LED Traffic Lights Kill People and Polar Bears

Friday, January 8, 2010

Once again, it's the government to the rescue. This time it's mostly state and local, but still the government. A lot of places are now using LED lights in their traffic signals. This saves a significant amount of cash. That sounds good. They use a lot less electricity, so less energy has to be produced, which in turn means less pollution. I'm not against that.

Everything's peachy, right? Wrong.

These lights have a minor problem. In snowy regions, the lights don't produce enough heat to melt the snow and ice. The lights become muted, or white-out altogether. Numerous accidents have occurred and at least one death. Well, that's acceptable. After all, we're saving the planet.

Most people see a white traffic light as a stop sign, and they all take turns at these intersections. So why do we need lights in the first place? Think of the savings. Maybe not.

If cars have to stop and go, that causes more pollution. Local governments have to send out  trucks, with government  workers, to wipe off the lights. More driving equals more pollution, and the extra gas and maintenance cost for these vehicles significantly reduce the savings of these LED traffic lights. Plus all those old, ineffective lights had to be replaced. What did that cost? What was the carbon footprint of this entire venture from conception, through manufacture, to shipping, and on to the installation? Where did all those old lights go? Answer: A lot, huge, and in the landfill. Very environmentally conscience.

So where do the polar bears come in?  

The bottom line is, LED traffic lights have had a negative impact on the environment. This means we will have more hurricanes, ground water will be more undrinkable, rising oceans will become less habitable, We'll have droughts, global warming, famine, pestilence, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together...

And polar bears starving to death.

Like I said at the beginning, government to the rescue.

Mild Max Calender

Sunday, February 15, 2009

If you wish to contribute, please contact Les at the gmail address in the sidebar. All chapters need to remain within the genre and style of the original two post and must be emailed to Les by no later than midnight EST, the Wednesday before your publish date. We'd like to see a new chapter of Mild Max appear every Friday at our host, Radioactive Liberty. Please include your name and blog (if any) in the email.

Here is the current list of those who have taken up the challenge to write a 400-700 (or maybe a bit more) word chapter in the on-going adventures of Mild Max:



 1 2/13/09 Les James Behind Thunderdome
 2 2/20/09 Les James Click
 3 2/27/09 Snig Shorts in a Snowstorm
 4 3/06/09 Alex L The UNKnown
 5 3/13/09 JumpOut Escape from the Kill Zone
 6 3/20/09 Elm Welcome to the Tundra
 7 3/27/09 Alex L Chatterbox
 8 5/01/09 Les James The Giant Killer
 9 5/08/09 Chris C Escort Service
10 5/15/09 JumpOut I'm Just a Businessman