HIGHWAYS: The Light That Never Fails

Of all the jerkwater traffic traps set to catch and fleece U.S. motorists, the most wondrously efficient was a fast-flicking traffic light in southeast Georgia's tiny (pop. 2,100) Ludowici.* The Ludowici light, which has brought the American Automobile Association more complaints than any other light in the U.S., hangs astride the intersection of two heavily traveled highways: State 38 to Savannah and a combined U.S. 25 and U.S. 301, which funnels thousands of vacationers from the East and Midwest toward Florida. For traffic on U.S. 25-301 (which makes a 90° turn), the light has been known to flick from red...