The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, as I understand it, is as other traffic design manuals (Highway Capacity Manual, the "Green Book" of highway design) are--merely 'guidance' rather than law-bound scripture. The way it works in court is that if the manual was not adhered to, there'd better be a DAMN good reason why. In some cases I can see where these would play...going slightly below the minimum length for a curve because of some constraints but showing some empirical evidence that what you designed wasn't inherently unsafe, for example.
But this is hardly a good reason to shorten an amber time, which is provided for motorists' and pedestrians' safety at an intersection. I agree that whoever pulled this stunt should be indicted.
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MUTCD
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, as I understand it, is as other traffic design manuals (Highway Capacity Manual, the "Green Book" of highway design) are--merely 'guidance' rather than law-bound scripture. The way it works in court is that if the manual was not adhered to, there'd better be a DAMN good reason why. In some cases I can see where these would play...going slightly below the minimum length for a curve because of some constraints but showing some empirical evidence that what you designed wasn't inherently unsafe, for example.
But this is hardly a good reason to shorten an amber time, which is provided for motorists' and pedestrians' safety at an intersection. I agree that whoever pulled this stunt should be indicted.