So we know that a large percentage of the stoplights in the LaCrosse area have magnetometers to determine when the lights change, but how can magnetometers cause traffic jams?
Okay, imagine you're traveling North on West Avenue at 5:10 pm with normal rush hour traffic. You get to the Cass Street intersection and the light is red. So you and all the cars in your group stop. The magnetometer reads the first car in each lane and begins a countdown, and in a few seconds the light turns green. In the meantime, nobody in front of you is North/South at the Main Street intersection and the magnetometers have responded to the traffic going East/West on Main. So when your group gets moving, you arrive at the Main Street intersection and guess what... red light.
Soooo... you again wait until the magnetometer reads the first car in each lane. And a few seconds later you get another green light. Yippee, we make it through the State Street light, but by the time we arrive at LaCrosse Street... red light.
If you understand what I'm saying, you see my point - that the magnetometers are designed to stop traffic at each intersection. And of course by the time you arrive at LaCrosse Street there are 25 or 30 cars in your "bunch" and it just gets worse at every light.
And this is going on all over the city...
Monday I'll talk about the detail that makes it all even worse... the magnetometers in the left-turn lanes.
BTW, if anyone from City Hall is reading this and thinks it's wrong - send me an e-mail and I'll post your comments. What I know about magnetometers I learned from a retired LaCrosse police officer... and he hated them too!
