Talk:Key:traffic signals

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"from non-U.S. editors"

A variant that comes to mind is a traffic signal that is a bit like the emergency variant, or a railway crossing signal: normally off, but whenever a bus approaches from the (a not-necessarily-bus-only) side street, it first blinks yellow (here, that's "may proceed with extra caution") for some seconds, and then changes to red to facilitate a speedy passage for the bus; once the bus has passed the detector after the signals, the lights turn back to flashing yellow, and soon off. (There's also a timeout in case the outbound bus isn't detected properly.) At rush hour, the signals can activate on average every few minutes, or every ten minutes late in the evening, or even more rarely. Some of these are for trams, some for buses. Alv 17:11, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

I've since used traffic_signals=bus_priority and traffic_signals=tram_priority for these. Alv (talk) 05:19, 6 May 2013 (UTC)
Hi! I took the liberty of copying a slightly modified version of your explanation of the two tags to the main page. Regards --SelfishSeahorse (talk) 21:31, 18 February 2018 (UTC)
I'm with a situation where the traffic signal has two lights, and the top one only turns red when there's a military convoy exiting a military base. For this case, I think the priority applies, as for bus and tram. In order to not create a value for each kind of situation, wouldn't it be better to have something like traffic_signals=priority + priority=bus/tram/military/etc.? --AntMadeira (talk) 02:38, 30 October 2023 (UTC)

Nighttime-only blinking

I'm stuck on way 19299657, which has ordinary traffic lights that are set to flash yellow (flashing red on cross streets) at night, when there is little cross traffic. – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 06:04, 3 September 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure there's a proper way to tag this situation other than the standard highway=traffic_signals tag. Such information can easily go out of date as there need not even be a specific time of day where the signals change modes. --Skquinn (talk) 21:50, 18 February 2018 (UTC)
In the years since I posted this question, it has become more common to use :conditional tags for this sort of thing. So I'd probably try and find out when the blinking mode is turned on and off and tag that. But fortunately for me, this particular road has become so busy and congested that blink mode is no longer activated at night. – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 04:06, 1 May 2018 (UTC)

Wig-wags

How should we tag British wig-wags at bridges and fire stations? --Amaroussi (talk) 12:48, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

For fire stations, traffic_signals=emergency seems to be the most obvious choice. We have these in the US too where the lights are normally flashing yellow but change to solid yellow and then red when an emergency vehicle is leaving. --Skquinn (talk) 21:51, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

[Closed] What is traffic_signal=signal (or signals)

Today (8 April 2018), close to 96% of the values used with traffic_signals=* are signal or signals. What does that mean ?

I believe both of these values do not give any additional information to crossing=traffic_signals, but it becomes the most used value because these key + values are used by default in OSM iD online editor when adding a pedestrian crossing or traffic signals. Any other idea ?

Djam (talk) 00:01, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

I agree, it looks like tag pollution to me. Does anyone know why iD adds this, and what purpose it is supposed to serve? --Skquinn (talk) 10:45, 8 April 2018 (UTC)


It seems that the wiki page traffic_signals=* doesn't describe the "classic" traffic signal with 3 lights (e.g red, orange, green). Maybe the traffic_signal=signal/signals describes this traffic signal with 3 lights. The meaning of this value should be clarified, and then documented in the wiki, since it is de facto a standard value for traffic_signals=* --Kazing (talk) 10:17, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

traffic_signals=* page has been modified and recommends *not* to use traffic_signal=signal nor signals. Thx to those who fixed it. Djam (talk) 08:10, 2 May 2018 (UTC)

I think iD has been unfairly maligned here. osm tag history shows that traffic_signals=signal was used over 3,200 times, mostly in Helsinki, prior to iD adopting it as the default value for this tag in September 2015. In fact, it was far and away the most popular tag value, dwarfing the next most popular value, traffic_signals=blinker, which had fewer than 500 occurrences by then. It made a lot of sense for iD to adopt it as the default value, especially given that traffic_signals=* had never been put to a vote. (The infobox for highway=traffic_signals currently says "approved", but I can't find any evidence of that tag going through the tag proposal process, either, either on this wiki or on the mailing lists, just a bunch of failed proposals to extend the schema.)

