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September 08, 2007
Truck vs. Stoplight: Round Three
Cubilete and La Ermita
I don't know what it is with trucks and our corner stoplight. It's like old Bavarian saying mentioned on Sprockets about a fat man and a sprinkler: They are soon together.
I was in the shower and Shawn was just laying down to take a nap. I heard this strange, loud noise through the window in the shower that opens up to Avenida Cubilete. It wasn't as much a bang as it was a creaking sound. There was a fairly bright white light, then things went back to normal. The sensation was a little strange though, like when you are party to a mild earthquake, and you're pretty sure you just witnessed something out of the ordinary, but then again, it might have just been an acid flashback. I was disillusioned of the latter when Shawn came into the bathroom and asked if I was alright.
I told him that I was fine, but I did hear a strange noise. He ran to look out the window and saw the telltale sign of something gone wrong: a collection of the neighbors all standing out in the street looking at something. Then he noticed the stoplight pieces all over the ground and the wires dangling from the poles.
Hanging Power Lines Stopping Traffic
He came back into the bathroom to report that someone had yet again hit the stoplight. I told him to take some photos (the first is his, from our balcony), and I hurredly rinsed off, toweled down and got dressed to go snap some others outside. When I went out, Juan, the guy that runs the cool laundromat across the street came over and he filled me in. A moving van ran into the top part of the light and bent it 45° to the north, knocking out one of the lights and breaking the power lines servicing it. Then some other neighbor came over and started talking to him about it. The other neighbor told Juan that he'd reported it to the police and then they started chatting. Since I had nothing to add to the conversation, I just snapped some more photos and went back inside.
Juan Talking With A Neighbor
This is the third time since we've been living here that a truck has hit the stoplight on our corner. Since we've lived in this apartment now for 20 months, that means that someone takes it out every 6.66 months.
The Broken Stoplight
Usually, the city comes out and replaces the stoplight pretty quickly - within a couple of days. At present it's a safety hazard because of the drooping power lines. After the sun goes down, cars passing through the intersection are not going to be able to see the downed power line as well, so hopefully the CFE will come deal with that a bit sooner.
Posted by crispy at September 8, 2007 01:37 PM