death-dealing, faulty traffic light near TAMPA,fla

WARNING: Dangerous Traffic Signal in Palmetto, Florida (near Tampa)
43 SERIOUS INJURY (and rising!) left-turn, head-on collisions with on-
comming traffic. (d.o.t injury figure)
Location: Palmetto, Florida;SOUTHBOUND routes 301 and 41 combine for
a left turn; just 70 yards past the overpass; just NORTH of the
MANATEE CIVIC CENTER.
This accident record DEFINES this traffic signal as an ENGINEERING
DISASTER!
Why:
Left turn Traffic arrow sequences and durations VARY during the day.
(at night) INADEQUATE duration left turn green arrow (3-4 secs.)
does not clear the 10 to 20 cars backed up for the left turn. (due to
faulty traffic sensors imbedded in the pavement)This faulty
engineering encourages 1-3 motorists to speed up and try to make the
light! This often leaves a car IN the intersection and in the path of
oncomming (50mph)traffic. What's more- there is only a ONE SECOND
delay between the left turn yellow arrow going OFF and the green light
ON- for oncomming traffic.
ONE NEEDS TO STAND AT THIS INTERSECTION FOR 15 MINUTES AT NIGHT- AND
WITNESS THE NEAR-COLLISIONS!
SOLUTION:
This combined (left lane and through lane) EXCUSE for a safety
device needs to be REPLACED with a STANDARD left turn signal:

What is a SAFE, STANDARD left-turn signal? As in most other states:

1. A SOLID left turn GREEN arrow of adequate duration to handle the
backed up traffic.
2. A yellow arrow of SUFFICIENT DURATION.
3. A SOLID RED arrow (which is lacking)
There needs to be a 3 SECOND DELAY from the time the left turn RED
arrow comes ON, and the green light comes ON for oncomming traffic. At
present, there is only a ONE second delay from the time the left turn
YELLOW arrow goes OFF and the GREEN light comes ON for oncomming
traffic. There is no red arrow at this turn!
This STANDARD left-turn signal is the BEST solution to this miserable
injury record.
The occassional Florida COMBINED(left turn/thru lane)traffic light is
an UNSAFE design! It is not used in most other states! The correct and
safe sequence used in other states is a green arrow-yellow arrow-RED
arrow. RED always follows yellow!The present Green arrow-yellow arrow
followed by a SOLID green thru light is an abomination!
Another, less costly solution might be to imbed a WORKING sensor in
the pavement- right at the point where cars make the left turn. This
sensor would keep the left turn GREEN arrow ON until 5 seconds has
elapsed in which the sensor detects no cars passing over it. At that
point the yellow arrow would come on,followed by a SOLID red arrow.
This way, ALL the cars in the left turn lane would make the turn and
CLEAR THE LANE.

There is more than simple bad driving at work here. Bad drivers have
accidents everywhere. They do not cause a concentrated carnage at one
location!

Again- the sensors in the pavement do not sense the amount of left
turn traffic in the lane and are FAULTY!

The injury figures were given to me by Ken Bass (Fla D.O.T)and the
ONLY person who can correct this is:

Ken Bass (Florida Dept. of Transportation)
ph (863) 519-2495
My suggestion: Call him and:
Politely YELL BLOODY MURDER!
ALSO EMAIL DOT: fdot.pio@ dot.state.fl.us
Mike Corman


,

On 2007-04-16 16:05:34 -0400, "
said:

WARNING: [snip]

Oh, right. I live in Schenectady, NY, and I should yell about unsafe
traffic lights in FL? Get real.

On Apr 16, 5:41 pm, sechumlib wrote:
On 2007-04-16 16:05:34 -0400, "
said:

WARNING: [snip]

Oh, right. I live in Schenectady, NY, and I should yell about unsafe
traffic lights in FL? Get real.

who cares where you live? Maybe you'll never drive through Florida
because you can't afford it!

On 2007-04-25 12:29:12 -0400, "
said:

On Apr 16, 5:41 pm, sechumlib wrote:
On 2007-04-16 16:05:34 -0400, "
said:

WARNING: [snip]

Oh, right. I live in Schenectady, NY, and I should yell about unsafe
traffic lights in FL? Get real.

who cares where you live? Maybe you'll never drive through Florida
because you can't afford it!

Oh, right. Actually, I'll probably never drive through Florida because
it's not interesting enough.

Back before flying became like being tortured by Al Qaeda, we flew to
Florida numerous times, rented cars and had a pretty good look at the
state. Don't think there's anything left there that we want to see.
Especially considering its politics (though Gov. Crist sounds like a
healthy change).