So Meredith has a couple of different pedestrian crosswalk lights. AtRT3 and 25, there is the traditional pedestrian light with a countdown timer when traffic is stopped. Get rid of those stupid flashing lights and install a set of the timers with only a RED LIGHT. I was stopped again tonight in back of 4 cars while the lights flashed red, nobody was in the crosswalk, and the cars did not move until the lgiths went out. Time for a fix.....but will the design engineer desk jockeys do anything???? Seems like another long term delay..........stupid.

Way back when...
 

When I did driver ed, almost a million years ago in what is now known as Illinois, I was taught mergers have the right of way.

The lane that is continuing has the right of way while the lane that is ending has to yield.

Traffic nowadays is nothing but a free for all, as hardly anyone cares about traffic rules.

Hey, are you that guy that comes in from the right and cuts into my lane every time I get to that merge in Meredith?

Remember, you are attempting to get into someone else's lane because your lane is going away. You have to yield the right of way to the vehicle that has already established themselves in that lane that continues on.

Did you think when you enter the interstate from an on ramp that the vehicles on that road have to yield to you too?

Mergers maybe in Illinois have right of way but not where I drive.

As stated the established lane has the right of way. However common courtesy dictates if every other car let the merging car enter traffic will move much more quickly.


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Hmmmm...where have I heard that before?

Mandatory driving tests....
 

More likely you were taught the other way and you got that question wrong on the test, but if it was a million years ago we'll never know.

Hopefully someday soon you won't be parked in the front window of a storefront telling people that 'I was taught it was gas left, brake right....'.

:confused:

Given all the posts and threads about unaware and incompetent boat drivers, what do you expect when those same people get in their cars?:laugh::laugh::laugh:

Are these the Locals that don't know the rules or people from other states? Didn't know if you had happened to see any licence plates?

I just find it comical that somebody seems to think that rearranging a light display is any more effective? Everyone knows what to do at a stop light irrespective of where it is. Why changing this now makes any sense is beyond any rational understanding - then again this is what happens when the Feds think they know better than anyone else and have lots of tax payer money to waste. Keep that in mind as it seems some feel that the government needs to take over and run everything. Yep works great doesn't it??

Because as it is currently the light is completely off when no pedestrians are present and red when they are crossing. Easy enough to make it a much more clear by being GREEN instead of being blank when no pedestrians are present. Remember also those of us that travel through are a regular basis are used to the system but many tourists and out of state delivery trucks pass through there daily and if they do not understand it just slows traffic. I green light would alleviate this.

I remember, back in my youth, when red & yellow on together was for pedestrian crossing. When yellow went off, pedestrians had to wait, then the light would go green for traffic.

Life was much simpler back when common sense was still common.

That's kind of my point no confusion with conventional stop lights.

The traffic situation was better when pedestrians played chicken with on coming vehicles. :emb:

It was absolutely unavoidable, going to Meredith this morning. Terrible traffic jam, worse than we usually get. By the time we were through, I had a distinct feeling of being mentally unhinged. Hopefully, the traffic light/pedestrian crosswalk situation will somehow get solved.
Common sense? Hard to find these days!

Urban Compact
 

I think that section of road is an "Urban Compact" where the state has ceded control to the local political subdivision (town).
While it appears the red (only) light is not a success, a full light that close to the light at the intersection creates it's own set of problems. For example, if it is pedestrian activated at either location, that increases the number of times both lights will stop traffic, (if they are properly coordinated) even if there is not a pedestrian at both locations.

I feel like there have been times when there was an officer directing traffic at the cross walk. Perhaps when the craft fair was open, and they paid for the extra detail?

If there were reason to close the intersection of Rt 3 and 25, there would be a planned detour, right? Why not sign it as a "Bypass" and remove some of the traffic?

I was reading some town minutes and there’s was a comment that traffic attendants would supplement the lights. Has that happened?

Police cadets used to manage pedestrian traffic, and it worked great forever.

