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Highlands Today

Traffic Lights Farce

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Colin McClellan

Published: December 2, 2007

Referring to the dozens of traffic lights in Sebring-Avon Park U.S. 27 area and north on U.S. 27, the use of sensors to prevent the running of red lights will create other problems: mainly motorists like myself will either continually slam on brakes on yellow to avoid a possible ticket or alternately drive at 20 mph in order to stop within the three seconds allowed on yellow before the red light. Almost all U.S. 27 lights change to yellow when I approach within 140 yards of them and three seconds is not enough time to make it through the red.

As a retiree on a fixed pension, I cannot just work overtime to pay any traffic fine. A traffic ticket to seniors means no food for weeks to pay any fines or the loss of the car, and so no means to get food in. My solution is to drive very slow, in order to stop within three seconds, but unfortunately I must drive in the fast outside lanes to avoid transport trucks (most of them cannot stop and do not stop for these red lights) from crashing into my car at the rear, and most trucks travel the inside lanes.

The best solution would be to increase the traffic yellow times from three seconds to seven seconds in the 55 mph and 50 mph U.S. 27 areas, and to five seconds in the 45 mph U.S. 27 area.

By giving vehicles time to stop on yellow lights would decrease accidents, increase traffic flow and eliminate the running of red lights. Of course the useless Florida department of highways, which I believe would do the actual work of increasing the yellow light traffic times, is too lazy to do their job and change these lights.

Colin McClellan
Lake Placid

Editor's Note: The only proposal we are aware of to put sensors on stoplights is in Lake Placid, not the rest of the county.

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