Another stoplight idea for a Santa Clara intersection

QHow does one go about getting a red-light camera installed at San Tomas Expressway and Pruneridge Avenue in Santa Clara? Every morning as I head down San Tomas toward Stevens Creek Boulevard, behicles coming from the left on Pruneridge runs the red light. One morning five cars went through our green light. — Michelle Edwards

AThere are no redlight cameras in Santa Clara County and no plans to install them. However, there is a “rat box.”

A what?

There are several dozen of these devices in the South Bay attached to traffic lights that enable police to monitor lights from the opposite side of the direction they are facing and more quickly pursue offenders. The name “rat boxes” derived from its original design which was a box with a wire that protruded like a rat’s tail. Rat boxes can cost $125 to $150 and installation takes only a few hours whereas traffic cameras can cost anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000 per direction.

QI have a weird question that only you may know the answer. During my regular 5:30 a.m. walk, I was approaching a busy street (two lanes each way, divider in the middle, speed limit 50 mph) from my neighborhood which has quite a bit of open land, when suddenly a full-grown deer with antlers bounded from the bushes to cross the street. There happened to be a car traveling right into his trajectory, and the deer barely scooted past, disappearing into bushes on the other side.

I stopped in my tracks, hand to mouth and uttered a scream, anticipating a collision which thankfully did not happen. If they had collided, the poor deer would have been injured, if not killed.

Would this have warranted a call to 911? — Jennifer Spoon, San Ramon

ANo. Those calls are for emergencies only and with the deer gone, there was not much police could do. However, if you were worried that the deer still posed a risk and called 911, tell the dispatcher this is a nonemergency and you would have been transferred.

QWhere can I report malfunctioning light rail sensors? Every night around 9 p.m. when I am in line to turn left from Capitol Avenue to Penitencia Creek going east, the light rail sign comes on indicating that a train is coming, and the left-turn arrow is red.

But there is no train in sight. After two or three minutes, the sign goes off and the light turns green. Clearly, something is broken. Some drivers go through the red light and others sit there wondering what to do. Some pull out of the left-turn lane, go around the driver at the head of the line, and turn left anyway. — Diane Gaskill

ANot good. Call the VTA’s customer service folks at 408-321-2300 or email customer.service@vta.org.