I live in west Gilroy and drive to work at 4:45 a.m. every
morning, Monday through Friday.
“I live in west Gilroy and drive to work at 4:45 a.m. every morning, Monday through Friday. I drive north on Santa Teresa and when I come to First Street, the light is red and I stop, but the green light on first street will turn yellow and then back to green, so the Santa Teresa light stays red. I go back and fourth and it does the same thing. Two out 10 times it may turn green for me to cross First Street. I know I will get a ticket for running a red light if seen by a police patrol.”
Red Phone: Dear Crossing The Road, While running the red light may seem harmless, especially if no traffic is around, you should wait for the light to turn green. Chances are you won’t get caught, but you are right to assume that you could. It is best to be patient at these lights even when they seemingly take forever to turn, Gilroy Police Sgt. Chad said.
Since that intersection is managed by the state, Red Phone contacted Caltrans to see if there was anything that can be done there to help shorten your commute by a couple minutes and keep you from being out the cost of a traffic fine, which could be hundreds of dollars.
Engineers went out to the site and they said nothing was wrong with the light, said Bernie Walik, Caltrans spokesman.
“Drivers are expected to come to a stop and wait behind the stop bar,” he said. “If they come to a stop behind the stop bar, then immediately start to creep up forward, the call (that there is a vehicle waiting) will be lost.”
When a car approaches an intersection, the computer controller sends a message to the light on the other road to change colors. If the light on the cross road turns red and you move up in your lane, the red light won’t turn green because you will be off the sensor that is behind the stop bar, Walik said. As a result, the computer changes the other light back to green.
“If the controller did not operate this way, we would be getting all types of complaints because traffic had to stop for a red for a vehicle that made a right turn,” Walik said.
