[Article] Mixed signals at fatal junction

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/1068305?view=Eircomnet

Mixed signals at fatal junction
From:The Irish Independent
Tuesday, 22nd July, 2003
Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

IT WAS an accident waiting to happen - and it could have had fatal consequences at Dublin's busiest junction yesterday as two sets of traffic "second counters" went out of sync.

The display units, mounted on traffic lights at the junction of O'Connell Bridge and Westmoreland Street, count down the seconds until the lights change to red and are intended as a safety aid to pedestrians.

But yesterday they were making life more hazardous at the notorious junction where trucks and buses turn left onto the quays. The junction has already claimed the lives of two cyclists.

The result was that pedestrians were facing one set of lights telling them they only had two seconds to wait before crossing, while just a little further away a second set told them they would have to wait 12 seconds. Several pedestrians stepped out when the first set of timers reached 00, while others, watching the correct lights, remained on the kerb. Trucks and cars coming around the corner were oblivious of the dangers posed by the monitors.

The wrong equipment has been in place for some time, it was later learned.

A Dublin City Council spokesman explained that there are two types of monitors, one counting down from 30 seconds the other from 40 seconds.

The wrong set of monitors were incorrectly installed alongside an existing set. This meant that the four countdown boxes, two on each side of the road, started at different times, one pair at 40 seconds the other at 30 seconds. "We will ensure it won't happen again," the spokesman said.

The countdown boxes have been erected on a pilot basis at a number of busy junctions in a bid to increase safety and curb impatience.