[J4J]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Signals work perfectly as they are. If people following buses/trucks are missing the signal, they are either following too closely or traffic management should use the amber light (with sufficient time) to warm traffic about the impending red signal.

From a textbook/ideal point of view, your are right.
Now let us look what practically I have to face in my city.
There are generally 3 lights. 2 lights before or on the crossing and one just after the crossing (as can be seen in first picture of this thread).
Sometimes, only 1 works or others are obstructed by trees. The drivers need to spot which one. In my case/route this mostly turns out to be the farthest one after the crossing.
If any large vehicle is ahead of you in the line of sight, you cannot spot it. Distance doesn't matter unless you are parked 300-500 meters apart on the red-light.

Coming to amber lights. If that works then feel yourself lucky. Either they don't work or are for extremely short period of time. In large intersections, you won't even reach halfway before the light turns red.

As a bonus, the redlight I see daily has 2 zebra lines painted one after the other. This confuses the driver of which actually is the stop line when he sees the amber light.

In such a case, the more the visibility, the better.

[landcruiser123]

What I'm saying is that Cities in India should have the fundamentals right in the first place. I must sheepishly admit that I've skipped a red signal or two by following a truck too closely on my motorcycle in Bangalore.

Traffic signals work perfectly in the US or the EU. Barring signs to indicate an approaching light, they don't need any additional lighting even though the regions experience more bad weather that India.

Originally Posted by J4J

Sometimes, only 1 works or others are obstructed by trees. The drivers need to spot which one. In my case/route this mostly turns out to be the farthest one after the crossing.
If any large vehicle is ahead of you in the line of sight, you cannot spot it....

I think cities need to do the maintenance of pruning trees regularly. Also, motorists shouldn't be following large vehicles too closely.

Coming to amber lights. If that works then feel yourself lucky. Either they don't work or are for extremely short period of time. In large intersections, you won't even reach halfway before the light turns red.

The city council & the traffic police should work to set a minimum duration for the amber such that a vehicle can easily pass.

[GTO]

Not a fan of these at all. A well-positioned & bright (conventional) traffic light serves the purpose. This is really overkill. I can understand the value of it in cities with heavy fog and the like, but in Bombay where visibility is clear throughout the year, this is unnecessary.