High efficiency traffic lights don't melt snow cover, creating traffic hazard

Associated Press ^ | Friday December 11, 2009 | Associated Press

[jpl]

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP)

[jpl]

Those darn unintended consequences rear their ugly heads once again!

[pnh102]

This stinks... LED lights, to me anyway, are much easier to see at night.

[boocoowell]

Making life better by making it worse.

[Joe 6-pack]

This shouldn’t be a problem since battery powered cars probably won’t run in freezing weather anyways ;-)

[autumnraine]

Grandma was killed in a traffic accident!!! *sniff* Well, as long as the city has saved thousands in power bills... I guess it was a worthy cause./s

[thefactor]

Jiminy crickets.

I thought civil engineers thought of things like this. Yeah, they'll save electricity, but how much are you paying all those work crews? And if they are on overtime, forget it!

[DesertRhino]

Oh what a tangled web we weave,,,, i love these kind of consequences,,

[Red in Blue PA]

LOL!

Libs are dumber than dirt.

[Syncro]

They need to install snowlar cells on the lights to get electricity to heat them.

Surely if they have solar cells to make electricity, they have snowlar ones too?

[reagan_fanatic]

I know the traffic engineer where I live. The city installed LED lights about a year ago, and he predicted the same thing would happen with his. The city planners were so entralled about the energy savings that they completely overlooked the traffic hazard they present in the winter time.

[ladyvet]

but how much are you paying all those work crews? And if they are on overtime...

Union members too?

[DesertRhino]

“I thought civil engineers thought of things like this”

Yeah,, You’d think a VERY basic test on a new traffic signal would be how behaves in hot, cold, wet, and arid,,, night, and day. But i mean,, im no engineer,,,,lol.

[Buckeye McFrog]

we have a whacked liberal City Councilman in Pittsburgh who wants to convert all of our street lights to LED...

[willgolfforfood]

Thermostat

Space heater

Only draws power in very cold weather

Do I have to think of everything?

[Red in Blue PA]

Testing is much less rigid if one merely slaps a “green” label on something.

Heck, I would be surprised if this idea was tested at all!

[DesertRhino]

“The city planners were so entralled about the energy savings”

Which they will promptly lose as soon as they get clobbered for their first lawsuit where someone is killed, because the red light design couldnt be seen for being covered in snow.

[DesertRhino]

You got that right about the “green” label.

[Deaf Smith]

"LED lights have saved thousands of dollars in monthly power bills."

All negated in one or 2 days of crews cleaning off the lights.

[Between the Lines]

LED lights, to me anyway, are much easier to see at night.

Especially the left and right turn lights that have a smaller surface area lit.

[CodeToad]

Why is this an issue? The traffic regs say if the light is out, including if it cannot be understood, then you treat the light as a red light and stop. Anyone blowing through a controlled intersection is an idiot.