One of the more difficult traffic lights for me to trigger when riding has historically been the one, described here, at the intersection of Church Street and Highway 26, in Colleyville. It's triggered by video detection cameras, and I often have to use the middle lane to get sensed, just as described in that post. Last week, even that failed me, so I decided that biking and cell phone chatting go hand in hand like wine and cheese. After FINALLY getting across the intersection, I whipped over to the curb and speed dialed the first number on the list in the photo. The very nice man explained that Colleyville doesn't own that signal, but he'd be happy to relay my complaint to TXDOT (the owners of Hwy 26) so they could fix it. He collected added details and I figured maybe I'd be able to tell the difference and maybe not.Well, somebody appears to have done SOMETHING because now this is one of the easiest traffic lights to trigger along my route. It's gotten so nice that on the way home, I triggered it all by myself before I even had to stop and the same thing happened on the way in to work. I could learn to like those video cameras and it's good to see the Colleyville Public Works guys getting their State brethren to fix things. I almost feel guilty for my lame humor about the sign being the name of the traffic engineer. I'm feeling very "Civil" today (pun intended). Next time I feel especially daring, I may take the chance of staying in the right lane just to see if the traffic light triggers from there. While I'm at it, I may add some more city traffic department numbers to my list, in case I encounter a rogue traffic signal during a recreational ride.
Who says these cell phones are bad? I didn't even run into anything as I talked, though I was certainly highly distracted. As compensation, I was careful not to walk in any direction. After all, I have been known to fall over while just standing in one spot when I have skis on. Hmm, do ya think if I called, they could fix bad weather, too?
3 comments:
I have to admit this post was especially cool because of the pun "civil". Looks like tomorrow is going to be even warmer than today. Have fun!
Peace :)
I'm impressed! It's not often that the 'people' will go out of their way to fix something like that. I suppose the alternative would have been to get a side car in order to make yourself a bigger target on the camera.
Congratulations! A well-timed phone apparently does make a difference!
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No Need for Non-Robot proof here!