It helps to speak up if things drive you to distraction

Life just keeps getting better, doesn’t it? It’s the opposite of chaos, how darn organized we’re becoming at making things work better.

That sounds like sarcasm. It’s not. I swear.

Look around you. Stop and smell the traffic cones. We’re getting those new flashing yellow left turn lights all over town. That’s great. We’re getting new roads, and old ones are being repaved. Bike lanes are popping up, and, hey, school is almost out so we won’t have to deal with kiddies in the road for a few months.

Let’s enjoy it.

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Janet wrote in with something that needs to be fixed:

“In the last few weeks when I am driving home the traffic lights at the intersection of Green Valley Parkway and Sunset Road have not been working correctly,” she wrote. “For several sets it does not turn green for traffic going east on Sunset, causing a huge backup for several blocks.”

She said people are doing what people do, which is driving over the median so they can turn around. Come on, people. Don’t do that.

I checked in with Kathleen Richards, a Henderson spokeswoman. Once she heard about the problem, the city sent a crew out to look at the light. Sure enough, Janet was right.

Richards said city officials were working with the Regional Transportation Commission to fix the problem. It should be taken care of soon.

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Rick wrote in with a good one:

“There is a 15 mph school zone (flashing lights) on St. Louis (Avenue) between Mojave Road and Atlantic Avenue,” he wrote, explaining that the school closed in February but the lights were still flashing. “How long will we have to obey flashing lights for an empty school?”

Yeah, what gives?

I rushed this one off to Diana Paul, a city of Las Vegas spokeswoman.

Here’s her response: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention!” she wrote in an email. “Staff will turn off the school flasher on St. Louis, east of Atlantic, for the remainder of this school year.”

They’ll be back on in August, though, when new kids move into that old school.

Ta-da! Progress.

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Jim (who happens to be a boss at the Review-Journal) wrote me from across the room with a question many dozens of people are sure to be wondering about, but stick with me. It has broader implications.

“What might be the law in terms of blocking the line of sight of drivers at intersections or pulling out of driveways?” he wrote.

There’s a local business really close to the R-J, for example, whose chain-link fence recently acquired some sort of fabric covering, which makes it impossible to see when exiting the R-J’s property without nosing your way into the street.

Elsewhere, there are concrete block walls that do this, and shrubbery, too.

Once, long before my Road Warrior days, I complained to my city councilman about shrubs blocking my view when pulling out of the apartments where I lived. The shrubs were trimmed within a week.

A few months ago, I complained to a candidate for the Clark County Commission that his election signs were blocking the view at an intersection near my house. The sign was moved in a few days.

The point is, progress sometimes requires alerting authorities to the problem.

Which is what I did here. I talked to O.C. White, the city of Las Vegas’ traffic engineer. He said there are indeed city codes that aim to keep views open for safe turns. If there are shrubs or a wall in the way, folks should let the city know.

Sometimes, the obstruction can’t be moved. Take the exit from westbound Summerlin Parkway onto Anasazi Drive, for example. You can’t see anything if you’re trying to make a right onto Anasazi. That’s why the city put up “no turn on red” signs.

People still turn on red, but they aren’t supposed to. So stop doing that, people.

As far as the R-J’s exit goes, White said the city will look into it. I’ll check back soon to see what happens.

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