What an interesting traffic light
I went out running tonight on one of my usual routes and noticed that one of the traffic lights was suddenly behaving differently. It seemed to me to be stuck in a perpetual Barnes Dance (and I had not seen a Barnes Dance since I had left Denver.) The countdown timers that are on all the walk signals in the District of Columbia (yes, each and every one of them) were giving nonsense numbers at this intersection.
The walk signal would change to don't walk when a car approached. The car would then receive a green signal. The light would then promptly change to red in all directions and the Barnes Dance would resume, and stay, until the next car approached.
I stood and watched this for awhile, fascinated, and then headed on my way. I looked back, and it seemed the Barnes Dance had stopped. The flashing red hand was back, even though no cars came. Then the Barnes Dance started again, but this time the countdown timers seemed to be functioning normally.
I slowly inched back toward the intersection, and the countdown timers stopped, stuck on 16 or some such thing, with the walk light illuminated.
Of course many traffic lights sense when cars approach, but I've never seen one that detects people automatically. Maybe officials installed this because an elementary school sits on that corner too.
Ever seen one of these?
Post Author:
massysett | 9:45 PM |
Link
|
TrackBacks
Interesting. I've never heard of anything like that. Brilliant, though -- makes pressing the button to walk obsolete, and it might provide better pedestrian service during the day when things are more crowded.
V1CvW2 hi super site thx http://peace.com
