It is inevitable.  Each year, when school starts back, requests pour in for new traffic signals at schools. Unfortunately, these signals are almost never warranted.  Often, the solution suggested by school officials and politicians is to install a part-time signal.  Personally, I hate these for several reasons.  First, if more school children rode on school buses, there would be a reduction in the amount of traffic during peak times, which would most likely eliminate the need for a siganl.  By installing  signals at schools, the DOT is only encouraging the SUV moms to disregard the large yellow buses that drive by their houses each day.  Second, part-time signals at schools only operate for a few hours each day.  During the remaining 20+ hours of the day, the signal is on flash, operating as a flashing beacon.  This is a recipe for disaster.  Drivers become conditioned to treat the intersection as a flashing beacon 80% of the time.  Therefore, I find it unreasonable to expect a driver to anticipate a red condition during the other 20% of the time.  Driver expectation is a powerful tool that traffic engineers need to learn to better utilize. Third, whenever I drive through a part-time signal that is on flash, I instinctively believe that something is wrong.  I am ready to either call someone to fix it, or to jump out of the car and fix it myself.  If I have this instinct that something is wrong, then I am sure that the traveling public does as well.  In my experience, a driver who believes that a traffic signal is malfunctioning feels justified to make whatever illegal movement they feel neccessary.  If I barely notice the “Part Time Signal” sign hanging from the span, then I do not expect other drives to see the sign.  Overall, I question the safety of the part-time signal.

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