# Those traffic light grills are dangerous **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810 "2011-08-15T18:48:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810/21 "2011-08-16T00:03:00Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > not all intersections meet at a 90° angle. [like so.](http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.471005,-82.986367&spn=0.007993,0.020213&z=16&vpsrc=6) Connecticut, for example, only recommends louvers for streets that meet at 35 degrees or less. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810/22 "2011-08-16T00:22:55Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Connecticut, for example, only recommends louvers for streets that meet at 35 degrees or less. ah. I’m too lazy to look up Michigan’s laws, but my WAG based on what I’ve seen is that if you can see any portion of the cross-street’s signal’s lens, it gets louvers. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810/23 "2011-08-16T01:09:07Z")
When I read the title, I thought you were talking about something slightly different… One particularly blustery day last year I was driving home and I noticed that one of the green traffic lights on a local signal had somehow hinged open, like a door. The wind was blowing so strong that the little door swung open wide enough that the green light was facing 90-degrees from its intended direction, and you could see the wires hanging out the back side of the door. As soon as I got home I called the cops and suggested they send someone down for a look see. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810/24 "2011-08-16T01:34:27Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Then I guess places like Switzerland which have leading red/amber signals before the green, telling you that it’s about to change, are doing it wrong. I WANT to know what the other signals are doing (or about to do). I just look at the pedestrian crosswalk signals for that. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2011, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810/25 "2011-08-16T06:43:57Z")
I’ll note that a lot of these are at intersections that don’t cross at very acute angles. I seem to recall the intersection of Pine Tree Rd and the loop in Longview having them, and it appears to cross at about a 70 degree angle, not acute enough to see the lights for the other directions. I think there were some that were perpendicular intersections but I can’t think of any particular ones. I will be paying more attention to what kind of intersection they’re at now, but they don’t seem as common here in Dallas as they were in Longview fortunately. They definitely need to adjust the louvres on some of them though, maybe shorten them to provide a wider field of view. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810/26 "2011-08-19T01:05:29Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > The purpose is that each lane can only see their light and not be confused by others. Well, there’s an intersection near me where you make a turn off an exit ramp, then immediately have a traffic light AFTER the turn which tells you whether you can proceed on the side street. So basically you’re coming up the ramp, you get your green light, then you have NO IDEA what you’re supposed to do 30 feet later. I vote thumbs down. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810/27 "2011-08-19T01:50:21Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > People are used to it. Turn lanes first, THEN straight lanes. Yeah, the good old days. There are at least two major intersections near me where the left turn arrow comes after the straight ahead. Actually, what seems to be happening is that east-bound gets a straight/left-turn, then the east left-turn goes off and west gets a straight light, east loses the straight light and west adds a left turn. As a bonus, the above behavior isn’t consistent - I’m guessing it has something to do with the time of day and/or traffic as noted by the sensors, but I haven’t figured it out. I do know that it leads to fewer people making the left turn (when they’re on the delayed (west-bound in above) since they aren’t expecting it (the first time it happened to me, I assumed the sensor had malfunctioned - and almost missed the arrow entirely) - plus folks busting the yellow/red when they’re pissed that the person in front of them didn’t move until the arrow had been on a while. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-traffic-light-grills-are-dangerous/592810.md?page=1)