I sympathize with the project's maintainer, who finds the wording on this page objectionable, so I reworded it.

 – Minh Nguyễn 💬 20:46, 24 December 2018 (UTC)

HAWK signals

Here in the US we have a special type of traffic signals (called "HAWK" beacons, for "High-Intensity Activated crossWalK", yes the acronym is a bit of a botch) for pedestrian crossings which stay dark until a pedestrian hits the button to request a "walk" signal/white walking figure. Then they begin flashing yellow, then turn solid yellow, then solid red during the walk interval. then flashing red as the "don't walk" signal/orange hand is activated and begins flashing to indicate no new pedestrians should cross, then go dark again after the pedestrian phase is completed. How should these be tagged? --Skquinn (talk) 07:23, 29 November 2019 (UTC)

Sounds like a variant of a button-activated pedestrian crossing? In that case, highway=crossing + crossing=traffic_signals + button_operated=yes would seem like a good start. It isn't specific enough to be able to distinguish this particular variant. If that's a concern, you might take inspiration from UK matters who have adopted crossing_ref=* for their local variants ("pelican", "toucan", "tiger" etc). --Tordanik 17:38, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

Placement and orientation

What about placement - sideway or overhead (more common in US), and how to tag vertical or horizontal placement. This should be included in wiki. --Plamen (talk) 05:49, 2 April 2020 (UTC)


traffic_lights

The second-most commonly used value is traffic_signals=traffic_lights. Its meaning is not explained in the wiki. Can anyone help out? Martianfreeloader (talk) 10:05, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

I just added it to the list to match iD (where it appears) but I'm not sure what the difference is either. --ElliottPlack (talk) 16:27, 15 September 2021 (UTC)
@ElliottPlack: I removed the reference to iD. iD is automatically listing the most common values via taginfo, nothing special. – Minh Nguyễn 💬 07:56, 18 September 2021 (UTC)

cyclist/pedestrians

Are there any values that can be used on cycleways and/or footways to indicated that cyclists/pedestrians have to stop? I would expect at least three values reflecting 3 different types of signals:

  • A three-aspect signal for cyclists only (like the one for cars, but in small).
  • A two-aspect signal for pedestrians only
  • A two-aspect signal for both cyclists and pedestrians

Martianfreeloader (talk) 10:12, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Agree maximally, need "official" values for these. I've seen traffic_signals=pedestrian_crossing at some places for the second option. According to Taginfo, there are 5500 of these worldwide. ITineris (talk) 09:04, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
5400 of those are probably made by me, not knowing if this tagging style is correct or any useful. :-/ Martianfreeloader (talk) 12:04, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
I can try to draft a more detailed tagging scheme on the weekend. Should this go through a proposal process or not? (not sure, as it doesn't introduce a new key, just specifies which values to use). Martianfreeloader (talk) 12:04, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
I don't think a proposal is needed. The agreed values should be documented though. "pedestrian_crossing" may be shortened to pedestrian, the cyclist one can be bicycle, for example. No short/compact idea for the shared one though. ITineris (talk) 12:59, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
I was thinking about pedestrian crossings where there's no road crossing. It's typical for high-traffic roads to put a button-operated pedestrian crossing at certain intervals, or next to a school, etc. For the pedestrian, it's traffic_signals=pedestrian_crossing. For the vehicle on the road, it's not. However, I wouldn't add three separate traffic signals for such crossings, within 1 metre of each other.
It's the same problem with pedestrian crossings with yellow lights blinking above: the pedestrian crossing itself doesn't have a traffic signal. From the vehicle direction, there is one warning light. ITineris (talk) 12:59, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
  1. An application should be able to detect this. Using traffic_signals=* directly will give inconsistent meanings, when it's mostly used for the main kind of signal display (of course can be refined into traffic_signals:*=* in the future), not what it is controlling. Those still use 3-section signals, showing a conflict with traffic_signals=signal. A separate tag is needed. Maybe eg junction=no?
  2. Fyi there's traffic_signals=blinker, although not intended for Belisha beacons. I really doubt whether it should used together with highway=traffic_signals, since it corresponds to highway=stop, highway=give_way, or even priority_road=* as a warning.
---- Kovposch (talk) 20:39, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
One may add to the list a small two-aspect signal that is widely used on driveways, car entrances, etc., typically next to a gate or a lift gate. ITineris (talk) 12:59, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
What are you two talking about exactly? Anything wrong with a traffic_signals:bicycle=*? If you mean a highway=traffic_signals on a highway=footway or highway=cycleway (which isn't supported well by applications), it shouldn't need anything more. ---- Kovposch (talk) 20:39, 25 March 2021 (UTC)


