Roadguy’s been doing a lot of computer maintenance lately, including sorting through CrapCam’s extensive files. Here’s a little something from not too long ago that I forgot to share:

It was pretty late at night, and I was driving home via one of my usual routes. The stoplights on this particular street are always timed the same way, so I have a good idea of when to brake and what to expect. On this night, however, one of the lights had developed a bit of an independent streak, for when I approached the intersection, this is what I saw:

If one’s brain can stammer, that’s exactly what mine did. “I, uh, I … hmm,” it went, as my right foot twitched and hovered between the gas pedal and the brake. I was driving at a reasonable speed and probably could’ve stopped, but I figured that if you can go through a green light and you can go through a yellow light, you should be able to go through a green and yellow light.

I made it through the intersection without incident, and I of course had to go back around the block to take some pictures. As I stood on the rather cold corner, I waited through a couple of light cycles and got to witness a few variations, such as a very ordinary red light:

And then this curious combo platter:

Talk about your mixed messages — this stoplight was like a really confusing date. (Proceed… no, don’t. Well, OK, carefully, if you must.) And I could only imagine trying to explain to the nice officer that I ran the red light because, really, it was yellow, too.

The next afternoon, I paid the intersection another visit, and while the weather wasn’t much warmer, the signal was acting perfectly normally, as though the previous night had never happened. (Also very date-like.) I guess maybe the yellow light needed some attention — after all, it doesn’t get to shine as much as the other two. But the stern folks in public works must’ve given it a good talkin’ to.

If you have a tale involving an unusual stoplight or know of any mixed signals Roadguy should check out, please share below or send an e-mail.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at 6:05 am and is filed under Scenes and stories, WUWT?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.