Posted on 11/13/2009 6:59:00 AM PST by Scythian
Creeping along from red light to red light on your way from a major sports event or concert, or stopped by every red light on the way home late at night, on empty roads, you've probably wondered why traffic lights in the U.S. aren't a little more adaptable.
The short answer: they're not at all smart, and at least here in the U.S. they're horribly outdated. The typical U.S. traffic signaling system is (sorry, fellow GenXers) 30 to 40 years old. And the result of these inflexible geezers signaling traffic is a lot of needless idling and the lack of easy adaptability in most cases to either sudden events like traffic accidents or even daily events like traffic congestion in a certain direction at a particular time.
Vehicle miles traveled have grown in recent years 15 percent faster than our country's roadway network itself. And congestion keeps getting worse, leading to increased fuel consumption and increased emissions—plus growing economic consequences.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This is why we Americans drive the best vehicles in the world, but don't pay any mind to what it is we drive them on. As one astute observer once pointed out to me, the real problem is that we're willing to pay our auto mechanics far more money to maintain and repair our cars than we're willing to pay the engineers who design our highways and bridges.
And don’t forget to fully inflate your tires. [/s]
I’ll tell you what else would save time and energy—if the first guy in line at a stop light wouldn’t wait 5 or 6 seconds before taking off after the light turns green!
Maybe I’m dense, but if highway MPG is only slightly better then city MPG, how do smart traffic lights double fuel efficiency? BTW, I think this is a good idea, just don’t buy the claim.
We don't do that either. Ergo the bankruptcy of Crysler and GM.
The truth is people vote in new taxes every time they are on the ballot(referring to infrastructure type taxes)because they want, and care about, good roads, and time and again those taxes(in most states)are diverted to uses other than those they were intended for. A prime example of big government gone wild.
Politicians are the ones to blame along with the greenies who make it almost impossible to build new roads or upgrade traffic light systems. Next time your city council votes in new "traffic cameras" instead of opting for fixing roads or improving the light system itself, vote the idiots out, start a campaign, make your neighbors aware of what is happening. That's what I do, and some day it may even have an effect and it would if more people did it.
If we want to go around acting like we are better than everyone else in the world, then maybe we should start actually trying to be better than everyone else.
The truth is people vote in new taxes every time they are on the ballot(referring to infrastructure type taxes)because they want, and care about, good roads, and time and again those taxes(in most states)are diverted to uses other than those they were intended for. A prime example of big government gone wild.
Politicians are the ones to blame along with the greenies who make it almost impossible to build new roads or upgrade traffic light systems. Next time your city council votes in new "traffic cameras" instead of opting for fixing roads or improving the light system itself, vote the idiots out, start a campaign, make your neighbors aware of what is happening. That's what I do, and some day it may even have an effect and it would if more people did it.
Nailed it!
Traffic light timing is so idiotic where I live, I sometimes wonder if it’s deliberate. If people burn more gas stopping/starting/waiting at lights, they pay more gas tax.
Okay. So, Obama is looking for "shovel ready" jobs. He wants to fund construction. He provides hundreds of billions of dollars of funding to "stimulate" the economy and provide jobs.
Guess what? A local TV station just did a story on the percentage of bridges and tunnels in the state that are is desperate need of repair. They'd like to fix these things but you know, in today's economic climate, where will the money come from???????
It's all a scam. I don't know where the money goes, but it never goes to where they claim it will go.
There is a new traffic light on a new stretch of road I drove to work until I moved last month. It was a major thoroughfare with a side street entering from only one side, and there was almost NO traffic coming from the side.
It acted like when you hit the sensor on the main road it would turn the light red for you, even when there were no cars on the other road. The last straw was when I was driving by at 3:00 am and as I approached the light, as I passed the sensor it changed on me (I had to stop). It was so overt that I assumed it was a cop manually doing it to get people to run it and get pulled over.
On many occasions, during rush hour, you would see people simply ignoring it.
It was not 40 years old.
I have a Murphy’s Law thing when it comes to traffic lights.
They see me coming. I anticipate stopping at every light. I don’t mean halfway through the redlight cycle, I mean the whole thing. I get up there the second it turns red.
I have gone as far as to contemplate whether or not its possible that someone has sabotaged my truck and fitted it with some type of devise that triggers redlights 200yards before I get to them.
My friends are amazed and have started not to ride with me anymore. What have I done? Is God toying with me?
Same goes with commercials on TV. I sit down the very second the commercials start. I change channels and every single channel has commercials. If I get up and go away for awhile, when I come back, the commercials have just started. I can effectively sit and watch TV for one hour and never see a single program. The commercials are just beginning EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Sometimes I look up at heaven and say “Don’t you have anything better to do?!”
>>Okay. So, Obama is looking for “shovel ready” jobs. He wants to fund construction<<
Hitler was looking for shovel ready jobs. He found them in the autobahn.
...and every car wait until the car in front of them is 50 yards ahead before they decide to go. GRRRRRRRRR!
About 100-200 feet passed every light there should be a marker, and during rush hours and/or other busy times, any car that has not accelerated to a reasonable speed (depending on the type of road) by the time they pass that marker should get a ticket with a big fine for holding up traffic.
Double if they are in a left lane.
But the lights are smart enough to take your picture and send you a ticket if you run a red one.
That is precisely it. You, as an individual, might see slight improvements to MPG and save a few bucks. You, multiplied by million of drivers, results in lost taxes to the almighty state. And the criminal politicans simply will not stand for that.
>>Traffic light timing is so idiotic where I live, I sometimes wonder if it’s deliberate. If people burn more gas stopping/starting/waiting at lights, they pay more gas tax.<<
In many places I firmly believe it is deliberate. They are used to discourage people to use “short cuts”. Stop signs are too. They are notorious on Lake Washington blvd in Renton and other places. Without the stop signs, people would bypass the freeway on these residential streets.
And I was on Dearborne in Seattle on Sunday trying to get away from the Seahawks game and went through about 6 lights on my way to Rainier avenue, where I could get a clear on-ramp to the freeway. Every single light was timed so that as I left one, just as I approached the other (even going five over), it would turn red. I finally gunned it at the fourth light and had to do about 12 over to barely make the next light before it turned red, and then barely made it through the next light and I was home free. I watched in my mirror as those I had been with dutifully pulled to the next light and stopped.
I would bet money it was intentional. They are not “bad”, they are just trying to improve traffic control. ;)
I have identified at least two places in Seattle where the signs intentionally missdirect traffic. One is in downtown on 5th avenue. There is a left turn that puts you right on a freeway entrance. But just before that turn, there is a sign directing you to go straight and then another sign a few blocks up telling you to take a left to get on another exit. It spreads out the traffic. Those that work downtown know about the first one and those that don’t use the other one, evening out the traffic.
I was in Factoria on my way to the freeway and saw the same thing. Difference is that this one took you way out of the way. I was at a four way stop where, if you go straight, you go a few blocks, take a right, go another couple of blocks and you are on the freeway. At that very intersection there is a sign telling you to take a left to get to the freeway. If you obey the sign, you take a left, go about five blocks, take a right, go about 10 blocks, take a right, go about 7 blocks where you meet up with the people that went straight in the first place and are just making their right.
It is quite intentional since if you go straight you go by the Newport High school athletic fields. They want few people on that road.
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