Thanks everyone. After considering the above input, I somewhat changed my mind on my original proposal. 3-aspect bike signals are functionally the same as regular car signals, and likewise 2-aspect shared bike/pedestrian signals are functionally the same as pedestrian-only signals and the "driveway signals" described by ITineris. They only differ by the highway type on which they are used and usually by their real-world physical appearance, but not by their functionality.

Functionality

  • traffic_signals=* describes only the functionality, not the implementation (physical appearance) of the signal. Nor does it imply anything about the affected road user type. Any road user on the highway that the signal is placed on is affected by the signal.
  • traffic_signals=traffic_lights is the default. Its meaning depends on the affected type of road user. For cars and bicycles, it is equivalent to traffic_signals=three_aspects (explained below). For pedestrians, it is equivalent to traffic_signals=two_aspects (explained below). This distinction in meaning for different road users is true even if the same OSM feature affects different types of road users. For example, if it is mapped on the intersection between a cycle+foot path with a road for cars+bikes, it means 3-aspects for cars and for bikes on both highways and 2-aspects for pedestrians on the foot path. This ensures backward consistency and ease of mapping (this is presumably the most common situation where intersections are mapped without much detail).
  • traffic_signals=three_aspects is used for regular three-aspect signals. This can be for car signals or bicycle signals or in fact for any other signals that have the same meanings as regular car traffic lights: "do not proceed" (red), "proceed" (green) and "prepare for signal change" (amber).
  • traffic_signals=two_aspects is used for two-aspect signals with "do not proceed" (red) and "proceed" (green) meanings. E. g. the most common signals for pedestrians only, but also two-aspect joint signals for cyclists and pedestrians, and also for the two-aspect "driveway signals" for cars described by ITineris.
  • traffic_signals=pedestrian_crossing means almost the same as traffic_signals=traffic_lights, except that it implies traffic_signals=two_aspects for bicycles on ways without motor vehicle access.
  • Other values for special signals as already described on the wiki page.

Affected road users. If not all users of the adjacent highways are affected, this can be clarified like so:

Physical appearance. If it turns out that there is high demand for representation of the physical appearance of the signal, this should be handled by optional (not yet existing) extra tags (perhaps traffic_signals:layout=* and/or traffic_signals:orientation=horizontal and traffic_signals:orientation=vertical). To be discussed elsewhere...

Night-time/weekend turn-off For traffic signals, that are turned off at times, traffic_signals:service_times=* can be used.

Any objections, comments, notes to all this? Martianfreeloader (talk) 20:48, 25 March 2021 (UTC)

Nice job! Thanks for the work. ITineris (talk) 21:18, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
We have roads with bicycle lanes (shared or not shared) that have separate (small) traffic signals for bicycles. This signal turns yellow/red earlier than the cars' signal. And, in some crossings, it turns green much later than the pedestrian signals. Example. Would a combination of traffic_signals=traffic_lights + traffic_signals:bicycle=three_aspects work?
What you (don't) see on the left side of the above picture, is a traffic lights for trams. Though it has three aspects nowadays, they are not coloured. There are dots on them, mimicking the old 4-lamp signals. Number 5 in this picture.
In many cases, there is an auxiliary (white) BUS signal that allows PSVs (or vehicles on the PSV lane) to go. Number 6 in the picture.
Often there is an auxiliary signal for turning from the lane (or for going straight). Number 7 in the picture. Usually only the green light is doubled here.
For some traffic lights, there is an auxiliary timer display counting down the seconds until it turns green, or the seconds remaining.
Please note that they don't have coloured aspects for pedestrian signals in North America. There's either a "Walk" and a "Don't walk" lamp, or there's a LED matrix changing the text. ITineris (talk) 21:18, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
I'm not 100% sure if I understood every detail of your proposed features and if you already did this (the sentence "and also for the two-aspect "driveway signals" for cars described by ITineris" sounds like that), but it would be great if you could include the traffic signals with 2 aspects (red and yellow) – NOT for cyclist/pedestrians – in your systematics in a clean way. I describe it in the next topic. Two aspects don't always mean red and green for cyclist/pedestrians, it also can be red and yellow for normal traffic on the road (perhaps also somewhere red + green only? I don't know). It should be more general. And any further details could be handled by optional (not yet existing) extra tags, as you already wrote – this could also be the colours, the kind of sequence (e.g. in Germany the sequence for normal red/yellow/green traffic signals is not "red – yellow – green – yellow – red", but it is "red – red AND yellow – green – yellow – red"), the symbols used for the lights and so on ... --Goodidea (talk) 22:34, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

Traffic signals with 2 aspects (red and yellow) – NOT for cyclist/pedestrians

At least in Germany, there is sometimes a special kind of a normal traffic signal, but only with red and yellow. It's used sometimes on quite large junctions (as an addition to normal traffic signals with red/yellow/green) or at a railway level crossing or other situations. It's called a ”Bedarfsampel mit zweifeldigen Signalgebern“, see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampel#Lichtsignale_auf_Anforderung_und_zweifeldige_Signalgeber.

And it looks like this:

Ampel-Goettingen-37.jpg (I mean the traffic lights on the left side, not the one for pedestrians)


Or see this image of Mapillary here in my city on a large junction – they come after normal traffic lights with 3 aspects, and its sequence is as follows: "red" - "red + yellow" - "off" - "yellow" – "red", like normal 3 aspects traffic signals in Germany, but without the green: https://www.mapillary.com/map/im/ZBsqX-23MD-2rVGm3CqKDQ. This photo shows this traffic signals: https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/933137690.

Is there any value which could fit for such a traffic light? Like "traffic_signals=red_yellow" or "traffic_signals=two_aspects"? (See the proposal in the above topic "cyclist/pedestrians" – but this variant is not mentioned there I think.) --Goodidea (talk) 22:10, 3 April 2021 (UTC)

Describing part time/peak hour signals

What exactly is the correct tag for traffic lights that only operate at certain times of the day, for example at rush hour? Nathan A RF (talk) 11:45, 8 August 2023 (UTC)

I documented the in use tag traffic_signals:operating_times=* for such cases. --Nielkrokodil (talk) 12:04, 26 October 2024 (UTC)
There's already service_times=* . No need to invent a *_times=* / *_hours=* for everything.
*=button and *=centralkey aren't time. This can't handle those that use *=button and *=centralkey part-time only.
If they are flashing yellow, it's still ready similar to traffic_signals=blink_mode . operating_times=* doesn't show the difference.
railway=*crossing has crossing:activation=* . That can be considered for adaption to highway=crossing and highway=traffic_signals .
Still, using *=button differently from button_operated=* is unclear. Is the difference meaningful? This needs to be improved.
—— Kovposch (talk) 11:19, 27 October 2024 (UTC)

I did not invent the tag, I just found it as in use (service_times instead looks like not in use on traffic signals). I am no english native speaker, but I see operating_times a little better fitting than service_times.

To the question about centralkey and button. I agree this is not good. I was a bit lost in the many and often unclear traffic signals tagging schemes. I will remove that bit.

As soon as service_times is being used for traffic_signals, it can be documented. Nielkrokodil (talk) 11:35, 27 October 2024 (UTC)

Meaning of on_demand?

The (intended) meaning of traffic_signals=on_demand is unclear, can someone expand the explanation? --JeroenvanderGun (talk) 15:54, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

I dont know what was meant by that. If it tries to tag signals which switch to green only after a sensor (or button) detects a vehicle, I would see this as a potential property of different kinds of traffic_signals=* Therefore I dont like this tag competing with other traffic_signals. (Plus, this would need to be mapped lane-sensitive. No idea how to achive this). Nielkrokodil (talk) 16:45, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

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