Red light, green light, go?

The photo was taken this morning at the corner of Melrose Avenue and Crescent Heights Boulevard in Los Angeles. The contributor said that fellow motorists were a bit bewildered, but most of them stopped to see what everyone else would do -- as it's not everyday that you get a red light and green light at the same time.

The problem? The light shorted out and went into default mode -- flashing red -- while also continuing to cycle through green lights, said city transportation officials, adding that it's very rare to get a red and green simultaneously.

"The problem we determined was the older control box housing, which allowed some water to get inside. We've fixed it, but will replace the whole controller box with a new one," wrote Bruce Gillman, spokesman for the city's Transportation Department, in an e-mail.

--Steve Hymon

Paying respects to the Yukon's Sign Post Forest

I recently drove 4,400 miles from Long Beach to Alaska to help a friend move, with all his worldly possessions, to a new job in the Last Frontier. Along the way, the one place my friend insisted on stopping was Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory to see the infamous Sign Post Forest.

The forest is a collection of more than 60,000 signs from places around the world -- including some from as far as the Czech Republic and Berlin. Click on the photos to see larger images.

Check out Ridgecrest, which enjoys a prominent spot in the above photo. In the lower photo, Placerville -- the town on U.S. 50 on the way to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento -- is well displayed.

Most of the signs come from Alaskan Highway motorists, who at the forest deposit signs from their town of origin, often with names, dates, and intended destinations. Other traffic-related signs are yield and left turn signs, as well as license plates and handcrafted signs, including elaborate woodwork and those made from discarded items such as pie tins, hubcaps and moose antlers.

-- Lauren A. Williams

photos: Lauren A. Williams / LAT

Smokey targets Beirut drivers!

Trolling for international traffic pics brought me to the doorstep of this wonderful pic from Beirut that vividly shows how some things are universal.

The photo caption from AFP/Getty Images says:

A Lebanese driver argues with a traffic policeman as he issues the former a driving infraction ticket in Beirut on October 13, 2008. Something of a revolution is taking place on Lebanon's notoriously dangerous roads. Drivers are beginning to stop at red lights, to wear seat belts and no longer have their cell phones glued to their ears. All thanks to a crackdown ordered by the country's new no-holds-barred Interior Minister Ziad Baroud who has unleashed a small army of traffic cops to impose law and order in a country where rules appear made to be broken.

I again beg any international readers out there to send over some traffic photos for the blog. My email is below. Same goes for domestic readers -- if you see something curious, don't be shy.

--Steve Hymon

photo: Ramzi Haidar / AFP/Getty Images

Welcome to Beirut

No, it's not Wilshire Boulevard. It's an unidentified street in Beirut, Lebanon, clogged with traffic during a rainstorm on Wednesday. Nice landscaped median, however. --Steve Hymon

photo: Ahmad Omar / AP

Jockeys block traffic in Italy

Ticked off jockeys unhappy with their pay blocked a highway entering Naples, Italy, for about an hour on Monday. This just reinforces my view that if traffic is going to be blocked, it may as well be for something original. --Steve Hymon

photo: Roberto Salomone / AFP

Always yield to elephants

I found this pic while trolling the wires looking for international traffic photos, as I like to do. Yes, this is how the Road Sage unwinds.

The photo, taken by Getty Images photographer Paula Bronstein, included the following caption info:

A mahout (elephant driver) sits on an adult elephant in the red light district of Nana waiting for business September 26, 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. While the elephant is a symbol of Thailand, it is a fairly common site to see the unemployed and homeless animals roaming the city streets begging for food. The tame elephants dodge the traffic as their mahouts (elephant drivers) sell sugar cane by the bag to tourists who then feed them. Mahouts say that they have little choice but to bring their elephants to cities like Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

Thai officials frown upon the practice and have passed laws banning elephants from roadways, but the mahouts still come risking fines in order to survive. Elephants have been big business for the country for centuries but now they are reduced to a major tourist attraction. Elephants are trained to paint, play musical instruments, and even kick soccer balls. In addition there are elephant camps dotted all over Thailand catering to tourists employing up to 650 pachyderms, according to government figures.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand says that about 65 percent of tourists will visit an elephant during their stay. Until Thailand banned logging in 1989, many Asian elephants were laborers working in the jungles.

So, now you know.

--Steve Hymon

photo: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images