Let me start by saying, the statute of limitations for vandalism around these parts is one year. 🙂
In November of 2019 the state DOT (Penndot) put up a right turn light at the busiest intersection in town. It was done to try and help alleviate some of the horrible traffic at that intersection.
Well, they did a crappy job of it. They put up the set of lights shown below.
The problem is, when the green right turn arrow is lit, the solid red light at the top is still lit. The NO TURN ON RED sign right directly above that light confused the simpletons. And as I discovered, there are a lot of simpletons.
When I would pull up behind a car and watch the green arrow light up, I’d count One One-Thousand… Then toot my horn. More than 70% of the time the driver would not move. More than half of the non-moving drivers would point at the NO TURN ON RED sign right next to them on the side of the road.
Something had to be done…
So, inspired by Richard Ankrom, I did.
For about $35.00, I purchased the above sign.
That was the easy part. Putting the sign up took a bit longer than I thought it would. In the county in which I live there is a website called delcodispatch.com which lets you know when the fire department or ambulances get called out. Since the local police ALWAYS precede or follow the fire company it would help me see if the police were busy. I set up a generic alert for anything going on in my township.
I got my break on April 4th 2020. There was a tree down on the main road that goes through this intersection. I hurried out. Now, typically there are no more than four police cars patrolling the town. I saw three police cars about 1/3 of a mile down the road.
I quickly put up the sign. I was sad to see that my 18″ sign was 6″ too small, but it was too late to change it. I got the sign up and and quickly left. I drove back through the intersection a few minutes later and snapped the above picture.
Every time I drive past it I still smile knowing the township probably thinks the state did it and the state probably thinks the township did it.
For the record, it absolutely improved the traffic flow in the intersection!
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