25Jun/10Off
What are freeway on-ramp traffic signals for?
Often the freeway is so congested that there is a line of cars all the way back to the signal. And sometimes, the signal will cycle several times, green-yellow-red-green, without any cars moving past it! 
It seems to me that the freeway traffic will manage the incoming traffic very well, thank you.
June 25th, 2010 - 16:11
The on-ramp traffic signals are just to regulate the traffic in each entrance depending if they have the signals, it help all the jams on the on-ramp not on the actual slow lane of the freeway.
June 25th, 2010 - 16:53
Generally, many cars try to merge on the freeway all at once. Drivers on the freeway slow down to let the cars enter, and these slower speeds quickly cause backups. If cars enter the freeway in a spaced, controlled manner, they merge easier and with less disruption to mainline traffic.
A short wait on the ramp allows drivers to increase their average freeway speed and shorten freeway travel times.
By regulating the flow of traffic entering the freeways during peak hours, the overall flow of traffic on the freeways will be smother………………
June 25th, 2010 - 17:34
But they don’t know if there is a car there or not, there are no sensors, so it changes regardless. I agree with you that people who are driving know what they’re doing and don’t need a light to merge into traffic.
June 25th, 2010 - 18:00
They’re to pace cars coming on, so they don’t all come in en-masse during high congestion periods. The fact that it seems like the freeway would handle incoming traffic well just means they’re working. =) Also, they’re automated systems usually on timers so having light traffic one day doesn’t change what the signal does.
June 25th, 2010 - 18:06
It would be nice if they were smart enough to know when traffic was backed up and then just turn off though.
unfortunately they are probably just set on variable timers instead of actually tied to realtime traffic flow….for the most part.