excellant DOT response/action to my red-light issue

some times the system actually works-

there is a red-lite that i pass thru on my commute that my VFR will not trigger, which has forced me to run the red on several occasions. :frusty: in the cage- no problem, it triggers. on the bicycle- no problem, i just run it or trigger the switch on the pole by hand .

but, on the VFR- this lite is about 1/2 mile from the po-po station just over a blind rise eep: in a sleepy little civil war town with a VERY agressive po-po dept. so much so that i see people pulled over EVERY day passing thru a poorly marked 35-MPH zone. in the cage i NEVER drive more than a very few MPH over thru their little revenue generator zone. :bs:

you can imagine that i NEVER want to have to explain to officer friendly why i would proceed thru a red in their fine locale. :vtr2:

so, i called the local po-po. they said call the state DOT which i did. 2 days later a DOT guy left me a message that he had the local MC unit meet him there and tested the lite. they found the mag ground loop was basically incorectly installed and was misalinged with the intersection. he told me further that he has a camera controller scheduled to be installed for the intersection this week.

so the moral is, if you dont ask and report, that nothing happens. the ole squeaky wheel thing.

 

That's pretty cool. Maybe I'll call in a few problem lights around here.

 

yesterday morning 2 guys in hi-viz suits were working the intersection
one on the pole mounting the cam, the other at the box with a laptop.

hopefully a good result.

less than a week from complaint to installation is damn speedy.

 

that is really impressive.

 

now they have it programed to give you a 1 second green ahhahahhahah thats been my luck

 

There are several in my neighborhood that won't trip for a bike. Daytime, no problem as there are almost always cars pulling up behind to switch it during the heavy workday (weekend too) traffic.
Evening and late night another story... one could sit there for ??????

Of course, opposing traffic is just as sparse during off hours so running any of the offending traffic signals is not a problem, safety wise.
I figure if I ever get pulled over for doing it the local LEO's will probably accept my explanation, maybe know about the problem already.

If not, then I'll raise HELL! If a court appearence is required I'll tell the judge how I've called repeatedly about
every one of them (Lie) which hopefully will get something done... fact is I've never called on them because I know ahead of time that NOTHING will happen in the public service climate of my state.

Q:How do I know this?
A:I've been employed by my state for 35 years.

I'm disgustingly well aware of how much tree-shaking is needed to get the monkeys who do the report taking to pass the info on to the proper office to get action. Often they don't have even a clue what action to take or who to notify as these personnel are usually completely unqualified for the positions held and often not skilled enough to be competent hamburger flippers.
BUT their uncle or sister in law or somebody got them the job, so that's the end of that discussion!

 

+1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

I am surprised that nothing gets done after you lodge a complaint but I don't live there. I went through a similar issue and the person I spoke with was hesitant and made all sorts of excuses. I reminded him I pay municipal taxes, pay for my licence, insurance registration and road taxes on fuel. And my VFR is a motor vehicle so I expected his equipment to operate properly/ He still did not sound too enthused, suggesting I run the red for CHrist's sake. So I pulled my Trump card and told him I had just retired from the local police there and I was going to send a letter to him requesting the repairs with a copy to the Traffic Division of the locals. Also told him if I saw no improvement I would be seeing someone at City Hall. And that should I ever got into an accident there because of these lights, this nasty little letter would show up. Now guess where a substantial part of the civil liability would fall?

Light was fixed about 2 0r 3 days later.

If you don't tell someone there is a problem, then there isn't a problem. City Works Departments rely to a large degree of people telling them there is a problem. Do you think they have someone driving around all night looking at street lights to make sure they all come on?

 

my Uncle took the Illinois rider course this past weekend. He was told the same thing. Call the STATE DOT. They will take care of it. Or your local state government official.

 

Due to this post I just sent this to the local DOT: