Lights went out at a traffic light

"OkCars- 22k Crossroads" (okcars) 01/01/2015 at 23:59 • Filed to: None

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I was at a traffic light on a road crossing and was the only car on the road. The wait was long so i started looking around, alert of a highjacker. I looked to the left and then when i looked to the right, suddenly every single light on the street went out. THAT was pretty weird. Kind of felt like on a horror movie.

All the lights except the headlights of my car of course.

So i turned on the hazards lights and drove off.

bryan40oop > OkCars- 22k Crossroads 01/02/2015 at 00:20

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k

Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura > OkCars- 22k Crossroads 01/02/2015 at 00:26

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A few years back, we had an incandescent epidemic when all but one intersection in my neighborhood suddenly had exploding bulbs - they'd just flash and go dark. Only the LEDs were spared.

... The disaster didn't end though, and a few people were killed in an accident when winter came at that intersection. Cause? LEDs. Guess why .

Nibby > OkCars- 22k Crossroads 01/02/2015 at 00:33

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Driving during Hurricane Sandy was like this. Very few traffic lights worked.

OkCars- 22k Crossroads > bryan40oop 01/02/2015 at 01:06

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Mart

Svend > OkCars- 22k Crossroads 01/02/2015 at 06:01

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Whenever there is a blackout or simply the lights on the junction go down for whatever reason where I live people tend to drive more cautiously and revert back to road etiquette of if there is space, let someone out.

One very busy intersection worked so well when the lights went down that the council were in no hurry to fix it and held a meeting to turn them off completely but the 'road safety' bunch said if there was an accident then the council would be liable. Sense nearly prevailed but lost out to some 'we must protect you from yourselves' people.

If a light is about to go from amber to red many will risk it and speed up to get through, but if there is no lights people are more aware there is nothing holding back the other traffic intersecting them and drive much better.

Roundbadge > Svend 01/02/2015 at 07:16

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Where I live, people charge right through an intersection that doesn't specifically have a stop sign or red light showing, and give the finger to anyone else who attempts to go through. This was especially true during the big blackout of 2003 (that affected a bunch of the NE and Midwest US). "Treat all intersections as 4-way stops" fell on deaf ears.

Svend > Roundbadge 01/02/2015 at 08:12

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Were the opposite. Sure there are times when people are idiots but on the whole people where I live use a good degree of driving etiquette and will let people in or out such as when merging onto a motorway a truck will often pull into the next lane (if they can without causing them to impact onto other motorway traffic) so as not to cause you to brake/slow down or for them to slow down to let you on, then once they are clear of the front of your car you flash your lights to let them back into the inside lane again and you can pass around them or you pull ahead and flash your indicator left (one flash) and then right (one flash) to say thank you.

Junctions in slow moving traffic will let one to four cars out before moving on and regular running traffic will let one car in then the behind you or the next car will let one in. It just helps to keep people moving and reduces a lot or frustration on people trying to merge.

Destructive Tester > Satoshi "Zipang" Katsura 01/06/2015 at 14:22

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I believe newer generation LED traffic lights have heater elements to cure that problem.