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Traffic Signal Operations in the City of Pasadena Currently, the City of Pasadena operates 300 traffic signals and 10 traffic surveillance closed circuit television cameras that allow personnel to monitor the traffic signals from the City's Traffic Management Center (TMC).  The TMC is equipped
with an extensive communication system that allows City staff to view
traffic operations at key locations as they actually happen and has
allowed traffic operations to flow more smoothly as traffic demands
change. The TMC's Traffic
Control System and the Special Events Unit of the Pasadena Police
Department share the responsibility of managing traffic for all Rose Bowl and street fair events.
The
Importance of Traffic Signals in Traffic signals have become a valuable tool for ensuring traffic flow throughout the community. Some of the signals are timed to work with other traffic signals to allow continuous flow from one signal to another. Some are timed so that if you are driving at the posted speed limit, you will receive a green signal at each intersection as you progress down the street. Others are on preset timers where the red, green and yellow indications will cycle for a specified time period.
However, the City of Pasadena is always investigating new technology and methods to enhance traffic flow and has been awarded grants from the State of California and the County of Traffic Signal Safety The California Vehicle Code provides detailed explanations for traffic signal color indications and a brief summary is printed below:
Red Signal
Indication
Red Arrow Indication A red signal with an
arrow also means stop. A
driver may not make a turn against the red arrow.
The driver must wait for a green signal or a green arrow to make
the permissible move. Yellow Signal
Indication Yellow signals warn drivers that the signal will change to a red indication momentarily. If you have not already entered the intersection and can safely stop prior to entering it, stop and wait for the next cycle. If you are already in the intersection, proceed through the intersection. Green Signal Indication Green signals mean that the driver has the right of way at the intersection to proceed provided there are no other interferences (i.e. other vehicles ahead of your vehicle, pedestrians, emergency vehicles, etc.). Please note that if other vehicles are still in the intersection when the light turns green, the driver must yield to the vehicles and pedestrians and the driver must ensure that all traffic in the conflicting directions has stopped before moving ahead. If making a left turn, the driver can only make the turn if there is sufficient time and space to complete the turn before oncoming traffic becomes a hazard. Do
Not Cause Gridlock Do not enter the intersection if the light is green and you will not be able to completely cross the intersection before the light turns red. You can be cited if you to block traffic in an intersection.
Green Arrow
Indication A green arrow allows
drivers to turn while the arrow is green but the driver must still yield
to pedestrians, bicyclists and any vehicle in its path.
The green arrow is what traffic engineers call a “protected”
turn because oncoming traffic is stopped while the arrow is green. Flashing Red
Indication According to the California Vehicle Code, when a red lens is illuminated with rapid intermittent red flashes, a driver shall stop before entering the intersection and proceed according to rules established at a 4-way stop controlled intersection. Flashing Yellow
Indication When a yellow lens is illuminated with rapid intermittent yellow flashes, a driver may proceed through the intersection with caution. Traffic Control
Officers Any time a peace officer is directing traffic, motorists must obey the officer regardless of the indication of the traffic signal. Traffic Signal
Blackout or “Dark” Signals When traffic signals at
an intersection are not operating due to a power failure, all drivers
must stop before proceeding through the intersection and follow the same
rules as a 4-way stop controlled intersection. Click on the above
subtitle to go to the State of California's website regarding pedestrian safety. Traffic
Signal Equipment Traffic signals consist of the following main components: Traffic Signal Controller Signal Heads (typically with red, yellow and green faces) Vehicle Detectors Signal Heads A signal head consists of one or more signal faces that can include solid red, yellow or green lights and faces with turn arrows using one or more of the same colors. Vehicle Detectors The City of Pasadena
uses a combination of in-pavement loops and cameras to detect vehicles in the
intersection to determine whether a vehicle is present.
Unfortunately, there are drivers who tend to push the limit on “making” the traffic signal by running red lights and thereby causing a danger to others that may be entering the intersection. Because police officers cannot always be at the intersection when a driver runs a red light, the City of Pasadena has installed cameras at the intersection of Lake Avenue and Union Street and will include additional intersections in the near future. These cameras capture pictures of vehicle license plates and drivers who run the red light. These pictures will then be used to issue citations to the registered owner/ driver of the vehicle. The program has been
effective in many other cities by reducing the number of drivers willing
to "chance" going through the intersection after the light has turned red
for their direction of traffic. If
you would like more information about the red light photo enforcement
program, please call (626) 744-4703 or you can re-visit this web page in
future months for exact locations of the red light enforcement cameras. |
The goal of the Traffic
Engineering Operations team is to provide the most comfortable ride as
possible by getting the greatest number of vehicles through the system
with the fewest stops.
A red signal indication
means that the traffic facing the indicator shall stop until the
indication turns green.