Valley City Adds Signs to Traffic Lights
We all love to see economic growth in and around The Valley, but it comes with a price. A big issue with economic growth is more traffic. No one likes traffic, and people become impatient with it. If you’ve noticed lately, people seem to think stopping at traffic or stop lights is optional. That is unsafe, and Valley City has decided to do something about it.
Valley City Police Chief Andy Fife said, “We’ve written quite a few citations lately for people running red lights in Valley City. It’s helping stuff the city’s coffers, but it’s not safe. We’ve had one accident recently because of it, and plenty of close calls. I talked with the mayor about what we could do to stop it. Initially, I just thought we could do a Facebook post telling people that we’re gonna really start clamping down on it, so they better stop it. Then, I came up with the idea of putting large signs by the stop lights. We’re gonna give a try and see how it works.”
Chief Fife’s idea was to attach large signs under the traffic lights that read “RED MEANS STOP.” The city has ordered the signs, and they should be put up by the end of next week.
Mayor Ronald Bush said, “We only have 4 traffic lights in our great city, but this is a real problem. I’m hoping these new signs will help curb the issue. If this doesn’t work, we’ll look into installing cameras. I don’t want to do that, because I know that’ll cause a firestorm. Plus, that would probably hurt my reelection chances, but I have to lookout for the safety of our motorists.”
Valley City residents aren’t optimistic the new signs will make a difference. One person said, “These signs are a waste of money. They’re gonna make people want to run red lights even more. You know how people are these days. They’re just plain crazy! Unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll help.”
Another Valley City resident said, “Something needs to be done, but I’m not sure the signs will help. The other day, I had a green light to go straight, but the morons turning left in front of me got caught in the middle of the intersection. I couldn’t go even though I had a green light, and it turned red before I could go. I was so mad. I laid down on my horn and gave them the finger. That’s happened to me more than once. I just don’t think the signs will help.”
Time will tell if the new signs will curb motorists from running red lights in Valley City. Any bets on how long it will take before someone shoots one with a shotgun? I’ll set the over/under at 13 days.