Been Stopped Too Long

Anyone who lives in a town with at least 2 stop lights may get this. I believe the individual responsible for stop light timing is called a traffic engineer (I am guessing).

The job description might go something like this: Individual responsible for adjusting traffic signals in such away as to expedite street traffic in a safe and timely manner.

The point. My town and one or two others I have been through haven’t a glue about timely traffic flow and a 2 - 5 minute wait is not unusual. What is so disconcerting is there may or may not be any traffic.

I had been under the impression that the traffic lights had built-in sensors to adjust to traffic flow accordingly. I obviously have been misinformed.

Sitting at a traffic light at 11:00 p.m. for several eternities is rather foolish, wasteful (gas), environmentally harmful and just plane dumb. I applaud those Engineers whom have the foresight to have programmed their systems to flashing red or yellow lights at times when traffic is not an issue.

It should be a standard policy everywhere possible. At those places where long waits must take place, perhaps a sign estimating the amount of time over 1 minute you will have to wait; at least you‘ll have the option of turning off the engine of your vehicle to be carbon smart.

After 45 years plus of driving, I would be interested in knowing how much of my life has been spent waiting for the green. If any of you can do the math, please drop me a line.

What's a minute? To me it's that the waiting is the waste as mentioned earlier.  How many accidents have occured because someone, (and there always seems to be) is in a hurry? No its about safety in an era when everything has to done yesterday, and the planet needs to find smaller carbon prints.

Well, that’s it for this pet peeve. May the gods of traffic be with you. Long live the LCDs‘.