"WTF? ELECTRONIC TRAFFIC SIGN DISASTER"

Hi Friends!

Today's "WTF" (c) stevenn beck

I had to travel all the way from Staten Island to Mastic-Shirley for Thanksgiving. For those who don't know, Mastic-Shirley is located in Suffolk County...east of the William Floyd Parkway and inot all that far from Riverhead and the Hamptons. In-other-words...it's kind of a long ride from Staten Island....over the Verrazano Bridge, through three counties (Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau...and then a considerable distance through much of Suffolk. On a summer Sunday or a holiday like Thanksgiving, it could be a traffic nightmare.

Fortunately it wasn't too long ago that a simple technological innovation made the process much more pleasant: electronic signage which alerts the driver to potential traffic and road issue well in advance....and allows the driver time to plan an alternate route.

On Thursday the electronic signage provided a great deal of information which really helped. Yes it helped a great deal...mostly it helped me to make decisions which - if anything - added to my time on the road and stress level.

The first sign I encountered alerted me to the fact that there was a huge backup on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway from the Manhattan Bridge to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. So I got off the BQE and took city streets to Queens - needing to stop at numerous red lights and/or stop signs along the route - to discover that - when I returned to the BQE - traffic on the highway light. Looking in the rear-view mirror no backlog of automobiles could be detected.

The next time an electronic sign alerted me to a problem I ignored the sign...and sped through the designated area at highway speed.

The third sign provided different information: traffic was evidently fine between two exits of the Long Island Expressway. So came my little Fiat, moving along as fast as reasonably possible....only to run into a major traffic jam between the exits that had been touted as "fine". Not to belabor the point, but the signage problems occurred at least twice more...although there were two signs on the William Floyd Parkway out in Suffolk County WERE accurate. (Those signs stated that "a traffic light existed 1/4 mile away...and -sure enough! - the lights were there at the indicated location! HOW ABOUT THAT! lol)

I really don't know what the deal was with the signs...you would think the agency responsible would be particularly responsive and vigilant on a major holiday - but then I remembered government downsizing and all the related nonsense - and just figured just one or two employees were doing the job previously handled by five or six. (And were probably spending most of their day on the internet and/or cell phones to boot.)

Whatever....

Anyway...a big "WTF" to whomever provided erroneous traffic information...and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Stevenn