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Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Celebratory note 047

“Sometimes,” my father began, “I wonder about you.” Fortunately, those times are few and far between, between the other times that he wonders about me.
“‘Within two hours of his arrest, Martin McFly Jr. was tried, convicted and sentenced to fifteen years in the state penitentiary?’ … Within two hours?”
Blue light helps Overland Park police catch red light runners
Blue lights at K Mart are newest tools to stop red-light runners
Alicorn Lyra by ~Zacatron94 on deviantART
“Have you noticed the blue light on the underside of the traffic lights at College Boulevard and Quivira Road? They’re a new safety tool designed to help Overland Park police officers catch red-light runners.

When the traffic light turns red on the arm where the blue light is located, the blue light comes on and can be seen from every direction. This allows officers who can’t see the red light itself to look for vehicles in the intersection running the red light.

According to the city’s press release, researchers at the University of Kansas School of Engineering are partnering with Lawrence as well as Overland Park to install the lights and increase safety at four busy intersections: two in Lawrence and two in Overland Park.

The second Overland Park intersection equipped with the blue lights is at 75th Street and Metcalf Avenue.

The intersections were selected based on input from the cities' public works and police departments.

The blue light system is a low-cost, noninvasive countermeasure designed to help police officers sitting downstream of an intersection to safely identify and pull over drivers who run a red light. It also reduces the number of police officers needed to monitor a traffic light and identify violators at the two intersections.

The project is funded by the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Mid-America Regional Council. After six months, it will be evaluated. The project began on July 2.

Brian Shields, Overland Park city traffic engineer, writes that the blue light is less visible during the day than it is at night.”
22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old. (Proverbs 23:22)
Happy anniversary to your twenty years at Johnson County Community College, Doug!

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