Out on the road, some problems just don’t have simple solutions.

Take the rush of cars zooming past my office’s picture window each day. I thought perhaps a few red lights would slow them down, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

In a recent column, I discussed an accident that occurred on Bay to Bay Boulevard outside our shared Tampa Tribune and South Tampa News offices. It was the second accident I’ve witnessed in a string of near-hits that happen regularly on this fast-moving road.

Hoping to stem the tide, I suggested a traffic light at Bay to Bay and Ferdinand Avenue might help reduce speeding, which can lead to these dangerous accidents.

Ellen LaVielle of West San Juan Street quickly wrote in to support my idea. Living two streets off Bay to Bay, she gets a regular first-hand look at traffic on the thoroughfare.

LaVielle said she often drives out of her way in order to cross Bay to Bay at a traffic light, rather than cross at Ferdinand without a signal.

“The traffic is so dangerous, I go down to Himes to catch the light,” she wrote in a recent e-mail. “I feel sorry for the parents who have their children at the day care across the street from your office.”

Accidents have occurred within a block of that day care facility.

It was LaVielle who clued me in to the fact that there used to be a light at Bay to Bay and Ferdinand in the early 1990s.

Some digging revealed the traffic signal was originally erected to make crossing easier for students at Roosevelt Elementary School, 3205 S. Ferdinand Ave.

In 1997, the city of Tampa’s transportation department received a letter from the school board, requesting the traffic signal be relocated to Concordia Avenue.

“They were changing the bus route and the walking routes for students,” said Mike Scanlon, traffic signal engineer for the department.

By late 1998, approximately, the light was moved. LaVielle felt it would be wise to put the signal back and coordinate it with other lights on Bay to Bay, in hopes of saving lives “and a few crunched cars.”

This was my thought as well, but Scanlon quickly explained that it takes more than a traffic signal to prevent crashes.

“Traffic signals don’t necessarily stop traffic accidents,” Scanlon said. “Signals are just for safe access for vehicles or pedestrians.”

His department synchronizes lights to maintain traffic flow. You may have noticed an example of this in downtown Tampa, where you can hit the “green band” and move through some seven intersections in about a minute.

Scanlon pointed out that depending on where you come into the sequence as a driver, it is quite possible to speed through a series of lights.

He also said some lights have sensors at cross streets to detect a vehicle’s presence. These sensors tell a traffic light when to turn red, so travelers on cross streets can move through an intersection.

At off-peak times, there are fewer cars around to trip sensors, so lights may stay green for longer cycles. This again leaves plenty of room for speeding.

The only way to truly prevent speeding with traffic signals, Scanlon said, would be to desynchronize the lights, making one green when the next is red, and so forth.

This would create a kind of stop-and-go traffic pattern that might reduce speed levels, but it’s likely no drivers would settle for it.

Complaints would quickly ensue, as the odd pattern would create backups and prevent a normal traffic flow. Unfortunately, this brings us to a debate on what motorists think is “normal.”

For some, it’s normal to cruise 5 mph below the speed limit. For others, it’s normal to fly 15 mph above it.

The responsibility in this situation, as in many others, ultimately resides in the driver’s seat. For safety’s sake, it’s our duty to be focused, remain courteous and keep an eye on the speedometer.

It’s funny. If you think about it, that could be the simplest solution of all.

Sadly, getting hundreds of drivers with varying personality types to use caution on a daily basis doesn’t sound too simple to me.

Send rants and raves about South Tampa traffic to Mitzi Gordon at .