Stop Light Shananigans

I'm a delivery driver for a restaurant and have noticed a disturbing trend. In addition to a greatly increased law-enforcement presence, traffic lights in my area are no longer in synch. When my endeavors take me downtown, on Main Street every intersection is met with a red light - without exception - every single time. This is very frustrating and also very costly in terms of gas and time consumption.

I have found that, no matter which route I take, it simply makes no difference. The duration of the red lights is also much longer than in the past... even in the wee hours of the morning. As a result, my deliveries take an average of five minutes longer ..... and my gas mileage has decreased while gas prices continue to increase.

Somebody give me some props - I can't be the Lone Ranger on this front.

Yeah, I know how you feel.

But most of the traffic lights run on timers, so maybe it's just bad timing?

And is there more traffic in your area latley? Maybe that could be why the red lights last longer.

Not all traffic light robots run on timers.... I've been out walking many times and seen the back end of those large silver control boxes at every corner.

A few are on timers, some are on senors that count masses of metal that go over loops and then switch, some are controlled by remote.

Believe that Big Brother can not only change the flow remotely but also see you in your car as close up as they want. Essentially reading the expression on your face as you wait at the light.

Orwell was off by 20 years......

I totally agree, TheExamainer. Often times, especially after midnight, I get the feeling that someone is manually controlling some of the traffic lights. Other times it's obvious (i.e. there is a huge delay after one light turns red, until the intersecting light turns green.... this interval should remain constant).

I also find it most intriguing that police and emergency vehicles seldom have to wait for any considerable length of time at any light. When I see a cop ahead of me, that's the only time I go through more than one or two consecutive green lights.

This may seem like small fries to some, but the potential economic impact of such a scheme is mind boggling. The city I live in has about 175,000 legal citizens, and roughly 50,000 illegal immigrants. When you consider the high number of auto accidents involving hispanics, there is NEVER a dull intersection.

Sorry for brinning up such and old topic.

I have noticed this too. I feel it is for the tax money though. Every day when I go out I see long lines of cars sitting at red lights, while the green side has nobody. As soon as cars start coming to the green side, it changes to red and they pile up. The lights never seem a timing to them. So either someone is watching or the sensors are set to back up traffic. Alot of wasted gas equals alot of tax money!

This article was writen two years ago, so imagine the value today!

"How much money does your state stand to lose if all the lights worked efficiently? Hard to say. But Portland, Oregon, recently re-timed its lights (in that case, to match bike traffic), a move that is calculated to save motorists 1,750,000 gallons of fuel a year. The effort cost a little over $500,000 to implement.

In Oregon, the tax on a gallon of standard gas is 43.4¢, only 18.4¢ of which is federal excise tax; the rest goes to state (24¢) plus county and city. Multiply that 25¢ in local taxes by the number of gallons saved, and municipal authorities, the guys who program the lights, are raking in $437,500 less a year on gas taxes. And that's just in Oregon."

www.dailyfinance.com...

Originally posted by TheExaminer
Not all traffic light robots run on timers.... I've been out walking many times and seen the back end of those large silver control boxes at every corner.

A few are on timers, some are on senors that count masses of metal that go over loops and then switch, some are controlled by remote.

Believe that Big Brother can not only change the flow remotely but also see you in your car as close up as they want. Essentially reading the expression on your face as you wait at the light.

Orwell was off by 20 years......

Most of ours are triggered by sensors and they adjust the amount of time they stay green. I have on certain occasions seen them being operated manually by personnel at the intersection. I see a lot with a small parabolic antenna lately that I am curious about. A lot also have an antenna like the little ones on the storm/tornado sirens used to operate them remotely

Without getting out of my vehicle or looking too hard, I was able to see 17 cameras on/near stoplights or within 100' at one local intersection. Those were the ones I could see easily. Now they are going up on poles in the median and along the sides of the roads.

Perhaps Orwell was "spot on" and they are just getting so cocky with this stuff now
that some people are finally beginning to notice,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,