What happens when all the traffic lights go out in the City?

A driver's worst nightmare!

It was six-forty pm on a Tuesday. I was in the far righthand lane of five lanes that had  the red light. Most traffic was waiting to cross over four lanes of up traffic so that they could either cross over the four lanes of down traffic, or to turn left into those lanes. Fortunately for me I was one of those waiting to turn right into the up lanes.

Without warning the lights went out. That was because there was a power outage that affected the entire city. In a situation like that all traffic must come to a standstill and revert to the protocol where no traffic lights cover the junction. Drivers must give way to traffic approaching from the right at cross junctions, or wait for traffic to pass if you are on a side street. That didn't happen.

There arose such a cacophony of noise from car horns, and a lot of swearing and pushing out into the flow, causing lots of squealing tyres. I was able to merge with the traffic but I was desperate to get off the street and park. I had to go around the block twice before a space opened for me, and I can't really impress upon you enough how relieved I was to be out of that mess.

If drivers used the three "C's" of the road, being Courtesy, Care, and Common Sense the crisis would have passed smoothly and without all the stress.

Something to remember for the next time.

Copyright (c) 2013   Eugene Carmichael