(Bad) Memories of traffic signal systems...

[thenetwork]

Growing up, I lived in a town in NE Ohio called Medina (then, the population was just under 20,000).

One of weirdest and obnoxious things the city did in the 70s and early 80s was a city-wide traffic signal system that, when there was a fire call, ALL the traffic lights in the entire town would go to ALL RED and remain that way for up to 10-15 minutes.

At the time, the Fire Station Was located on the town's public square, and traffic lights on the main arteries extended 2-3 miles on each state route out of town. 

It didn't matter if the fire trucks were heading to the far north of town, every single light would go All-red. And since all through traffic pretty much had no choice but to go through the town square on 2-lane roads (still the case today), it created gridlock for miles. 

While through traffic and non-locals would be blowing horns, the locals knew what was going on and did NOT treat the lights as malfunctioning or stuck and would patiently sit at the light for the entire
duration of the All-red "emergency" phase even though they would likely never see any emergency vehicles.  Nowhere in the town was their any signage mentioning this red-light reason, but most people there would likely sit at the red light fir a full hour if warranted.

Finally, by the mid-late.80s, the main Fire station was relocated and additional fire stations were built around the rapidly-growing city.  And finally, this archaic annoyance was killed off with special sensors once and for all at most intersections.  The whole city didn't have to come to a complete stop anymore!!!

Just wanted to share this bad memory of living in Medina, Ohio back in the day.  Even if you tried to negotiate side streets with just Stop signs, sooner or later you were stuck at or near one of these signalized intersections due to the light or backed-up traffic waiting on the side streets.

If you happened to lived in that area or were ever affected by the massive delays there, or if.you had a similar inane set-up in your home area, I share your grief.    Even a flashing "all-red" phase would have been a significant improvement back then, but nooooo.

[vdeane]

Wouldn't the resulting traffic congestion defeat the point of the all-red in the first place?  It doesn't matter if the intersection is clear if the emergency vehicles can't get to the intersection in the first place.

[thenetwork]

Wouldn't the resulting traffic congestion defeat the point of the all-red in the first place?  It doesn't matter if the intersection is clear if the emergency vehicles can't get to the intersection in the first place.

Traffic flow logic in Medina was/is illogical.

[jeffandnicole]

I have relatives in Medina.  I'll have to ask them if they recall this system.

[thenetwork]

I have relatives in Medina.  I'll have to ask them if they recall this system.

Now that I think of it, IIRC, In the late 60s & early 70s, at least around Public Square, they used to incorporate an all-red segment in the signal's cycles (much shorter) for diagonal pedestrian crossings at the intersections.  Might explain how they kept it as an emergency signal in later years,  Made sense on the square, but incorporating it city-wide was overkill!