SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - San Diego traffic engineers ran tests Wednesday on the computer that regulates the signal lights at Rosecrans Street and Nimitz Boulevard.
RELATED: Drivers worried about 'dangerous' traffic light in Point Loma
It’s a diagnostic check that could save lives after several reports of close calls in Point Loma, including one involving 10News editor Greg Makie.
"Both directions had a green light. This guy barely dodged the car but I would not have," Makie said.
Several Facebook posts have been written about scary moments at these busy intersections
"The car in front of me almost got nailed," Makie said. "I wasn’t even halfway through and the car was coming. Woke me up, that’s for sure. I’ve been overly cautious ever since."
The electronic brains behind those lights are now being examined, according to Duncan Hughes - a senior traffic engineer for the city of San Diego.
"We have a piece of test equipment that looks at the conflict monitor and it's designed to prevent exactly the situation that's reported of having two greens in one direction," Hughes said.
They're called smart signals and they are supposed to switch the timing for the lights, depending on traffic flow.
"When we first turn on an intersection, we very specifically cut the diode board to say which traffic moves are allowed to go together and which ones are prohibited," Hughes said.
Intersections are tested on an annual basis, or when there are reports of trouble.
In this case, at least four people registering complaints in recent weeks.
The city sent this statement:
"City engineers in the field conducted diagnostic tests on the stop lights at the intersections of Rosecrans St. and Sports Arena Blvd., and Rosecrans St. and Nimitz Blvd., as well as test drives through the intersections in question. Preliminary reports do not show instances of signal conflicts as reported. Further testing will be performed over the next 24 hours and the City will provide conclusions at that time."
