EARLY MORNING FLASHING INCIDENT

By Ken Harrison

A funny thing happened to the traffic lights (Barnard Avenue/Old Courts Road). I approached the lights at 05.55am - lights on red, but they quickly changed sequence and were on green within seconds. I looked in my rear view mirror and the lights had rapidly changed to red - no vehicles emerged from side roads. Then the lights quickly repeated the sequence and went back to red - staying on each colour/combination for no more than one sec.
I stopped near Tesco to view the lights from a distance - they were forming a rapid changing string of sequences. I watched as they did this about six to eight times, before I moved off.
Fortunately, the road was quiet at that time of the morning. There was just enough 'green' to allow one vehicle through, but the rapid sequence didn't give 'reds' time to actually stop the little traffic flow that there was along the road.