The mechanical police officer is not doing his job

The mechanical police officer isn't doing his job. The traffic light, following Latour's ideas about non-human actors standing in for humans, is meant to be a mechanical police officer. It directs traffic, letting motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and other road users know when they may proceed and how. There is a particular mechanical police officer who is not doing his job adequately. He sits at a tricky intersection. This intersection has a new rule: in a city where right-hand turns are mostly allowable during red lights, this intersection prohibits them. To inform road users of the different rule, there is a sign. It is one of many at that particular crossing. It shows a symbol for a right-hand turn, crossed out with a red strike through a circle. Below, it shows a traffic light, with only the red circle filled in. Together, the two symbols are meant to show that a right-hand turn on a red signal is not allowed. The sign is an assistant to the mechanical police officer. But the two actors, together, are not enough to change habitual behaviour. Motorists still turn right during the red light, occasionally shaking their heads and gesturing in disbelief towards the row of stopped cars, each with turn signal flashing, but no one making its turn. So the mechanical police officer and his assistant, for now, are not doing their jobs fully. They try, but remain either unnoticed or ignored.