new technology, eco-technology not always so great

[Road Guy]

apaprantly the hot new LED traffic lights can get snowed over and cause fatalities...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-led...0,3473513.story

 

[Flyer_PE]

Heard that one on the news last week. The law of unintended consequences will get you every time.

 

[roadwreck]

don't the rules of the road state that if a traffic signal is out you treat it at a four way stop? So if the driver of the vehicle in this scenario couldn't determine if the light was red or green, then it stands to reason that they couldn't tell if the signal was working at all, and thus they should have stopped, averting this accident altogether. Instead of blaming the driver who disregarded the rules it's the fault of the equipment.

Brilliant!

 

[chaosiscash]

I like that they're going to put strip heaters in the "energy-efficient" lights to melt the snow.

 

[Flyer_PE]

^I don't know how it is in the SE these days, but the concept of right-of-way at a stop sign seems a bit foreign to the typical driver around here. When the lights are out, it's bedlam even in decent weather.

 

[roadwreck]

^I don't know how it is in the SE these days, but the concept of right-of-way at a stop sign seems a bit foreign to the typical driver around here. When the lights are out, it's bedlam even in decent weather.

oh it's bedlam alright, and that really annoys me. That a kids on planes.

 

[Flyer_PE]

oh it's bedlam alright, and that really annoys me. That and kids on planes the Dutch.

Fixed it for you.

I swear there are people up here that will roll up to a flashing red light and wait for it to start flashing green.

 

[Road Guy]

it depends on what the signal is flashing,

for larger roads the main road will flash a yellow and the side street a red, most people cant figure that out, but its not always treated like a 4 way stop.

I am sure the family's lawyers will make a ton of money, lots of states also have rules that say in inclement weather you have to drive 10 miles per hour below the speed limit, etc..

 

[Flyer_PE]

^I should have clarified: Single flashing red light suspended over a 4-way stop.

 

[Road Guy]

i was actually replying to roadwrecks post

 

[TouchDown]

don't the rules of the road state that if a traffic signal is out you treat it at a four way stop? So if the driver of the vehicle in this scenario couldn't determine if the light was red or green, then it stands to reason that they couldn't tell if the signal was working at all, and thus they should have stopped, averting this accident altogether. Instead of blaming the driver who disregarded the rules it's the fault of the equipment.
Brilliant!

Trouble would be that if the snow was blowing in a certain direction... maybe only one set would get covered, while the other 3 might be clearly seen... therefore, you get one line of traffic that's "guessing" that it's their turn, while the other people are pissed that it seems like morons are at the wheel in the lane that can't see.

 

[roadwreck]

it depends on what the signal is flashing,
for larger roads the main road will flash a yellow and the side street a red, most people cant figure that out, but its not always treated like a 4 way stop.

i was actually replying to roadwrecks post

If the lights are completely out then the intersection should be treated as a four way stop, no? If the driver that ran the light in this case couldn't tell that the light was red it would stand to reason that the driver couldn't see any lights from the signal, flashing or otherwise. If it had been flashing yellow then the driver wouldn't have been found at fault. If it had been flashing red then the driver should have stopped.

 

[Road Guy]

if every intersection was a roundabout we wouldnt have this problem

of course you would spend 20X the cost of the signal buying right of way around the country....

 

[roadwreck]

if every intersection was a roundabout we wouldnt have this problem

GOOD POINT! As an added bonus a roundabout doesn't require any signalization, THINK OF THE ENERGY SAVINGS!!!!!!!!

of course you would spend 20X the cost of the signal buying right of way around the country....

But think of all the lives that will be spared due to never having a situation where the signal is obscured by snow. I think that more than offsets the cost of the additional right of way.

 

[OSUguy98]

screw roundabouts.... we need full cloverleafs at every intersection.... not to mention fully divided roads (no left turns allowed)....

 

[z06dustin]

People get all wound up about this, doesn't anyone listen to Al Gore? Soon there won't even be snow, because of global warming. Then the LEDs will work fine.

 

[csb]

We could solve a lot of traffic engineering problems if we could just get all those vehicles off the roads.

 

[bigray76]

We could solve a lot of traffic engineering problems if we could just get all those vehicles idiots off the roads.

There... fixed it for you.