For the last ten years there has been a traffic light near my house that I have found aggravating. It is at the intersection of a modestly used road and a state route. The state route has had the priority on the green. I’ve often been on the lesser of the roads. I’d pull up to the light. It stayed red for two minutes before it changed even if there was no traffic on the state route.
I’ve lived where I’m at long enough where I can remember when that wasn’t the case. The light would change much more liberally for us lesser road folk. Then something happened. I don’t know what. I started cursing civil engineers that were taking so much time from my life. Two minutes here. Two minutes there. It adds up.
I started using the adjacent side streets more that merely had stop signs. Most of the time the bet on the stop sign was better than waiting at the traffic light like a dope. Always I would think, “those civil engineers should fix this.”
A few weeks ago there was an accident at the intersection. I don’t know what unfolded but I did see someone took out the traffic control light box. All the lights were black for a few hours. The intersection reverted to a four way stop.
Roadway crews descended upon the mess. A few hours later the light was back in operation. Low and behold, it now functioned giving my less prestigious street a modicum of respect! It changed right away if there was no cross traffic! Sometimes even if there was.
My life is returned to me. This serendipitous accident has brought me much joy at the cost of what I hope was minimal damage to any motorists.