South Carolina, Columbia - Traffic Lights - Y2k bandaid encapsulates the system

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Does anyone have a full copy of this archived news brief or an incident update?

Friday, December 31, 1999

Engineers in Columbia, S.C., have set back the clock in the computer that controls this city's traffic lights, hoping to head off a potential Y2K problem. The computer, which controls more than 200 lights, is not Y2K compliant and could not be replaced before the new year.

"It would cost more than it's worth to update," traffic engineer David Brewer said.

"The city was planning to upgrade the computer anyway, but it hasn't got to that yet."

So instead, engineers set the computer's calendar back 28 years.

Source: Home Edition ID: 0990119304; Business Section, Associated Press; 141 words.

(Payment was required for entire article. I didn't make note of the Url)

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On December 30, 1999, our top U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater warned that some traffic signals and other systems could fail during the rollover date....

``I want to emphasize that not every transportation system in the nation has been fixed, and that even some of those that have been fixed and tested may still experience breakdowns or glitches,'' Transpiration Secretary Rodney Slater said.

(Note: Should read "Transportation Secretary." Article written by Jim Wolf 12/30/99, Washington, Reuters news, article has been removed. Header: "Y2K Could Trip Up Some U.S. Traffic Lights-Slater" 04:04 p.m Eastern, http://www.go.com/Content?arn=a2761reuff-19991230&qt=traffic+and+lights&sv=IS&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486)

-- Lee Maloney (leemaloney@hotmail.com), February 08, 2000


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