That’s not hot: LED traffic lights can’t melt snow

LED lights look like a great choice for traffic signals. They burn brighter, last longer, and use a heck of a lot less energy than incandescent bulbs. LED’s can even be networked to allow cities to observe the lights in real time. The only drawback seems to be that they don’t burn hot enough to melt snow and ice.

Back in April, a 34 year old woman in Illinois was involved in a deadly crash at an LED powered traffic light. She had the green light to turn left but the oncoming car didn’t see the red light because the signal was hidden under snow.

The problem has spread to Wisconsin, a state that saves nearly $750,000 a year because of the LED traffic lights. Crews in West Bend had to use some ingenuity and a roll of duct tape to fashion scrapers to clear the snow earlier this month to prevent further accidents.

It would be idiotic to revert back to the old incandescent bulbs, so what are the options? Several municipalities in Wisconsin field calls from locals and send out a police officer or public works employee to clean off the signal. Technical options include adding heat elements, coating the lights with waterproof substances, or installing weather shields. Sadly, not all of these are options for cash strapped city budgets.

Until there is a reliable and efficient way to remove snow from LED traffic lights we should take the advice of Michigan’s Department of Transportation (MDOT). MDOT has six LED traffic signals in the state’s decidedly untropical Upper Peninsula. They’ve had few issues with the lights but argue that drivers need to use common sense out on the road. MDOT’s Andy Sikkema said, “What a motorist should do if they come up and they cannot see a lit lens -- they have to treat it as a dark signal. Laws and policies in the State of Michigan are you stop and treat it as a four way stop."