Power still is out in a lot of towns throughout the region, meaning traffic signals are dark at many busy intersections.

I asked Norwich Deputy Police Chief Warren Mocek for the rule on how to treat intersections where the traffic signals are not working. He looked it up and called back. Apparently state law is not as clear as it should be. The law specifically says when two cars approach an intersection at the same time, the car on the right has the right of way.

But the state Department of Motor Vehicles driver training manual DOES say to treat a darkened traffic signal as a four-way stop sign.

Four-lane West Main Street-Route 82 in Norwich and Route 32 in Quaker Hill, New London and Norwich have several signaled intersections with side streets where the red lights aren't working.

Common sense, Mocek said, is that drivers should slow down or even stop at those dead lights for safety, as the driver training manual says.

I drove around a lot in the aftermath of the storm starting at about 3:30 Sunday afternoon. I went through Norwich and Montville mostly that day, stopping at every dark traffic signal. On Route 32 northbound, from Montville into Norwich, other cars whizzed past me on the left and on the right. Some cars behind me honked every time I stopped to try to let a car at a side street get out.

The drivers trying to get onto main roads from the side streets couldn't budge without risking their lives. I did see two accidents at darkened intersections this week, both on Route 32 in New London. One of those intersections even had a large portable STOP sign placed in the intersection beneath the red light. Guess it didn't work.

So please, slow down at least, and if you see a car trying to get out from a side street, be considerate and stop.

Mocek brought up another common sense issue that IS state law.

"Most people are absolutely unaware of the common sense move of turning on their headlights in bad weather," Mocek said. "I can't tell you how many people I saw driving around without headlights on during the hurricane."