The Galeana intersection also sports a traffic signal bent from a collision, potentially exposing the wiring to the lights to the elements, and risking a short circuit.

Patrick O’Heffernan Ajijic (JAL).  After watching both drivers and pedestrians take their lives in their hands at various intersections of city streets with the Carretera,  a Federal highway, Laguna surveyed the traffic signals and found serious problems. The survey did not include the Walmart intersection at the Libramiento and Carretera, which we have covered in earlier editions.

From Calle Benito Juarez in Ajijic to the entrance to Chapala, Laguna found burned out traffic signal bulbs, a bent and unrepaired traffic signal, missing sunshades on lights making them hard to see, dim bulbs, and one intersection without a signal tell cars coming from the Lake side if they could safely enter the Carretera.

Altogether, the survey found:

1 traffic signal not functioning

2 traffic signal bulbs so dim they could not be seen in daylight

1 badly bent signal pole

2 burned out bulbs

1 pedestrian crossing light malfunctioning

1 intersection lacking traffic lights in one direction.

The most troublesome intersection was in Ajijic at the crossing of Calle Hermenegildo Galeana and the Carreterra. There is no signal on the mountain side of Galeana facing traffic coming from downtown Ajijic so drivers do not know if the light is red or green. Many drivers pull across the pedestrian area so they can look up and see the lights on the Carretera to know when to enter the section.  This blocks pedestrians trying to cross Galeana, forcing them to walk on the Carretera.

The Galeana intersection also sports a traffic signal bent from a collision, potentially exposing the wiring to the lights to the elements, and risking a short circuit.

Other intersections have burned out or dim bulbs like the Calle Colon intersection,  or lack sunshades like the intersection of Calle Marcos Castellanos, making the state of the lights impossible to see in bright sunlight.

The Carretera is Federal Highway 23,  a toll-free part of the Federal highway system and under the control of the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes de Mexico (SCT) which has a regional office in Guadalajara. It is unclear whether the SCT or the Chapala and Jocotepec municipalidades are responsible for maintenance of traffic lights.