Dear editor:

Thorsby is a town that boasts a population of 1,980 people according to the 2010 Census, making it a fairly small dot on the map.

Within this small community, there are two traffic lights on the main highway–one being situated to the most direct route of the only school in town. Unfortunately, the sensor for this light has been malfunctioning for the past several months and needs attention!

The problem arises during morning and afternoon school traffic when our main highway light stays green for just enough time that maybe a few people are able to make the required left turn necessary for reaching the school before the light frustratingly returns to red. This situation leaves a streak of traffic along the highway.

Being able to drop children off safely and spending just those few extra minutes before rushing off to a busy day is already a hard task, made increasingly more difficult by the nuisance of this ever-glowing red light.

Many motorists have gotten to a point of frustration with this situation that they will race down the short right turn lane just to go straight illegally, or even get in this lane very early to make a right turn, because of the traffic.

From experience, this is not a wise move, and law enforcement has directly stressed to me, being in violation of this personally, that these actions are a potential hazard because other motorists may not anticipate your intentions. These actions could also lead to a child crossing the road on their way to school to get unecessarily harmed.

The town of Thorsby officials should reach out to the Department of Transportation’s Traffic Operations division to have this issue addressed and the light fixed as quickly as possible. This could potentially save a motorist, or even a child, from getting hurt.

Christina Prady, Thorsby