Drivers say LED traffic signal lights in Newport News are hard to see

Blame it on the season, the time of day or the direction of travel, but drivers in Newport News say they cannot see whether to go or stop at dozens of intersections in the city because they cannot tell which traffic lamp is lit.

Many of those drivers blame the inability to see whether the red, green or yellow lamps are lit on the city's switch over the past eight years to Light Emitting Diode, or LED lamps.

Newport News has joined hundreds of localities across the nation that have switched to LED lamps, which, studies have shown, are brighter than the incandescent lamps they replace, and use less energy. For the past three years, traffic signals at all 287 of the city's intersections have used LED lights.

But dozens of drivers in Newport News believe the lamps are not as easy to see as the incandescents they replaced, especially when the sun is shining on or behind them.

Their concerns have prompted the City Council to request a report from the Engineering Department on what is being done to improve traffic signal visibility at intersections. The Council will hear from the Engineering Department in February after cancelling its Jan. 28 work session because of snow.

City Assistant Engineering Director Jacqueline Kassel said the complaints occur every year, usually in the winter months. "When the sun is lower, that's when we get more complaints," she said. "It's seasonal."

Daily Press reader John Jackson disagreed, saying in an email that the visibility problem extends beyond winter months. "It is just as prevalent in the summer," he said.

Worst intersections

Daily Press readers have reported that Jefferson Avenue and Warwick Boulevard, two high volume corridors in Newport News with between 40,000 and 60,000 vehicles per day between Mercury and Denbigh boulevards, were the most difficult to drive in morning and afternoon because the traffic signal lights were hard to see.

"When the sun is shining on them it is virtually impossible to see if they are showing red or green. The colors are completely washed out," said Newport News resident Clyde Marsteller told the Daily Press.

And Al Crane, who said he has a background in physics and photography, noted that all the lights appear to be the same intensity, so "people just follow the cars, trucks in front of them."

The traffic signal on Mercury Boulevard at River Road approaching the James River Bridge was another trouble spot, especially in the morning, several readers said.

But while drivers, including Thomas Bender of York County, worry that "someone is going to get killed" because they cannot tell which light is shining, Kassel said she has not seen any accident report for intersections across the city that said traffic signals were the cause.

Of the intersections Daily Press readers said had the worst traffic signals in terms of visibility, three had more than 50 collisions in 2011 and 2012 combined, according to collision statistics the traffic engineering department receives from the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The three intersections all are on Jefferson Avenue: J. Clyde Morris Boulevard, Oyster Point Road and Bland Boulevard. But signal visibility was not the cause cited in any of those collisions, according to the reports, Kassel said. Most were rear-end collisions, she added.

Improving visibility

Kassel said the city is exploring several ways to improve the visibility of the traffic signals. "What really helps are visors and back plates," she said.

Traffic engineers have installed visors, which look like long snouts, and back plates to cut glare on all of the city's permanent traffic signals, and many of its temporary units.

At some intersections additional signals are mounted on poles to the side of the road, rather than overhead.

And City Engineering Director Everett Skipper said Newport News has embarked on a program to replace lamps at many of the city's intersections, especially those that have been in place at least six years. Skipper said that while the lamps can last up to 10 years, they begin to dim over time, making them more difficult to see. Last week city crews installed new lamps at key intersections on Jefferson Avenue, including those at Bland and Brick Kiln boulevards.

Brighter lights cannot come soon enough for drivers like Marsteller.

"I have been in the situation where the lights were so washed out that the first cars side by side in two or three lanes of traffic refuse to go across the intersection until someone starts. Then they all go, hoping they will not get hit," he wrote.

That's the right approach if a driver is not sure which color is lit, Kassel said.

"If you can't see the display, state law requires you to stop," she said. You don't want to proceed if you don't think you have the right of way."

Grimes can be reached by phone at 757-247-4758.

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