7 hours ago, Pete said:

No they just go back from green, to yellow then to red. They don't flash green.

Basically, yellow and red is a 'don't move yet, but get ready, green is coming'

Yellow by itself is 'ok you may be too close to stop safely as it was green as you were approaching, so you can go through (no red light), but it'll be red any second now'. 

There are also the blinking yellows.

The red lights on the bridges to London center seem like forever. I normally prefer public transit, but for reasons out of my control, needed a car in the city. Total headache. Worse than NYC.

2 hours ago, ZappyAd said:

Did you get told about the congestion charge and how to pay it?

Congestion charge is why I went during the weekend. You'd figure Sunday morning wouldn't be too bad, it was god awful. 

Was thinking about taking the train in and then Zipcar-ing it to avoid the congestion charge, there are Zipcars within the congestion zone, but I'd rather shoot myself.

They pass you from the opposite side at high speeds with the narrowest of margins. Inches. Drivers know the dimensions of their cars  

Also, there are far fewer opportunities to pull over and look at the gps. There are far fewer shoulders. Much less space. 

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

FWIW, my Ford Fusion hybrid is constantly stopping and starting its motor. It is all unobtrusive, as the start does not feel like a traditional car start where you crank the key. When the car needs more power than it gets from the battery (or if it needs to charge the battery), the engine quietly kicks back in. 

Hard to say why, but I just feel like it doesn't take a lot of energy to start it. It's almost seamless. I used to doubt whether that made sense to shut down the engine like it does, but the engine does stay off for long enough, that it must make sense.

I've gotten 38/39mpg now for years, so that says something.

10 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

They definitely save fuel; the problem is the wear on the starter and the battery requirements:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/08/automobiles/wheels/start-stop-technology-is-coming-to-cars-like-it-or-not.html

Big-time.  In the two cities I've lived in (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), any indication that a light is about to turn green would be an invitation to vehicular manslaughter.

When my wife and I visited London, we ended up using public transit and just walking (average was probably nearly 10 miles per day)...my only regret about our visit (one week) was that I didn't get a car for one day just to try it.

I don't mind the start/stop feature, not as anywhere near annoying as that one person in the NYT article says. I estimate in the stop and go traffic I was in, the engine was off for at least 20 minutes - that's a lot of time you're not burning fuel, polluting the environment. Even in small cities and the countryside (train crossings) it's useful. It doesn't prevent you from getting going when the light turns green. 

Love the parking lots that read your tags, then you input tag in a machine, pay when you go, leave as camera reads your plates and it knows you paid. Totally automatic w/the app. 

Your typical two way one lane road in the country. Just barely enough for two cars to pass, only one in portions. That's a compact sized car in the photo.

17 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Your typical two way one lane road in the country. Just barely enough for two cars to pass, only one in portions. That's a compact sized car in the photo.

While in Ireland, the GPS sent us down a few roads that would make the one in the photo look like a superhighway.  Tree branches brushing the sides of the car on BOTH sides, you had to find a driveway if you met someone coming the other way.  But we found that the Irish drivers were consistently polite and considerate, and if someone needed to back up a bit to find a wide spot, it was no problem.  Maybe its because the standard transmissions make texting and phoning virtually impossible, so they're actually paying attention to the driving.

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

While in Ireland, the GPS sent us down a few roads that would make the one in the photo look like a superhighway.  Tree branches brushing the sides of the car on BOTH sides, you had to find a driveway if you met someone coming the other way.  But we found that the Irish drivers were consistently polite and considerate, and if someone needed to back up a bit to find a wide spot, it was no problem.  Maybe its because the standard transmissions make texting and phoning virtually impossible, so they're actually paying attention to the driving.

Ran into those super skinny hedge surrounded roads as well. I'm glad I didn't have to back up in one. Drivers here are very considerate.  Here's one of the two way roads with the hedges.