Stop Light

Drew Pickering
Stop Light

As of February the new stop light on the East Entrance of the University of Maine campus has been installed. Its intention was to provide support to the overwhelming commuter traffic that floods the university campus every day. The system is a failure and waste of time for many students.

The light has a system that is primarily for traffic from the main road into campus, but when you are leaving campus the odds are against you. Although the system seems very simple, it is very expensive for the value. Lastly, are the people trying to always beat the red light. All considered I would like to get to school without encountering a light.

The lights primary objective is to cars into the campus in the most effect manner, off the main road into campus to park their cars and run to class. This makes sense; the light has the ability to be programmed to give different times for the stop to go pattern. This light however is very one sided, leaving a line of cars from the main entrance backed up. It takes forever to leave this campus.

The expense of this piece of equipment is ridiculous. The cost of a stop light can be up in the 10, 000 of dollars or more. This equipment does not seem to give us a so called bang for the buck. I have driven through the intersection many times in the last 4 years without the use of a metal box telling me what to do. I feel that we as student have done well overall in completing the task of getting through the intersection safely and quickly.

Red lights always seem to bring out the bad side in us. Why do we always seem to be racing that damn light even thought we know that the yellow means red is coming. I feel that this causes more accidents than anything else. The idiot that figures he has got at least 3 seconds, which may seem like a life time in a car but is defiantly not. They speed through expecting that everyone sees them coming. Meanwhile, the other drivers now affected by the lights draining inability to think for ourselves, we drive aimlessly into the oncoming impatient idiot. This I feel is more dangerous than life without a stop light.

The East Entrance on our beautiful, untouched Umaine campus does not need a traffic light, but save the time, money, and judgment of your students and take the idea of a stop light out.