I wanted to respond to the message about street lights that go out while driving or walking under them.
There is one street light, probably halogen but certainly not incandecent, that every time i drive by it will shut down, and actually stay down until i drive by it again for which it will turn on. While trying to find out if there was a scientific reason for this I did the following.
1.) I switched vehicles to see if it was just my vehicle and some abnormal interference emitted from my vehicle. It did not matter which vehicle.
2.) Reading other posts about heat override protection or photo cells being tripped, I actually parked for hours on several ocassions and watched the particular intersection in this rural area to see if other vehicles would trip it. Not one time did i ever see it go out.
3.) After telling some people and getting the eye, I asked my daughter one evening to go for a ride and told her in advanced exactly which light. That particular night i had past the light on the way home and the light went out, and I picked up my daughter to go to the light. As we approaced it was still out, and as soon as i got directly under neath it it went on. We proceeded to go to mcdonalds, and on the way back we stopped and seen that it was on bright as it should be. We waited approximately 15 minutes and watched other vehicles pass under the light while it reamain bright. I said to her, now watch when we drive under it, it will go out, and sure enough it did.
I really dont know the answer however I think I have practically ruled out any scientific or coincidental reasoning.
You’ve ruled out nothing. Nor have I ruled out the possibility that you are simply lying, or perhaps more likely, are misinterpreting what you think you’ve observed. Whichever it is, it’s clear you don’t understand the fundamentals of what it is you’re studying. Halogen lamps ARE incandescent. And streetlights are neither; they are generally gas-discharge lamps of one of three types: low-pressure sodium, high-pressure sodium or mercury vapor. If you can’t be bothered to understand the basics, your entire “scientific method” is questionable.
Welcome, carlucci to the Message Board! When we start a thread around here about either one of Cecil’s columns or one of the Special Reports from the Advisory Staff, we like to add a link to the article under question, just so everyone is on the same page as to which article you are referring. You can do this simply by cutting and pasting the url from your browser address field into the editing box when typing in your post.
Pull up a chair, sit down, and enjoy the show. We’re pretty friendly, though we do have the occasional pillow fight. I hope you find it interesting enough to stick around.
As to your post: if you really want to convince someone of this, you would have to do the following - have someone videotape you as you drive under the light turning it off, then again turning it on. Also, have this done at intervals that vary in length, so that it isn’t just a case of having hit upon the rhythym of the cycle of on and off the lamp goes through.
If you can’t replicate it on demand, it’s just coincidence.
Doug (who used to have sections of grocery store freezer lights go off as he went by)
PS to Q.E.D.: let’s be nice to the new posters; they can be shark feed once their feet are wet.
I may be able to (heh) shed some light on at least some of the perceived notions that one’s presence (or automobile) may have an effect on a street light going out. I can’t comment on the OP’s phenomenom, but this is the most recent column on this that I can post to without resurrecting a zombie thread.
I have a street light right outside my bedroom window. It is a high pressure sodium (coppery red color) light, mounted on a utility pole. A few weeks ago I was lying in bed and I noticed the the light was cycling on and off. I decided to time the light as best as I could from my clock radio. The light would suddenly turn off, and would stay off for a minute. After that, the light would come on very dim, and would gradually brighten. I didn’t notice much change after it had brightened for about 15-30 seconds. At the end of a minute, it would suddenly turn off, and I would see the cycle repeat again until eventually sleep knitted up the ravelled sleave of care. The timing is obviously only as accurate as a clock radio can display, so I can’t get it closer than that.
The light stayed this way for a week or two until the utility company fixed the problem. In short, my observation was exactly as stated by the GE engineer in the article.
It isn’t unreasonable to assume that a person walking or driving slowly down the street during this time would be in visual distance of this light during the cycling of the light. I certainly noticed that my turning into my driveway would “coincide” with the light turning off. Repeated travel along this route would only reinforce the misconception to the unknowing that their presence was causing the phenomenom. I’m on a road with light traffic and low speed limits, but it is also not unreasonable to assume that this could also happen on higher speed roads as long as there was sufficient sight distance to have the light in view for an extended period of time.
Hi – I’m a TV researcher looking for stories like yours, and would love to hear from you and others about this. I’m looking for US and Canada-based people who have noticed they interfere with street lights, or that computers and electrical equipment break down on them, or have had strange experiences with static electricity.
I’m working on a new science series for the Discovery TV Channel, and we would like to get to the bottom of this phenomenon, so any suggestions about US and Canadian experts will be gratefully received. We’re looking for stories of people who have witnesses to this phenomenon, also.
Carlucci: It’s not you or your vehicle. High pressure sodium vapor (yellowish) lights normally cycle on/off especially when they are nearing the end of life (theirs, not yours). In my prior experience with installations (I was involved in conversion of an entire city’s streetlights from mercury to HPSV several years ago-the first in the state). Googling “sodium vapor streetlights cycling on and off” yields this (scroll down to End of Life):
But in my experience, it happens long before they approach their end of life and led to lots of complaints about malfunctions (about which nothing could be done).
CarolineGrist, welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards. I just want to note that, prior to your post, the last posts to this thread were in 2007, and some of the people telling such stories are no longer around to see your request. However, p’raps you’ll attract some others. Good luck.
And a reminder to everyone, from the Registration Agreement:
Hey I think Cecil is totally wrong about his views on the street light thing. It happens 2 me all the time has been for as long as I can remember when I 1st noticed it I must admit i was terrorfied. Id be walking down an already dimly lit street and all of a sudden the street lamp would go off! I started noticing it when I would drive too and it would always be the same street lights that it happened on. I knew it couldn’t be coincidence it happenes too frequently and the light always turns off when I’m approaching exactly 50ft away frm it. I thought I was alone until I looked up this site & found all the different people that have exsperienced the same thing. I believe there is something ttruly special about all of us, plz don’t think you’re crazy I did 4 so long. I read a lot of posts that said after they have passed by the light it turns back on; I never stick around long enough to see so I guess u could say I’m still a lil spooked by the whole thing. I don’t know anyone else personally that this happens to but then again I’ve never told a soul. Maybe now ill feel more comfortable talking about with actual human beings. Thanks, Guys.
I would do this much more frequently in the '90’s when I get through a lot of emotional crisis and also went to a lot more shows and parties then I do today. even now when I come home late at night and exhausted… most recently a few weeks ago in the early morning… I affect the lights.
Is it possible that your emotional state affects your noticing the lights going out and/or remember it more? All evidence shows that people have no affect on street lights and lights are constantly cycling on and off. It makes much more sense that coming home later would mean the street lights are well into their on/off cycling and they would change more frequently.
Bottom line, you’re not affecting the lights but your mood (and potentially the time of night) is affecting your perception of them.
Streetlights go on and off sometimes when they’re starting to go. For a long while, the one in front of our house would go out, then turn back on after a short time. Then go out again a little while later. It wasn’t because someone was walking by, it was just doing it of its own accord.
The street lights that carlucci and citygurl30 are talking about are going off and on whether they are around or not. (Well, the ones in carlucci’s case may have been fixed by now.)
