# LED stoplight fail



## PetalumaLoco (Dec 16, 2009)

LED lights fail to melt snow.

At least one death...


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## Phila 30th St (Dec 16, 2009)

Where was that picture taken?


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## the_traveler (Dec 16, 2009)

That could easily happen anytime or anywhere - LED lights or not!


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## Ryan (Dec 16, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> That could easily happen anytime or anywhere - LED lights or not!


Incandescent bulbs get hot and melt snow.


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## Rumpled (Dec 16, 2009)

Death, as in a person? That is awful of course.

I've never thought of a light at a signal having to melt snow (gotta love CA!) but that looks more like ice to my untrained eye.

Anywho, if you can't see a light you have to treat it as a four way stop, same as a power outage or other problem.


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## gswager (Dec 16, 2009)

It's time to open up the bottom 1/3 of a circle that goes around the light signal.

EDIT: Oops, I wasn't paying attention to the lights. That is, on the picture.


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## DET63 (Dec 16, 2009)

What kinds of lights are used in railway signals? Incandescent? LED? Is snow or ice covering the lens an issue with approach-lit signals?


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## PetalumaLoco (Dec 16, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> That could easily happen anytime or anywhere - LED lights or not!


In Miami? In Summer?


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## GG-1 (Dec 16, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> That could easily happen anytime or anywhere - LED lights or not!


Aloha

I have seen worse than that, Why do you think I live Hawaii.


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## amtrakwolverine (Dec 16, 2009)

if there going to use LED lights then they need to use a heater coil or something that when it senses ice or snow on the lenses it turns on to melt it away.


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## PRR 60 (Dec 17, 2009)

On the other side, LED's are brighter than incandescent bulbs, last ten times longer, and fail not by burning out but by slowly degrading in brightness. Each aspect has a couple of dozen individual LED's, so even if one fails completely for some reason, the aspect is still working. I wonder how many lives LED signals have saved?

This is no different than dealing with a traffic signal during a power failure. If the lights are not visible, the intersection is effectively a four-way stop.


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## Trogdor (Dec 17, 2009)

The difference between this and a power failure is that with a power failure, presumably, all the lights are out in every direction. Therefore, all traffic should (hopefully) realize there's a problem.

Where I see this being more dangerous is that, depending on how the wind was blowing when the snow fell, maybe only one direction would get traffic lights completely covered, while the other directions are working fine. Not to excuse any driver's responsibility, but if one driver sees perfectly well that their light is green, they'll probably go without paying any attention at all to cross traffic. The driver who can't see the signal because it's covered in snow might not check thoroughly enough for other traffic on the move (especially if the intersection isn't very busy, which makes it less obvious that cars are crossing in front of you), or they may not even realize there's a traffic signal there (if they aren't familiar with that intersection).


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## the_traveler (Dec 17, 2009)

rmadisonwi said:


> or they may not even realize there's a traffic signal there (if they aren't familiar with that intersection).


Even if I'm not familiar with a particular intersection, if I see an intersection with either poles on the corner or wires over the road and things hanging on them in the shape of a traffic signal - whether it is covered by snow, ice or tarp and whether it is out or not - I am going to pay attention to that intersection!


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## DET63 (Dec 17, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> rmadisonwi said:
> 
> 
> > or they may not even realize there's a traffic signal there (if they aren't familiar with that intersection).
> ...


At night or in stormy weather, though, those things aren't necessarily going to be obvious, especially to an already distracted driver. That said, there is still no excuse for driving through an intersection without at least slowing down a lot when the signals have failed or can't be seen.


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