Quote:
Originally Posted by wnut
I think that the light panels are generally reliable, and far more visible than the flags, especially in the dark, so the drivers generally just rely on the light panels and dashboard lights. They then get caught when the lights are not properly activated when a flag is thrown. If the lights are unreliable, perhaps the FIA should just pull the lights and rely on the flags alone.
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There are a few problems with making the lights 'primary'. Including:
The number of light panels does not equate to the number of marshal posts. As an example from this last weekend (attached image) - an incident on the exit of T16 may see yellow flags at marshal posts 16.3 and 16.5. The post at 16.2 may still be green, and so light panel 19 would also be green. The drivers have to observe the flags at 16.3 and 16.5, despite not passing a light panel.
Marshal's posts can also display multiple flags simultaneously. There has been discussion in the Marshal's section, including here -
https://tentenths.com/forum/showpost...73&postcount=6 - about using multiple flags simultaneously.
'The problem of waving multiple flags by lights is one I hadn't previously thought of, but it's a situation that does crop up often. Red and yellow, white and yellow, white and red all crop up.'