Someone thought free GOV money was worth this I guess?

From my memory, the old pre-2019 crosswalks had two in-street pedestrian crossing signs which were a black, white and high visibilty fluorescent yellow sign, about 12"wide x 44"high, cost maybe $200-each, positioned in the center of the road, in the center lane, within the two cross walks that used to be there at the Lake St and Dover St crossings. It is a pedestrian crossing sign used all across NH and other states, designed to be placed atop the center line in the middle of the road. They work by getting the driver's extra attention and the driver gets more attentive with their driving.

Those two cross walks that are no longer there seemed to actually work better. Drivers would see the pedestrians lined up to cross, would slow down or stop their cars and wave them across.

Oh well ..... so now there is one crosswalk and this new Hawk signal system is an improvement to be here forever, so's drivers gotta get familiar with it ... and be patient.

It is time to take more serious action on this topic. I suggest EVERYONE write to the members of the Meredith Selectboard expressing their frustration. Go to MeredithNH.org, then under Boards and Committees click on Selectboard, then write to each of the members by clicking on their name. Simple, easy way to get the message out to them. If we can get 50 letters, maybe they will at least try and get the state to re-evaluate. Also, let's write to the editors at Laconia Daily Sun....maybe they will do a story on it and the adverse impact it is having on Meredith business. Without this grass roots pressure, nothing will happen.

I just sent email letters to each of the 5 BOS members...easy to do, using copy for all your comments. Took ten minutes overall. Then I sent letters to Meredith News and Laconia Sun requesting they do a story on the issue. Will you help by sending your letters???? Please, let's get the letter writing campaign off to a great start before the summer season is over.

Meredith News..... mnews@salmonpress.news

Laconia Sun...... news@laconiadailysun.com

Another issue that has risen due to these lights is the amount of traffic that is avoiding them, traveling thru Meredith center.


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Meredith center? You must mean downtown Meredith, two different places.

.... is there a link?
 

It's a bit of a cause and effect type of a stretch to blame the recently installed hawk signal on Rt-3 for the Main St, post office pedestrian crossing, pedestrian death, where a 72-year old woman was struck by a young driver that occurred in June?

With the Route-3 slow & go, mostly slow, now happening, some drivers get very frustrated with all the waiting, so when they finally see that open road, some want to put the pedal down to the metal, and just hit it, to get on outta there?

Is this just idle Winni forum conjecture, or did the newly installed hawk signal somehow play a psychological cause and effect role with the extremely unfortunate pedestrian death that occurred on the alternate Main St route used to avoid the traffic jam?

One has to wonder? So, the hawk goes operational in June, and a pedestrian death which basically never happens here, also occurs in June ..... is that a coincidence or a cause?

Few know, comprehend, understand . . .

that there is another way around Meredith.

No need for all of these traffic jams.

Meredith Scenic Detour

For an extremely scenic and lovely back roads route around the traffic clogged hawk signal in Meredith:

On Rt-104 eastbound, take a left onto Winona Rd at the big stop lights intersection of Winona Rd-Pease Rd/Rt-104, proceed for about two miles to ..... go right onto Waukewan Rd at the Old Print Barn, slowly drive around Lake Waukewan and up the steep Waukewan Golf Course ..... arriving at Rt-25 in Center Harbor ..... and proceed 100-yards south and across Rt-25 to College Rd for two miles and right onto Rt-25B for three miles to Center Harbor-Rt-25 .... totally avoiding the Meredith hawk.

Some beautiful scenic back roads ..... driving that golden road .... not stuck at the Meredith hawk ....... driving around back the old NH with a beautiful Lake Waukewan.

... too bad all the cows have left the scene. Is easy to imagine from not too long ago, all the 'country air' and all those black & white spotted cows that used to graze the steep, hilly pasture fields, along this here drive. Cows may come, and cows may go, but that town docks hawk traffic will be there, forever!

