Can we have the traffic light bar extended?

[EricF]

If I recall, the problem seems to be with intersections where there are two or more travel lanes running through an intersection, and a left-turn-only lane in the center, where traffic coming from opposite directions will be facing each other's lane directly. A very common intersection design in the US. There should be one light above each lane, including the left turn lane, so there should be three signal heads, each positioned directly above each respective lane. The overhead beam or wire holding the signal heads should be long enough to position the heads correctly. (There can also be an additional signal head on the pole at the curbside that follows the travel lanes' indication, and may also indicate when a right-on-red is permissible with an arrow, but that varies.)

I suspect what happened is that the overhead beam object was originally designed as a one-size-fits all asset, or a few sizes to fit most, and the game has grown beyond that. There might be some intersections that need their signals upgraded to be more ture-to-life. It's true that left-turn signals in particular must be aligned with the lane they control to prevent driver confusion. It may be a problem where there's a full lane-width parking+right-turn lane in addition to the travel lanes (effectively four lanes), and the signal pole that was placed is for a conventional three lanes with no parking lane, so the signal heads get offset to the right.

[bobgrey1997]

Um... Alright. You just took our dysfunctional hectic bantering that tumbled into random chat about remodeling roads, and turned it into what might as well be a page right out of the Manual for Traffic Control Devices!
Good job. I feel inferior now... We just got one-up'd by a cat!

[EricF]

Curse me for being logical!

For all the experts try, traffic control and signalling can be such a crazy zoo in the US still. We can't even fully agree on how right-turn-on-red is supposed to work anymore. (All the time? Only non-rush hours? Only when no pedestrians present? Only on a special arrow, linked or not linked to crosswalk signals? AARGH!) Stop lines placed according to the distance regulations, but which make it impossible to see oncoming traffic... Where do parking lanes turn into no-parking, but right-turn only lanes? (Some states and cities mark them effectively, some don't...) Or pedestrian-vs-vehicle traffic priority and signalling. That's a whole other can 'o worms...

If the game ever tried to account for all the obscure state and local variations, I suspect the developers would go slowly insane...

[bobgrey1997]

They would build I40 and say "SKREW IT! We're going back to our simplistic lives in Europe where it's all white lines and only two light on a pole!"

[flight50]

Technically speaking, although it looks better if each lane has their own lane, it is definitely not necessary and is overkill if not turning. When we see green or red, we are all looking in the same direction of travel, well most of us unless distracted,lol. Only light that should have it's own are turn arrow lights or lights that make you yield before turning, combo arrow/solid green for areas that have not upgraded to blinking yellow arrows. At larger intersections either a beefier light support pole is present to support all lanes or a smaller one and a totally separate signal for left turns. As mentioned a wire crossing the entire road way is typical as well. Either way, I don't see anything wrong with what SCS did if they are trying to save polygons. We know when to go and when to stop even if there was just one light visible.

[EricF]

It's probably worse for US drivers. Something is unconsciously "wrong" when I pull up to a left-turn arrow that isn't in line with my left-turn lane, because it's "off" compared to what I see every day from behind the wheel. On the other hand, when I drive in ETS2 where traffic controls are visibly different, there's no disconnected feeling; I just go with what I see. I can only imagine ETS2 drivers have run into their own share of game-vs-real world issues.

[bobgrey1997]

Europe...
Traffic lights...
Visibly different...
Visibly not visible!
With the light on the close side, when you pull up to the intersection, you are UNDER the light... Hard to see through the roof of the car...

[Sora]

One-light-per-lane feels like overkill; I certainly don't think that that's applied where I live, nor do I feel like there's any pressing need for it to be. It'd be nice, I guess, but it's whatever.

But the left turn light definitely ought to be positioned in a manner that reflects the fact that it's for the left turn lane. Either directly over the left turn lane, or (when one exists) as a vertical light within the opposing median.

[angrybirdseller]

Its about hour worth of work to do in blender just extrude the polygons make another child copy of the traffc light be done then export and test. More concerns about invisible barriers or things cause crash in the game.

[MandelSoft]

Europe...
Traffic lights...
Visibly different...
Visibly not visible!
With the light on the close side, when you pull up to the intersection, you are UNDER the light... Hard to see through the roof of the car...

Well, in reality, they solve that by putting the stop line further back:
https://www.google.cz/maps/@50.0754315, ... 6656?hl=nl
You see that the stop line is not directly under the traffic lights, but a bit in front of it. Due to technical limitations, this is not always possible in ETS2, though I've found with modding that it does help to put a lower traffic light on the left side of a multi-lane road helps quite a bit.

If you have ever driven in Europe in real life, you will know why this is not a problem. Besides, it forces driver to keep out of the intersection in order to see if the casee if it's safe to go.