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Sunday, January 03, 2010

Ind. Law. - "LED Signals Seen as Potential Hazard" -- Or not

A story from the Jan. 1, 2010 NY Times, reported by Susan Saulny, begins:

CHICAGO — Last April, the driver of a pickup truck approaching an intersection in the far western suburb of Oswego went past a red light obscured by snow and struck a 34-year-old woman turning left in her car.

The woman died and four other people were injured in the accident, which was among the first to raise concerns here and around the Midwest about a relatively new driving hazard related to inclement weather: traffic signals, like those in Oswego, that use light-emitting diodes, known as LEDs.

The new lighting is part of a fast-growing trend in environmentalism. LED bulbs use less energy, last longer and are more visible than their predecessors. They are also known to require less maintenance. But they do not emit nearly as much heat as conventional bulbs, allowing snow and ice to accumulate more easily in certain conditions.

But, reading further:
In the last seven years, Wisconsin has converted more than 90 percent of the lighting under state control to LED bulbs.

“We certainly do see crashes and accidents attributed to the fact that people can’t see the heads,” said Joanna Bush, a traffic signal systems engineer for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, referring to traffic signals’ colored lenses. “Due to the volume of snow we’ve been getting — good, wet heavy snow — it packs in.” * * *

In Minnesota, an official said there had been snow-packing problems even with conventional bulbs.

“Drivers should take a common-sense approach,” said Maj. Al Smith, a special operations officer with the Minnesota State Police. “If you can’t see the light, just take it as a safety precaution to slow down and be prepared to stop for crossing traffic.”

For most states, the benefits of LEDs are greater than the downside, officials said. LEDs contain no toxic elements and can last so long — for years — that disposal is not much of an issue.

Their tendency to collect snow “isn’t enough to convince us to move over from LEDs,” said Ms. Bush, the Wisconsin official. “When you look at all the things we deal with during a snow event — stop signs and other signs get covered — that hasn’t stopped us from using them.”

From the Dec, 29, 2009 Chicago Tribune, a long story by Gerry Smith that includes:
Towns across Illinois and nationwide have switched to LED traffic signals because they burn brighter, last longer and save money by using 90 percent less energy than older incandescent bulbs. But they also emit less heat, meaning they sometimes have trouble melting snow.

This has caused problems across the Midwest. In Wisconsin earlier this month, snow blanketed LED traffic lights in some towns, leading to "crashes at intersections where drivers aren't sure whether to stop or go," The Associated Press said.

Manufacturers say they are aware of the problem and have looked at solutions, such as adding a heating element to LED signals. But adding heat would diminish the energy savings of LED signals, said Roy Burton, chief executive of Dialight, an LED traffic-signal manufacturer.

"We can remove the snow with heat, but the cost of doing that in terms of energy use has not brought any enthusiasm from cities and states that buy these signals," Burton said. "They'd like to be able to take away this issue, but they don't want to spend the money and lose the savings."

Those savings can be significant. When St. Charles installed LED traffic lights at First and Illinois avenues in 2005, energy costs dropped more than 80 percent, from $63.30 a month to $9.95.

Communities also save money on replacing signals because LED lights last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. And they can receive funding to cover upfront costs. * * *

Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Transportation has aggressively pushed for replacing incandescent traffic signals with LED lights, requiring communities that install red-light cameras to use LED traffic lights at those intersections because they burn brighter, said Priscilla Tobias, an IDOT safety engineer.

LEDs "are much more visible to the motorist so they have more time to see the traffic signal and react," Tobias said. "Not only are we addressing energy efficiency, we're also improving safety at intersections."

In Chicago's suburbs, engineers say snow can cover LED traffic signals, but only under certain conditions -- wet, driving snow and freezing temperatures -- and rarely every signal at an intersection.

They say the problem is easily remedied by maintenance crews using brooms and occurs so infrequently -- once or twice a winter -- that it does not outweigh the benefits of energy efficiency.

"Maybe it takes longer to melt and you have to go and clean them off, but it's part of the trade-off for years of energy savings," said Tony Khawaja, a traffic engineer for the Lake County Division of Transportation.

Benjamin Lanka of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette answered a question on LED traffic signals in his Dec. 19, 2009 "Road Sage" column:
As you know, Chicago and a few other communities in Illinois and Wisconsin have found problems because the lights are so efficient they don’t produce much heat.

During bad winter storms, blowing snow can accumulate on the traffic light, blocking its view for motorists.

Fortunately in Fort Wayne, we haven’t had such problems. The city spent $354,953 in 2005 to change its traffic signals to LED lights, and the conversion was complete in November 2005.

That means they’ve been in place for four winters already, and I have yet to notice visibility problems. The city has about 9,600 LED bulbs.

Frank Suarez, Fort Wayne public works spokesman, said the city actually began testing the newer bulbs in the late 1990s. To date, he said the city has experienced no visibility problems with the bulbs during heavy snows.

He said it might be because some areas get more snow than Fort Wayne, or the shape of other cities’ signals might contribute to snow accumulation.

The good news for Fort Wayne taxpayers is that from 2006 to 2008 the city has saved more than $350,000 in electricity costs by using the LED lights.

The bulbs have also proved to be more reliable than the older bulbs. Historically, the city had more than 300 emergency runs a year to fix broken signals. Since the installation of the LED bulbs, the city has averaged fewer than 20 annual runs.

Some quick facts: LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, last six or seven years as opposed to two years for an incandescent bulb. They use 13 watts of electricity compared with up to 150 watts. The lights are also brighter than incandescent bulbs, helping drivers better see the signal.

Two days earlier, on Dec. 17th, Arthur Foulkes reported in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star:
Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett said he is not concerned about switching the city’s traffic lights to energy-efficient LED lights despite some problems with the high-efficiency lights in cold-weather states.

Across the country, many cities and state highway systems have replaced old-style incandescent light traffic light bulbs with LED lights, which use about 80 percent less energy. Terre Haute recently received a federal grant to change all of its traffic lights to the LED-style. * * *

The State of Indiana already has installed many LED traffic lights on U.S. 41 in Terre Haute and elsewhere with no reported trouble, he said.

“A lot of cities have been doing this,” Bennett said. “We’ve not received any information that it is a problem.”

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 3, 2010 03:03 PM
Posted to Indiana Law