As a spotter in the years 74-78 and living in Guiseley I was back and forth along the A658 Harrogate Road on a regular basis. As was my Mother who taught at the Special School in the corner of Whitehouse Lane and Scotland Lane whom we accompanied from time to time.
I don't think there were permanent traffic lights, in fact I'm sure there were not. They may have been used temporarily on certain occasions.
There was an incident in the late sixties or early seventies when a Viscount approaching 15 clipped the top of the boundary fence. Nobody was aware until the outbound crew's walkaround found tyre damage.
There were also occasions when the airport sent a vehicle out to warn off people standing on street furniture watching take offs as the jets were running up against the brakes and they could be skittled over or suffer FoD.....