Temporary Traffic Lights in Methven Celebrate Third Anniversary; Granted Permanent Residency
Lights 'now part of the community', run a book club and stay on red for 'about the length of a chapter'.
Temporary traffic lights, which in Perthshire is a legal term meaning 'forever'. Photo: Jonathan Hutchins, “Audley, temporary traffic lights at roadworks - geograph.org.uk - 4261161”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
METHVEN — A set of temporary traffic lights has celebrated three years on the same stretch of road outside Methven and has been formally granted permanent residency by a grateful village.
“They came for a two-week drainage job in 2023,” said a resident. “The drainage got done. The lights just stayed. Nobody had the heart to ask them to go.”
Villagers have since knitted the lights a little hat and invited them to the gala. The lights are said to have strong opinions: they stay red for four minutes, turn green for six seconds, and are rumoured to recognise certain cars.
“They don’t like my Corsa,” said a local mum. “I’ve apologised to them twice.”
A council spokesperson said the lights would be removed “in due course”, a phrase the village has had engraved on a commemorative bench.
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
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They’re OUR lights. We knitted them a hat. Hands off.
— Sheila R., Methven, 21 October 2026 -
They took four minutes to change for me last week. I finished an audiobook.
— Dougie P., Almondbank, 21 October 2026 -
@Dougie they don’t like Almondbank cars. Nothing personal.
— Sheila R., Methven, 22 October 2026 -
They're OUR lights. We knitted them a hat. Hands off.
— Sheila R., Methven, 27 October 2026 -
@Dougie they don't like Almondbank cars. Nothing personal.
— Sheila R., Methven, 27 October 2026
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