This morning I had one of those moments when I really wanted to call into the local morning talk radio show. I didn’t catch the entire topic, but in the car on the way to work, they were talking about local traffic. The host tried to make the case that since it is extremely rare to sit at the same stoplight through more than two cycles, traffic is good in this town. Well, I agree that it’s nice to not have to sit through several cycles at the same light, but there’s more to it than how long you sit at a single light. Some of my hang-up with local traffic is simply Murphy’s Law, but much of it is poor design. When I say Murphy’s Law, I mean that often times I come to a light to make a left turn and have to sit through the light what seems like extra long to me. Most cities time the lights so that when you get a left arrow, the direction coming at you will get a green arrow too. Here, when you get a green arrow, the guy parked next to you waiting to go straight gets a green light too. Then the turning light turns red and the direction coming toward you gets a green. At the end of the cycle, their turn light turns green. Because I am a consistent victim of Murphy’s Law, I am always the guy waiting until the end of the cycle to get the green arrow, instead of getting it at the beginning. It doesn’t matter which direction I’m going either, this happens when going different directions through the same intersection.
I should have been a traffic engineer. I think I can do a much better job. I say during busy times, the lights should be timed so that when you hit a light that’s green while traveling near the speed limit, you should get subsequent lights green too, especially on the main drag. You should never get stuck at every 2nd light with a red. During light traffic times, like the middle of the night, the sensors in the pavement should change the light almost immediately when you’re at a red with no cross traffic.
end rant.