

The only photos I can find of Mellors in London show grey poles and backing boards. Oxford Street is an example, which has its signals changed in around 1976.

As it is (was?) part of the A40 Oxford Street may have been a trunk road? I don't know, before my time, but I think we both agree there were Mellors in London once upon a time

You will find Mellors still in use around London. However, they often lack their backing boards, and thus may not be as obvious as elsewhere. They are ill-proportioned without the boards, having been designed for normal use with them attached, and so there is more space above and below the lamps that you may think is needed.