The in basket: Tom Nofziger complained a while back about odd pre-dawn
behavior of the traffic signal at Silverdale Way and Bucklin Hill Road.
“ I travel through Silverdale every morning between 4:15 and
4:30 a.m.” he said. “When I get to that light, heading south, the light
will trip about five car lengths from the crosswalk. The problem is there are
no cars coming from any other direction.
“I have called the county three times over the last six months
about this problem with the promise that they will pass it on and
someone will contact me about it. I have not heard from anyone and
the problem still exists.
“I find myself just driving through the yellow light knowing that there is
no one coming from either direction. Can you help get this problem
corrected?”
The out basket: Apparently, I did. After I forwarded Tom’s e-mail to the
county, he sent another saying the problem seemed to have ended.
And Doug Bear, spokesman for Kitsap County Public Works, tells me, “Our
traffic supervisor visited the intersection during the early morning hours on
Oct. 14 and observed what your reader noticed. There was times when the light
would cycle through without any demand. He made some adjustments on-site
and noticed immediate improvement. He is also planning to upgrade firmware on
the detection boards.”
I also told Tom that there’s nothing wrong with going through a yellow light. As long as one’s car has crossed the broad white stop bar where one enters the intersection before the light is red, there is no violation.
