In his weekly motoring column, Brian McDaid talks non-functional traffic lights in Letterkenny, cross-view junctions and personal advice on first passion – photography.
The traffic lights at the top of the Main St. In Letterkenny filter three very busy roads into and down the main street in Letterkenny. Traffic from the Port Bridge (the Port Rd) from Kilmacrennan Rd or the High Road and from Justice Walsh Rd are controlled by multiple sets of traffic lights to guide them across an extra large box junction and down the main thoroughfare into town.
The traffic light at Crossview house which were covered up to allow repair work to be carried out on them this week. Photo Brian McDaid
The box junction at the lights has changed its shape over the years to allow deliveries into the busy McGettigans Hotel, formally Gallaghers, but other than that it’s still a challenge for a motorist to get through the box junction with out breaking the law and stopping within the yellow boxed hatched area.
The motorist departs from the safe area from the instruction of a red traffic light to chance their way across the box junction, moving only to see the lights go from green to orange to red and they ’re left stranded in no man’s land in the middle of box junction.
It’s as if the traffic lights were taking the hand out of you.
With a single lane of traffic down Letterkenny’s Main St. and three arteries feeding into just one the traffic congestion will always get the blood pressure up.
Lights on the blink.
So this week the traffic lights were not in operation and were covered up with black plastic bags. And much to the amazement of everyone who pulled up to where they would normally wait for a green light, they were faced with no light at all.
The traffic coming down the High Road are blind sighted to the traffic coming up the Port Rd so they had to edge their way down into the box junction to get a look to see if any traffic was on the way up. This was the same for the people coming up the Port Rd, who were also blindsided because of the broken traffic lights.
And all of a sudden a box junction, where it is better not to make any eye contact from any one of the three roads merging into the main St.
With the inoperative traffic lights left with no instruction to who had the right of way through the junction, the normally hectic junction started to flow very freely.
Motorist where taken responsibility for the flow of traffic through the junction and the half a dozen of times that I travelled through the intersection, I found myself get through the junction a lot quicker than I normally would.
I even got a wave of thanks from a fellow motorist who crossed in front of me on the junction.
Motorist are instructed what to do at traffic lights, so if a light is green and there’s nowhere to go at the other end of a box junction, and your at the front of a line of traffic, you can see the obstruction, but if a car that is three or four back in the line can only see the green light and starts to blow the horn for you to get a move on, you will feel very frustrated.
Traffic back to normal as they wait for the traffic lights to change to green at Crossview house. Photo Brian Mc Daid
For a few days in Letterkenny the junction at cross-view House wasn’t so cross as the failure of lights left motorist to fend for themselves and some would think they fared better without the lights.
And finally
Nothing really to do with motoring but a response to a question I get asked a lot especially on the run into Christmas. What’s the best camera to start off with for someone interested in photography?
It always was a difficult one for me to give advice on until this week. That is until I took delivery of upgrade on my mobile phone. It even was enough for me to change from the Apple’s iPhone – something I have used since they first came out. The phone is made by Huawei in association with one of the best camera makers Lecia.
The cameras on mobile phones have moved at a speed that has overtaken conventional cameras. And for those who want to capture the moment, this phone with its three cameras is sure to impress. One of these tiny cameras has a mind-blowing 40-megapixel sensor. It also has a black and white camera, which I just adore and the third camera is for zoom.
The photo of a bell gives an idea of the black and white quality available for the Huawei phone with Lecia Camera expertise. Photo Brian McDaid
It’s was always on my bucket list to own a rangefinder camera made by Lecia, but now thanks to the teaming up of these two companies the cameras on this mobile phone, the P20 Pro, I am living the dream and I’m just amazed at the images from this phone.
Photography is so enjoyable with this phone, a great piece of equipment to have in your pocket for everyday photography but if you get that special photo the quality from the phone is more than good enough to print.
A view of the boats in Rathmullan taken at night with the New Huawei Phone with Leica Camera Technology Photo Brian McDaid
There are so many options in the way you take photos with this camera -from the simple point and shoot to an amazing night photography mode and a portrait and aperture mode. It’s has a fantastic black and white mode right through to a pro mode where you can set all the settings yourself.
The only downside for me with this phone is that I’m not used to the Android settings having worked with an Apple iPhone for the last ten years. But for me the quality of the cameras on this phone it worth the bother of getting know the workings of this new system to me.
The great French photographer Henri Carter Bresson was one of the Magnum photographers that put the Leica cameras on the map, now thanks to Huawei it’s possible to share the joy of photography from the comfort of your phone.
Happy snapping folks.
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