Expert: Lane - 10/24/2007

Question
What Steps are required in having a law passed? The Law I'd Like To Devote some energy bringing into existence is the "100 Foot Law". What's happening is we're running out of Sh... Stuff to do as far as work is concerned in some sectors. So What Happens In Say, The Traffic Light workers federation is LEDs are lasting a long time, less bulbs to change In traffic lights, so what do they do to keep busy? Put Up New Ones... All Over the place. Some In The Middle Of Blocks. And We gotta wait for them to turn green like Robots or we'll get a ticket at 3am when no one's around except a cop waiting for an unsuspecting victim to endanger the lives of No One at 3 o'clock in the morning. So.. Maybe we're not as smart as Super Sonic Robots But Maybe we have enough sense to go when it is safe, like when the cars that have the green light are 100' away. There'll Still be plenty of tickets to hand out. We might cross at 50'. In Fact, There'll be a whole lot more tickets to hand out and a whole lot less traffic. The Law Should State... "Treat Every Light The Same You Would Treat A Stop Sign, Only That Whoever Has The Green Light, Has The Right Of Way. You Must Wait Till There Is No One Any Closer than 100' away before crossing." I guess u can throw in a unless otherwise posted, but if you do!, the traffic light must be surveyed for a month before posting a sign with specific times you may not cross like when there is heavy traffic flow. Oh Yeah, so.. How Do I Get This Law Passed?

Answer
Hello, first off I would like to apologize for the amount of time it took for me to answer this question. I was out of town and forgot to set my vacation settings.

As far as getting laws passed goes, I would encourage you to contact your states individual representatives. For a list of House members by State go here: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ For a list of Senate members by state, go here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

That being said, many times laws have to have a lot of backing from the general population and a clear positive effect for society. Because of this many laws proposed to representatives never go very far, unless it is very serious.

I would also encourage you to contact the department in charge of traffic lights. They may be able to assist you in who to contact, etc...

All this being said, I feel I should comment on your proposed law. It doesn't seem to me that it would solve any major problem, although maybe I'm not understanding it fully. Furthermore I think it may just defeat the entire purpose of a traffic light. That being said I do see how it would be convenient in some situations, I hate stopping for no reason as much as the next guy.

So, overall, I would encourage you to get more detailed with your law and then contact your local and state representatives. Good luck! I hope I was able to answer your question, if not please ask a follow up. Have a great day!