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by mig39
3905 days ago
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I've heard from my Portuguese cousins that they do it this way because speed cameras aren't legal, but red light cameras are. So while they can't give you a fine for speeding based on photo radar, they can give you a fine for running a red light. Not sure if it's true or not. But I've experienced the same red lights in the middle of nowhere while driving in Portugal. There's also the social pressure of triggering one of these -- it stops traffic and then you get the glares from all around. Portugal is also obsessed with roundabouts of all sizes, which I think are a traffic-calming and safety thing as well. Even small intersections in the rural areas have roundabouts rather than the standard North American-style 4-way stop signs. |
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Fines for running red lights are an instant very serious offense and two of these will suspend your license. Speeding depends on how much you went over the limit but it's a bit more flexible.
4-way stop signs are the stupidest idea when there is very little traffic or when there is a lot of traffic in a given intersection. In fact, they only work well in a moderately trafficked intersection; vehicles are supposed to stop once and then go through the light.
Roundabouts solve this entirely because for low, medium and even high congestion areas they are very effective at clearing out traffic. Sure they are definitely harder to tackle but as long as you're not in Braga (go around the outside or you'll crash into someone) you will have little to no issue doing them as most people are civil enough to tackle them properly. The issue is placing them because they require significantly more space and not all locations are suited to having them; if you notice most new planned roads all include roundabouts.