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Ask Dot: Strange bright blue lights

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Contributed by: YourHub.com on 3/26/2006

At Bowles and Kipling (and many other intersections) there are bright blue lights by the signal lights. Why are they there and what are they used for?

- Julie Husa

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff's office, the lights are tattletale lights. They help law enforcement catch red-light violators. The blue light turns on when the stoplight turns green and turns off when the stoplight turns red. Officers can position themselves so they don't have to be directly facing the light to see it change. Jacki Kelley, public information officer at Jefferson County Sheriff's office said, "It's a safer way to monitor the high-traffic intersections. Due to left turn violations, it can put an officer in a bit of a compromise. This helps with that," she said. The lights are installed by and maintained by CDOT, according to Kelley.

Kelley also said the tattletale lights are all over the metro area, and are usually placed in intersections that have a high rate of infractions.

To get to the "right" answer for this question, I had to ask several people. I first thought the best thing to do was to call the Road and Bridge Department for Jefferson County. However, after several phone calls and differing answers, there was no confident, correct one. For instance, one secretary said she was told that the blue lights count the cars going through the intersection so the light doesn't change too quickly. This sounded a little suspicious to me ... how could a simple blinking blue light really count cars? I then talked to Angela Branson, assistant manager at a Walgreen's at Kipling and Bowles. She had this to say about them. "We think they may be some sort of sensor. It's not a camera. They have been there for at least 6 to 9 months. I don't know what they are and they turn on at different times when the lights change." Then finally I spoke with the Jefferson County Sheriff's office and got our answer.

So watch out next time you think about cruising through stoplights!

-Dot

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