Again where did I say that Chinese products are good? Where did I say that Chinese business practices are good? Companies use Chinese goods because they are cheap and they are cutting corners to try and make a larger profit. Why do they get away with this because consumers let them, I am not saying that it is right, even though you are going to say that I did. I am not saying that the companies are not to blame also; however the consumers don’t care where their products come from as long as they are cheap. That is until something bad happens, guess what you get what you buy the cheapest stuff and it will have the cheapest stuff in it. The pet food was off brands none of which I consider reputable, the cough medicine as far as I could find never made it into the country, the blood thinner was a plant where the FDA dropped the ball and the plant had corruption, the tainted baby food was only sold in China so they are poisoning themselves, the milk also was not sold in the states. Much of your complaints about Chinese products are regarding products that were not sold in the United States so why are you blaming our country for those, yes it was in the news, but we don’t buy everything that China makes. I never said that I have to look over my shoulder and I have no plans on moving to Iraq I simply pay attention to what I purchase and where it is from. And like I stated the majority of the products that you are complaining about were not sold in this country, so your ranting is irrelevant. Go ahead and accuse me of saying things that I am not but I will go ahead and continue to purchase products that I know where they came from. I do that because it is a good practice in general not just for my health but to help my community as well. Anyway we digressed, the lights are doing exactly what they were designed to do consume less energy and have directional light, they were not designed to milt snow no matter where their country of origin is.

The end problem here is we have been dumped on by junk Chinese products. The mantra of course is, “hey stupid consumers, it is your fault.” Yes, we always need to be careful, but we do expect some reasonable due diligence by venders and manufacturers when we buy stuff and...come up to stop lights.

If you must look over your shoulder all the time and embrace that culture, perhaps Iraq would be a better place to live. Do we need to assume everything will kill us if we do not double check. What a nice country we have become.

It is amazing how many people who are ground into the dirt by a shoddy United States market place, except that it is the dude on the street’s fault some product killed him.

I see you conveniently did not address the tainted blood thinner (how many times have you asked your doctor where the medications came from or what is in them?); or the poison cough medicine; or the poison pet food; or the tainted baby food; or the milk (actually in China); nice cherry pick.

My suggestion is when something arises in our culture that is shoddy, or that is killing people, or killing pets et cetera, jump all the way back to the beginning of where it came from. Then work your way forward and see how many people enabled the chain of wrecked property and or lives.

It is so much easier however, to blame the dead guy.

Bob Keith
Humble and obedient citizen

Bob Keith
- humble and obedient citizen -
No one said that Chinese junk was your imagination! I will take a minute and quote myself here “If you are purchasing your dog food, baby food, medications, milk, or blood thinner from china then please pull your head out of where it is currently. Why would you buy any of those things from China…”. From those comments you think that I believe that Chinese products are good? Buy your products from reputable companies. The only things that I recall in the news is off brand drywall that had no government ratings on it because it couldn’t from china, generic toothpaste that clearly stated made in china yet the cheep people in the USA still bought it, and yes the toys which were also clearly labeled made in china. So you have two valid statements in your ramblings and I gave you a third yet they were all labeled from the factory; however the drywall issue was not known from china because it gets painted over once it is installed. And once again I never stated that Chinese products were any good.

mespl and krsmith01:
I finally rousted a couple China apologists out of the woodwork. The problem with all the deaths and damage from Chinese products and their additives is that the problem is often traced to China later because of...say it with me...poor or no labeling of product contents origin.

The cost of finding the problems has been enormous for several countries. China throws us a bone by executing an offending company boss now and then. A couple were put to death the other day. We all should be proud to do business with a place like that.

And by the by, where have you been during the last four years when all the Chinese product and additive scandals hit the news? Oh heck, I forgot about the lead tainted paint in toys. Try Google - it is all there. I especially like the poison additive the Chinese put in cough medicine - that was real classy.

Most of this LED technology has been farmed out to...China. This one is not a secret.

I relent - you're right. Chinese junk is just in my imagination.

Bob Keith
- humble and obedient citizen -

if they need another energy source to heat them up, or a crew to drive a VEHICLE around to clean them, are they really saving money??? duh.

One on Milton av today was green AND flashing yellow. I was wondering what the other side of intersection was doing .

BTW, to all the complainers -- it's not just the "sandal crowd" or "PC" crowd that is the reason for LED bulbs, it's the cities that are saving $$$$$ by using the energy efficient ones. Read the story.

In the recent storm I encountered a snow-covered signal in Green Bay that I was barely able to see and realize it was green. Here is the problem: If people are not used to the intersections they are driving through, the signal light is often the only thing that alerts to the brain that there is a traffic light there at all. People don't drive around meticulously looking for metal posts that might be traffic lights. That's why this is dangerous -- not just that you don't see the color of the light, but some people might not know there is a light there at all.

