Reading:The Haunted Traffic Light

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Introduction
Sometimes, traffic lights can be an impediment if you are trying to get from one place to another. It always changes to red, even when you least expect it. Nowadays, DOT workers make an emendation to that issue by removing old automated control boxes with newer ones with sensors placed on the roads that detect cars. If a car is on one of those sensors, it sends a signal to the control box, changing the traffic light. Newer traffic light installations have that feature, as well as LED-converted traffic lights. Speaking of LED-Converted traffic lights, they involve those old incandescent traffic lights, in which the bulbs are replaced by LEDs.

However, there are still some intersections that are controlled by automated control boxes, like synced traffic lights in a labyrinth of roads, and even one in Rome, New York, at the intersection of South James Street and West Elm Street.

Some people just gloat about removing that traffic light intersection altogether, because the traffic on those two roads is not that busy as it was before. Even though the city keeps the traffic lights up and running, the intersection does not have any detection features. Most of the time, you have to wait for the light to turn green if you want to turn left from West Elm Street and there is no one on South James Street. It makes you feel maelstrom, and it is very impotent to take them down.

An antithesis of this situation is located in Ashburn, Virginia, at the intersection of Crossroads Drive, Windmill Drive and Ashburn Farm Parkway. This intersection has detectors and pedestrian buttons.

However, sometimes people just don’t care about red traffic lights, and they just run them. Normally, this action would cause a car crash, but on occasion, it could be a near miss. Either way, these “red light runners” are chagrin to driving.

The following short story is about the traffic light in Rome, NY (as described earlier in the introduction section of the text) that somehow goes crazy after a storm and the experience a traffic light worker has with the supernatural.

Story
It was a dark and stormy night at the intersection of South James Street and West Elm Street. The wind was blowing hard, causing the traffic lights to sway. The rain was coming down so hard that it was an impediment to drivers driving their cars on the roads.

Several hours later, the rain and the wind both stopped. The clouds began to clear as the sun started to rise, and people got in their cars to drive to work. One of those people lived at West Elm Street and was waiting for the traffic light to go green. This person's name was John.

Just as the light turned green, it then quickly turned back to red. “That was fast.” he said in his head. But then, things went wacky, fast.

The signal started to cycle fast, changing the colors too quickly for the eye to see. “What is going on with that signal?” he thought. John knew he had to find out.

John was a worker for the New York Department of Transportation, and he had keys to all of the control boxes in his hometown city of Rome. He pulled over his car, parked it, and opened the car door. He then grabbed the control box keys and ran over to the control box for the intersection.

He was able to unlock the control box and open the door, but, no matter how hard he tried, he could not flip the switch that would turn off the signal. And then, there was trouble.

Two cars were approaching the intersection, and both were about to turn left. John thought about what might happen. “The way the signal is right now, both cars will get into a car accident! I must prevent this bestial event at once!”

With no time to lose, John quickly ran to his house and grabbed some portable stop signs from his sign storage room, then he ran back to the intersection with the supplies needed.

He quickly set up the signs and ran back to the control box. He did it just in time. Both cars stopped at the stop sign, and then one car turned left. What John did not know was that another car was coming. And, to make matters worse, the driver of the car was on his phone, not looking at the road! As the second car was about to turn, the driver of that car quickly slammed on the brakes to let the distracted driver through.

John sighed with relief, knowing that there was no accident. Had the driver been slow with his reactions and there would have been an accident. Knowing that the intersection was going to be worked on, John then ran back into his home and came back with some more portable signs. He had brought out some “Stop Ahead” signs, “Road Work Ahead” signs, and “End Road Work” signs. He also had brought out some custom portable signs that read “Traffic Light is Out Of Order” that were also placed at the intersection.

Several days had passed since the signal started to go crazy, and yet the signal was still going crazy. But thanks to John’s quick thinking and his supply of portable traffic signs, he was able to set up a temporary stop sign intersection and prevented an accident.

John went back to the control box to try flip the switch to turn off the traffic light. This time, he was successful. Or so he thought. Just as he was about to close the door to the control box, the box suddenly flipped the switch to turn on the traffic lights! This made John feel chagrined.

Several more days passed by, and for every day that the signal was still going crazy, it made John more angry. “Somehow,” he thought, “there must be something or someone who is causing this mess. But who would cause the traffic light to go crazy?”

Then, John felt impotent. He knew there was no one available who could help him out, but that did not stop him from attempting to solve the problem. So, at 12:00 midnight, he returned to the control box with a flashlight in his hand and flipped the switch to turn off the traffic lights. This time, he was prepared.

Just as the switch to the traffic lights was just about to be flipped back on, John turned on and pointed the flashlight to the control box and something strange came out of the control box!

John was surprised by what had occurred. And then, the thing started to talk! “Hello there.” the mysterious object said. John was scared.“Who are you?” he asked nervously.

“I am the Ghost of Traffic Lights, and I don’t mean any harm.”

“Why were you in that control box?” asked John. “I was an actual human, like you, Jane.” the ghost replied. “My name is John.” said John, correcting the ghost. The ghost continued. “I was just an average person with a job, just like yours, John. I fixed signals and replaced control boxes. Then, one day, while I was fixing this intersection, a car rammed into my truck, knocking me off balance. The impact from the car crash caused the truck to tip onto its side, taking me down with it.”

“That must have hurt, considering since you were high up.” remarked John. The ghost agreed with John. “Yes, it did hurt. It knocked me out cold. The person who rammed into me sustained minor injuries, however, I had major injuries, including a skull fracture.”

“Ouch.” said John. “So, what happened next?”

“Well, another person called 911 to send an ambulance. I was transported to the hospital. The doctors tried everything they had to keep me alive, but nothing worked.”

“Not even surgery?”

“Not even surgery worked. I soon died minutes later. And every night in October, I return to this intersection and watch the lights cycle through.”

By then, John was both shocked and amazed. “Wow,” John said, “ that’s something. And you know what? I also like this intersection too. Even though it may be bland, I still like this intersection.”

John then flipped the switch, which turned back on the traffic lights. Throughout the rest of the night, both John and the Ghost of Traffic Lights watched the lights cycle.

The ghost asked John if he could keep a secret, and John said yes. The ghost whispered in John’s ear, “I wish I could be reborn.”

John then whispered in the ghost’s ear, “When I have a child, I will make sure that he will get the same name as you. By the way, when you were a human, what was your name?”

The ghost replied, “Timothy.”

No one quite knows how the ghost got in the control box, but what happened next to John is surprising.

John married a wife named Karen, and she gave birth to a baby boy. John named that baby, “Timothy.” Then, John found some traffic lights that had the same layout as the intersection where he lived. He bought the traffic lights and a controller for those lights. He then installed them in his house in the bedroom. Those traffic lights serve as a memory for John, and every night in October, both John, Karen and Timothy all go outside to the intersection and watch the traffic lights cycle.