Temporary Traffic Lights

Livermead; halfway between Torquay and Preston has been the scene of more road works that the M1! When I went away they were digging Livermead up, when I got back they were still digging the road up, just in a different place. On Friday as I was heading into Torquay an other driver reported problems with the traffic lights. It seemed that they were letting 25 cars come through from the Preston side and only 8 through from the Torquay side so a big tailback had formed almost into the Harbour area. Long delays expected. When I got there I counted the cars coming from Preston, twenty five made it through. The lights then changed and eight vehicles made it through from the Torquay side, 8 got through but only because two white vans and a taxi went through on red. By now several drivers had been on the radio explaining the situation to the Paignton controller who asked any driver passing the lights if they could get the telephone number of the company providing the traffic lights so he could ring them and ask them to fix the offending lights.

Now I do know that when road works are scheduled people like Fire, Police, Ambulance and in coastal areas like ours, the Coast Guard are informed. The bus company are also informed so they can make any alterations to services. I would be a good idea if included in this information was the phone number of the company providing the traffic lights so we can ring if there are problems. It usually is the bus company who do ring in these circumstances as we are the ones who go through most often. Better still there should be a number at the Town Hall we can ring to let them know the lights aren't working properly. They could them ring the light company and say, "Your lights aren't working properly. That's an £100 fine. If they aren't working properly in an hour that will be an other £100 fine. Cheques made payable to Torbay Council please."

I mean the mechanism for the lights can't be rocket science can it? It just has to switch one light to red, wait 5 seconds and change the light at the other end to green. Then change that one back to red, wait 5 seconds and change the first light back to green. Then just repeat the whole process for the next ten years the roadworks are there.

Anyway control rang and were told someone would be down asap to fix the problem. When whoever arrived in the afternoon he was a fair minded person because after he went away the lights were now letting 25 vehicles through from the Torquay side and 8 from the Preston side. Exactly the opposite of what had been happening in the morning.

All this meant some late running. I was due in Brixham at 20:30, this being only a couple of Fridays before Christmas I expected there to be a big queue; especially as the bus in front of me had somehow been more or less on time and I was 8 minutes late. When I got there, no one there. They must all be saving up for Christmas.