The Sensationalism of the Mundane

There are idiotic articles all over the internet. No need to point that out. Sometimes these idiotic articles are written by a member of the AP. Every once in a while one of these idiotic, AP authored, articles hits all the right buzzwords--in this case: Green! Safety! Government Spending! Green!--and gets picked up by every news organization in the country, resulting in my need to bang my head against my desk repeatedly.

 This particular article is about the fact that in Minneapolis the LED stoplights don't generate enough heat to melt ice and snow that gets caught up against the lens. Older incandescent stoplights would be hot enough to prevent any snow or ice from ever building up there. This makes driving in freezing, snowy conditions dangerous. No. Really. It does.

 Aside from the fact that the potentially blocked stop lights are not what makes the situation dangerous, the article is astounding in its ability to hoist itself upon its own pitard. It cites "dozens of accidents and at least one death" as a result of these blocked traffic signals but also dutifully makes the reader aware that major metropolitan areas began switching to LED stoplights more than a decade ago. I'm going to be willing to pull some numbers out of my nether regions and say with confidence that 5 year old children playing with their parental units' cell phones while driving contributed to twice that many accidents and fatalities in the last decade. Where are the articles entitled, "Your 5 Year Old May Be Trying to Kill You!"?

The article goes on to point out that the economic savings passed on to these cities with the dreaded LED stoplights is massive when compared to the older, kinder, snow-melting variety. The article mentions a staggering 80% savings over the older incandescents, but what the article doesn't mention is that no one yet knows how much money these LEDs will save because most of them have not yet been replaced. LED technology being as young as it is, most of the claims made about lifespan (measured in the tens of thousands of hours as opposed to just a few thousand for incandescents) are based entirely on engineering guesswork, and so they're real savings have not been calculated yet. And if those cities in the Northeast and the Northern plains states do indeed need to retrofit their LED traffic lights with a heating element on a thermostatic relay, then so be it. The added cost would still make LEDs the more efficient light source in a traffic light.

My favorite part of the article has to be the big finish:

One reason there have been so few deaths is that drivers know they should treat a traffic signal with obstructed lights as a stop sign, traffic experts say.

"It's the same as if the power is out," said Dave Hansen, a traffic engineer with the Green Bay Department of Public Works. "If there's any question, you err on the side of caution."

So. Icy, snowy conditions make driving dangerous. LEDs are potentially harder to see than the old incandescent lamps--but there are about a half-dozen ways we could solve this problem. LEDs still blow the pants off of their predecessor when it comes to energy efficiency and maintenance, and always will.  Drivers know that is there's no light coming from a signal, that's a warning sign.  Booogity Oooogity Ooogity! Thanks for playing.