Powder House Circle traffic violations

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

I've grown increasingly alarmed at the cars running red lights at Powder House Circle.  You take your life into your own hands crossing through there.   Having a walk signal isn't enough to ensure you will survive, you have to make sure no cars are close enough to reach you if they don't decide to stop for their red light.  I shudder to think how dangerous it would be to cross if one was a senior or not able to move quickly.

I realize the design of the rotary is somewhat confusing for the driver and somewhat easy to miss the traffic light as they go around the circle, but I don't really care, one of the most basic part of driving is obeying traffic lights and not injuring people.  

So I guess I'll take this to an alderman, or resistat, or the committee on traffic or something.  Just wondering if there have been efforts in the past.  It seems to me a camera should be installed there and fines issued.  Could be a revenue generator for the city.

Comments

[somerfriend.livejournal.com]

You're saying that any red light you think is poorly engineered you don't have to obey until the city changes it, regardless if someone is in the cross walk. That is a fundamental difference of opinion, I don't think we can reconcile our differing value systems.

[witzwurst.livejournal.com]

You're missing the nuance in several ways:

"...any red light you think is poorly engineered..." -- again, it's not a matter of opinion. There are specific, unambiguous standards that the light has to meet. It's either compliant, or it's not, and it's up to a court to decide that.
"...you don't have to obey until the city changes it..." -- no, you're still obligated to obey it to the best of your ability. The question is whether you can legally be ticketed specifically for not doing so.
"...regardless if someone is in the cross walk." -- Regardless of whether there's a red light or a green one, if there's a pedestrian in the crosswalk, you're obligated to yield to them. You could be ticketed for that.

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

No, I'm saying once someone tells the city the intersection is dangerous because it's very poorly engineered, they should fix it rather than ticketing at it.