why use traffic lights?

[Marabu]

Hi,

my city is about 20k, and I don't have 1 single traffic light in it. Traffic just flows. What's the point of using them at all? When I started playing the game it was a real challenge to deal with/without trafficlights. Now it feels like cheating.

[Luke Romo]

Originally posted by Alex:

Hi,

my city is about 20k, and I don't have 1 single traffic light in it. Traffic just flows. What's the point of using them at all? When I started playing the game it was a real challenge to deal with/without trafficlights. Now it feels like cheating.

If you designed your city to not have any traffic lights without having to remove them, keep it up. But major intersections without traffic lights can really slow down if theres a decent amount of traffic because everyone just goes and it can be a lot slower when everyone is jammed up.

[cabrig]

Agreed. I prefer traffic lights on intersections involving two 4- or 6-lane roads in most cases because it gives each lane equal priority over time. If you have a large amount of traffic coming from one direction but not the other, having no traffic lights can cause delays and just looks messy (IMO) when viewing the traffic's behaviour! But on intersections where a minor road crosses a major road, I mostly prefer to disable the traffic lights and put stop signs on the minor roads. This keeps traffic flowing on the major road.

[Silky Rough]

Try playing without traffic despawning and on cities above 50k. It's only then do you realise the importance of lights. :)

[baddoggs]

I have citys wayy over 100k and still NO traffic lights needed ever.
My residential zones only have stock two way streets and only use
4 way (2 each direction) occasionally in industrial only. and NO lights.

[Silky Rough]

Originally posted by baddoggs:

I have citys wayy over 100k and still NO traffic lights needed ever.
My residential zones only have stock two way streets and only use
4 way (2 each direction) occasionally in industrial only. and NO lights.

With traffic despawning?

[baddoggs]

I have had no major issues playing in this manner.
It works so well i am starting to consider it an exploit.

[Marabu]

Thanks for your replies. I will see how it all works out when my cities grows in size. I will be experimenting with traffic lights, just to see if there really is a difference. No despawn seems too unrealistic to me, because there are times with low amounts of traffic in real life. But I see the challenge in that!

[The Plum Gate]

in my experince i just use them when I have traffic approaching an intersection with two very different speeds, like two lane highway and two lane road. this is a scenario where car can very quickly pile up in one direction. ..so I rarely use traffic lights unless i'm trying to troubleshoot a problem area. ..after fixing it, i usually turn them back off. It helps give pace to certain area so i can see where things are developing.

[baddoggs]

Mostly i use small roads that don't put lights on intersections anyway.
Good zoning is really the key.