Poorly setup stop light

I've ranted about this light previously - Its infront of a middle school
entrance and usually is on flash except during the time that the school
is opening or letting out.

See here (http://tinyurl.com/atuw3) for an overview of the intersection
in the center of the picture. The school is on the left and the U-shaped
building on the right is a church that shares the intersection. The top
of the picture is north. Please note that this photo eas not taken at the
time of the incident - I wish I owned such a satellite, but sadly, I
don't.

Anyway, I'm heading home this afternoon (southbound) and the light is in
normal operating mode (red/yellow/green) as opposed to being on flash.
I'm the third car approaching the intersection in the right lane. Car #1
(a older Mustang) stops as the light turns red. Car #2 (a beat up Bronco)
doesn't stop, nearly hits the Mustang, but avoids an accident by swerving
to the left lane and going through the light. Fortunately, school has not
let out yet.

Why the Bronco driver couldn't tell the light was red is beyond me
(except that he is an inattentive driver). I was about 250ft behind this
incident and had no trouble seeing the red light and bringing my vehicle
to a stop accordingly.

Of course, if the government (if anyone can figure out which
government is responsible for this light) would just leave the light
operating all the time (or maybe install a strobe on the red light that
flashes when the red light is on - I've seen that done here when new stop
lights are installed at intersections that previously did not have one),
these things might not happen. I'm just waiting for some kid to get
killed here because of this situation.

> Of course, if the government (if anyone can figure out which
> government is responsible for this light) would just leave the light
> operating all the time

Perhaps it needs to go the *other* way and have *all* lights be demand based
and flash unless traffic demand warrants full operation. This way, people
will be accustomed to this behaviour and pay more attention to traffic
lights.

I think sitting at a red light wasting time and fuel with no other trafffic
around makes about as much sense as toll boths: zero.

JohnH wrote:
> Perhaps it needs to go the *other* way and have *all* lights be demand based
> and flash unless traffic demand warrants full operation. This way, people
> will be accustomed to this behaviour and pay more attention to traffic
> lights.
>
> I think sitting at a red light wasting time and fuel with no other trafffic
> around makes about as much sense as toll boths: zero.

This is another good argument against preventative law enforcement.
Running a light should not be an offense unless you either hit somebody
or force somebody who has the green to give way to you. That way in
situations like this, once you've looked both ways, you could go ahead.

>>
>> I think sitting at a red light wasting time and fuel with no other
>> trafffic around makes about as much sense as toll boths: zero.
>
> This is another good argument against preventative law enforcement.
> Running a light should not be an offense unless you either hit somebody
> or force somebody who has the green to give way to you. That way in
> situations like this, once you've looked both ways, you could go ahead.

There is no need to change the law or even law enforcement. Just reprogram
the lights to FLASH when red, and what you are arguing will be legal. I
don't think it would work at busy intersections, though. -Dave

"Ted B." > wrote in message
eenews.net...
> There is no need to change the law or even law enforcement. Just
reprogram
> the lights to FLASH when red, and what you are arguing will be legal. I
> don't think it would work at busy intersections, though. -Dave

I was wondering about that myself... why not make traffic lights flash
when red, then it would be easier to see?

Sometimes, especially when I have sunglasses on, at a distance the light
is not always visible as green or red- sometimes red appears white.

On Thu, 19 May 2005 07:07:20 -0400, Magnulus , said the following in
rec.autos.driving...

>
> "Ted B." > wrote in message
> eenews.net...
> > There is no need to change the law or even law enforcement. Just
> reprogram
> > the lights to FLASH when red, and what you are arguing will be legal. I
> > don't think it would work at busy intersections, though. -Dave
>
> I was wondering about that myself... why not make traffic lights flash
> when red, then it would be easier to see?

Or what I've seen around here when a new light is installed is to put an
extra red light (w/o the yellow and green lights) next to or between the
light fixtures that has a small strobe light in it that flashes when the
light is red. IMO, that might help at the intersection I was referring to
if they insist on setting the signal to flash during the non busy times.

That way, if the red light in and of istelf doesn't get your attention,
the strobe should.

Ted B. wrote:
>>> I think sitting at a red light wasting time and fuel with no other
>>> trafffic around makes about as much sense as toll boths: zero.
>>
>> This is another good argument against preventative law enforcement.
>> Running a light should not be an offense unless you either hit
>> somebody or force somebody who has the green to give way to you. That way
>> in situations like this, once you've looked both ways, you
>> could go ahead.
>
> There is no need to change the law or even law enforcement. Just
> reprogram the lights to FLASH when red, and what you are arguing will
> be legal. I don't think it would work at busy intersections, though.
> -Dave

When we lost power for a couple of weeks due to hurricane Isabel, the
traffic lights were obviously out too. Instead of people sitting like sheep
at a dumb light, people quickly figured out how to cooperatively share the
intersection space; similar to a 4 way stop. People paid a lot closer
attention and I think the accident rate was actually lower during that time
period. It really was a beautiful thing.

Magnulus wrote:
> "Ted B." wrote:
> > There is no need to change the law or even law enforcement.
> > Just reprogram the lights to FLASH when red, and what you are
> > arguing will be legal. I don't think it would work at busy
> > intersections, though.

LOL @ suggesting something for traffic light behaviour that won't
work at busy intersections

> I was wondering about that myself... why not make traffic
> lights flash when red, then it would be easier to see?
>
> Sometimes, especially when I have sunglasses on, at a
> distance the light is not always visible as green or red-
> sometimes red appears white.

Jesus H Christ. Why not make them play 'Star Spangled Banner' and
have a little man in a clown costume pop out beside the light
and say 'cuckoo' ? Sometimes when I am applying a facial mud
pack and have cucumbers over my eyes, the red doesn't appear
very clearly, so the audio aid would really help!