Red Means Stop. So Does Rain.

I’ve complained about this before in passing, on Twitter, but it’s become such a major issue for my sanity that I now feel compelled to work through it.

Today it’s raining in Atlanta. When it rains in Atlanta, no matter how mild is the rain, the traffic lights go out. (And really, it happens sometimes when it’s not even raining.) Not all the lights, but just enough to completely incapacitate the routes I take.

Why the #*@! do the traffic lights stop working when it rains? What’s wrong with the city that this happens? Why does nobody fix it quickly when the lights go out? Why do they not fix it permanently?

I have no idea, but clearly we have an infrastructure problem. Is it a matter of funding? Of Politics? Who knows. In general Atlanta streets are badly maintained. I’ve had to replace three tires in the last year due to potholes, for example.

But worse: when these problems do occur, things could still go more smoothly than they do. Some of the lights go out entirely. In that case, there’s no choice but to treat the light as a four-way stop. Others reset to yellow/red flashing states. Yet, Atlanta drivers are so stupid that they don’t know how to handle such a situation (which would keep the traffic flow moving at a decent enough clip), and instead they treat it as a four-way stop. Which just murders the commute. Actually, I haven’t read the Georgia motorist laws recently, but standard practice is two cars per go at a stop light turned to a four-way stop due to disablement.

Anyway, this is the sort of thing that makes me nearly crazy with rage. Do any of my fellow Atlantans know why this happens?