I gotta agree with mespl on this one. I've looked at my dog food bag, baby food jar, powdered milk products, and milk container and no where is there any indication that any of these item were made in or come from China. I agree that parts of a light fixture or traffic signal could very easily have been produced and manufactured in China though. But blaming China for all products that are inferior???. .That's a bit "over the top."

I haven't seen these streetlights myself but I do have to question it because through a thick pile of snow on our bushes out front I can clearly see the led Christmas lights underneath...

no way, energy saving items not up to par? i'd like to say i'm surprised. fools. between the fallacy of global warming, and the crushing weight of political correctness, we are digging our own graves. baaa-aa-aa-aa.

Did anyone read to the end where the article stated “that drivers know they should treat a traffic signal with obstructed lights as a stop sign” or at least the drivers should know that!

keithrg13: If you are purchasing you dog food, baby food, medications, milk, or blood thinner from china then please pull your head out of where it is currently. Why would you buy any of those things from china, I have never heard of anyone buying those from china. Also the drywall was one distributor during the peak of the housing boom and it was a limited amount this was due to a shortage in the states at that time.

Here is a wild and crazy idea if you cannot see if the light is green treat it like it is not. How much intelligence would it take to think through, if you can’t see the color then you don’t know if you have the right of way or not? It is a simple solution that doesn’t cost any money all that has to be done is for people to think, it might hurt a little at first but don’t be alarmed your brain will get used to the whole thinking thing.

beer2 - good point ! How about LEDs for the south, and incandescents for the north ?

ONLY gov't would have to "test" to find a solution....**DUH**....ALL types of heat tape/element has been around for HOW many decades??............and of course no one in gov't saw this problem coming like normal sense would tell a logical person it would.

Car headlights are starting to go to LED, you people going to start complaining about that too.

DwightKSchrute is absolutely correct. This is a simple engineering problem resulting from incomplete product specification, flawed design specification, inadequate field testing or, most likely, some combination of these.

These lights are surely made in China? Strike another victory up for the sloppy techno-fascist-commies. Tainted pet food - dead pets; tainted baby food - dead babies; tainted medications - dead sick people; tainted drywall - sick residents; tainted milk - more dead people; tainted blood thinner - more dead people; and on and on and now...lame stop lights and dead drivers.

Where are the apologists out their to tell me this is all just a big misunderstanding and I am too hard on the "new norm" in America of racing to sloppy Chinese standards everywhere in our country? Worship at the feet of this new techno-fascist-commie product won't you?

Here is the caveat! Did the Chinese makers of this product assure the buyers said lights would work just fine in our systems? I think we all know the answer to that.

Bob Keith
- humble and obedient citizen -

"Energy-efficient lights causing problems" no drivers that do not know what to do when they cant see the lights are causing the problem.

rexkramer,
you have hit the nail on the head!
thanks

One of the top benefits of LED stoplights is that you have scores or even hundreds of individual elements, so when a couple burn out the light is still visible. That said, adding a small heating element in cold climes is something that you would almost expect would have been thought of earlier.

Maybe the incense and sandal crowd that got us into this mess can all sit in a circle and hold hands while watching "An Inconvenient Truth" and their collective happy thoughts will just melt the ice away.

It's much cheaper and much more efficient to install a heating element than it is to have a crew remove and reinstall lights twice a year. I don't know if people understand how difficult it is to replace a stoplight on a busy road, especially the stoplights that hang over the intersection. It would cost several thousands of dollars twice a year to change the lights (in a Janesville size city). Installing a heating elements on all the lights would cost several thousands of dollars - one time. Now that the problem is in the open, manufacturers can begin installing the heating elements at the factory.

Conventional bulbs for the winter, LED bulbs for the rest of the year. The fix it to swap bulbs twice a year.

No need to develop and install stop light heaters or send crews around to stoplights after snowfalls. No need for a think tank or task force or focus group or congressional hearing.

yet another unintended consequence of going green.
cause really, after you add up the gas burned and co2 emissions from the humans doing the EXTRA work, and doing the EXTRA WORK EVERY TIME IT SNOWS, weren't we really ahead of the game sticking with the old lights (that worked for decades)?

Just another example of technology being ahead of it's time.

We should all take a DEEP BREATH and SLOW DOWN.

Once heating elements or the like are installed, it won't be a problem. It's an easy fix and not expensive. Keep the LED's and just be safe if you're entering an intersection with the lights covered in snow...its common sense.

Looks like GE has some tracks to cover.

Cheaper isn't always the best way to go. Put the old ones back and let them melt off the snow like before. Safety is more important.

With the amount of money that city, county, and state workers make per hour I am pretty sure that it cost more money to pay these workers to clear the lights than it cost to operate the old lights. Want to save money, go back to the old bulbs they dont require health insurance, lunch breaks, and overtime pay.