I've timed that alternate route in the reverse direction, 25B out of Center Harbor to 3/25 to Waukewan Rd to Winona Rd to rte 104. It's about five minutes longer than when there is little/no traffic at the Meredith lights. So, take your best guess as to how much time traffic at the lights will cost you and decide accordingly.

Meredith traffic
 

There is no question the traffic in Meredith is confusing, but, if you drive around the Lake you will find several different sets of circumstances with respect to vehicles and pedestrians - different crosswalk designs, different lighting patterns, the total absence of either. So, it is no wonder drivers and pedestrians are confused, and, ad to the mix that many of the drivers are from "somewhere else" and are used to whatever may be their style of crosswalk or lighting pattern. Just remember this, the time of year is fast approaching when you can park sideways any where you want and not get in trouble, and the pedestrians and drivers (mostly) have gone back to "somewhere else".

So true


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

You are foolish if you do this!!! The trailers/trucks hauling to the dump, and the golfers who are late for their tee-times, do not care about you. They know what you are trying accomplish, but their agendas are at risk! Tail-gating, speeding and cutting people off only feed their desires to be on time! The early dump visitors don't want to be late for their tee-times - the early golfers don't want to miss the afternoon T.V. final round of their favorite tournament!

Beware of FLL's advice- he only plays tennis!

I have used this route and the reverse for 16 years during the summer season and have never had a problem with it.

Thru traffic on Main in Meredith needs to SLOW DOWN, specifically in vicinity of the USPS.

The freight trains running through these congested areas need to chill out and drift through until passages are clear and wider.

As far as the crosswalk issues on 3, this will most likely take time for re-eval and adjustments, however the formentioned needs speed control attention yesterday.

Yep, people trying to beat out the HAWK. Time for the famous Meredith radar traps :)

Right turn on red.....
 

When I moved to California in the '70's, you could make a right turn on a red light. I had never seen this before. CA was the only state allowing this then, I think.

I brought the idea "home" (New Hampshire & Massachusetts) and people were extraordinarily critical of such a thing. They envisioned all sorts of calamity. A red light meant "STOP". Don't complicate things.

When I drove cross-country in April, I made right turns at red lights in every state I went through and never thought twice as to whether it was legal or not. It appears to be generally accepted and allowed now everywhere, I assume.

Not sure how this pertains to the subject of the thread...I guess, although I think evolution is a slow "change" process, getting accustomed to those "hawk" signals is not going to take hold nationwide...Maybe not even locally. Sometimes bad ideas die right where they were born.

Right turn on Red is allowed in all 50 States. I believe Massachusetts was the last state to allow this back sometime in the 1980's.

Additionally (and unknown to most Mass drivers) you can take a left turn on a red light when you have two intersecting one way streets.

Laconia Daily Sun
 

I had written and asked the Meredith News and Laconia Daily Sun to do an article on the lights issues. I also wrote to all the members of the BOS and asked readers of the blog to do the same.

In today's (8/30) LDS, there is an excellent article on the situation. Everyone should read it.....

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...6e34ab2c0.html

Informative article but I do not see a resolution just more observation. I just do not understand it’s so easy to fix. Change the signal to a traditional green yellow and red and you’ll be done.


Sent from my iPhone using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

I'm pleased they are taking this seriously...
 

Starting with "observation" and then requesting more info on Fed. issues for requirements seems to be a good start. Solution seems to be steering toward green, yellow, red.

I love "small town" activism. Gets stuff done. In San Francisco, my home base, getting someone to respond to anything is almost impossible. A neighbor recently had her car broken into. Called SFPD. Three days later the SFPD showed up to "take a report".

Wiki has a pretty decent write-up on the HAWK Traffic Signal. This is the statement in the beginning that I don't fully understand but it may help explain the lack of a solution (IF a solution, other than patience, is actually needed):

Where standard traffic signal 'warrants' prevent the installation of standard three-color traffic signals, the HAWK beacon provides an alternative.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAWK_beacon