Traffic lights always be red?

[bycomet]

If I see a traffic light, nine times out of ten it's red. Is it designed like this to force players "do something" in the game?

[Oz Gaming]

I get plenty of green lights.

[Fearagen]

Just like real life.

[The Pitts]

Observer bias coupled with the fact that in any given intersection the light will be red more often than not (and in complicated junctions with left turn signals for multiple directions, a lot more often than not)

[luZk]

It's litterally not observer bias, I fear it's hardcoded into the game, 50% of the time it should be green, at least the first one in a series you drive up on, but it's not.

Also the lights shifts to quickly, especially those pesky turn left signals are not even up for 10 secs. You wont make it though a left turn unless you're 1st or 2nd in line.

[Aspen Ridge]

Originally posted by bycomet:

If I see a traffic light, nine times out of ten it's red. Is it designed like this to force players "do something" in the game?

Sometimes..."it just be like dat"

[MirkoC407]

Originally posted by luZk:

50% of the time it should be green, at least the first one in a series you drive up on, but it's not.

No, more like 45% for a simple "all green" regulation where both sides of the main and then both sides of the secondary street are green. There is a time span of all directions being red. Take one where straight ahead and left turn for the main street is separate. Straight is something like three times as long on green as turning. I have seen that only a car and a semi get the left turn. Side road is 2 times of main left. So we now have 6 equal shares of green, 3 for straight and right main, 1 for left main, 2 for all side street. Plus the time span the lights are all red. So we might end up with 30 seconds for straight main green, 20 for side street green, 10 for main left green and 3 time 3.33 (to round it up on 10) all red. So one cycle takes 70 seconds. While the best case of straight main will give you again 43% green, at least close to half, you will not always go straight main. If you come from the side street it is just 29% green and for turning left from the main street just 14% green, another 14% is all red.

So yes, it is hard coded that less than half the time it is green. No, it is not done so to keep you busy but that is how traffic lights work. Depending on your actual route and the types of traffic lights used you will have a maximum of slightly below 50% green, decreasing more if the switch pattern become more complex and if you are leaving the main street through town or come from side streets anyways.

[gloriousnse]

"It's litterally not observer bias, I fear it's hardcoded into the game, 50% of the time it should be green, at least the first one in a series you drive up on, but it's not."

That's not the case - most lights in ATS have more than two phases, on a set of lights with four phases (typically an ahead phase and a left turn phase from each direction) then you will be green less than 25% of the time.

Even on a two phase light it will be **less** than 50% green, as there is a yellow involved as well.

[Wolfgang]

When you are at a red light just take a breather. Maybe drink a bit of water or stretch a bit.
So turn the red light from a frustration to your short personal care time. Will be much better in the long run.

[ttower]

Originally posted by luZk:

Also the lights shifts to quickly, especially those pesky turn left signals are not even up for 10 secs. You wont make it though a left turn unless you're 1st or 2nd in line.

They do shift fast, but its because of the game scale. Most of the time, the shorter signal times are better, since you sit in one place waiting less. A longer light time could be an unreasonable amount of game time when scaled.

[Aspen Ridge]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

When you are at a red light just take a breather. Maybe drink a bit of water or stretch a bit.
So turn the red light from a frustration to your short personal care time. Will be much better in the long run.

[Fearagen]

Originally posted by Wolfgang:

When you are at a red light just take a breather. Maybe drink a bit of water or stretch a bit.
So turn the red light from a frustration to your short personal care time. Will be much better in the long run.

This is what I do, stuck at a red light? Take a drink, check some notifications, etc.

[Dark & Realistic™ Nessie]

The more directions and turning lanes as crossing has, more chance you'll have to arrive at red light. If you arrive at a 4-way crossing with turning lanes, there's only 25% chance of arriving at green. But if you arrive at a T-crossing without turning lanes, it's 50%.

(Of course I'm not counting yellow light time on this, but you get the drill)

[Lord-Knight Fandragon]

The chance that a light is red is soley dependent on how badly you want to get through it-SCS Driver Tip...probably.

[Dark & Realistic™ Nessie]

This applies to real life. The feeling you have about "it's always red for me" is similar to "the other lane is faster than mine".

[Xegethra]

It's quite true to life really. Some have you wait ages while making your green only let 2 cars through (even on a simple cross road or T-Junction, let alone anything elaborate). Other times it stops you for a little bit. I suppose the game tries to mimic that.