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Willard Pritchard: Warning lights hard to see in daytime

Valid questions raised in this commentary by Willard Pritchard remind us that many have wondered about the numbers of accidents on the Bypass which have occurred in the daytime, when lights are hard to see, vs. nighttime accidents? How many of the nine fatalities occurred at night. How many of the 47 accidents were at night, how many in the daytime? (statistics courtesy Jason Cross).

From Willard Pritchard

I along with many others I am saddened by the recent accident at the corner of the Bypass and Burkesville Road, Columbia, KY.

Monday I was traveling east on the bypass and as I approached this intersection I noticed that the red signal lights were not noticeable. They were very dim. It was 12:30 PM and a clear sky.



I have been driving for 59 years in over 40 states plus foreign countries. From this experience I would suggest the following:
  1. The lights presently at this intersection are directional. This means that when the wind blows them a few degrees out of alignment they become less visible (dimmer). LED traffic lights are brighter and would stand out more. The present system has the lights hanging from a cable. A better alignment can be assured with a long arm holding the lights in place and at the correct angle.
  2. There are available red traffic lights that have a strobe light in the middle of them. When they are turned on the strobe light flashes also. This attracts more attention when the driver looks that direction. This is especially helpful when the sun is behind the light. Sometimes a larger back board is used to give better accent to the lights.
  3. Another set of lights mounted on the upright post is helpful.
If I'm correct, the primary reason for the bypass was to remove large trucks from the square. The use of a "round about" would discourage trucks from using the bypass.

Both of these streets are very important to our community and I trust we can find a way to make them safe to travel. Willard Pritchard


This story was posted on 2015-04-02 09:48:29
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