Traffic Light Thoughts
Sep. 30th, 2012 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
danalwynIt occurs to me that there's a much better way to have traffic lights along major arterial streets. Really they need three modes - green, yellow, and blinking red.
If you think about it, either traffic along major roads should be flowing smoothly (when there's not much traffic in the perpendicular directions), or it should be doing its best to ensure everyone goes where they want to go. If there's no cross traffic, the light should just be green. When there is, it should just switch over to stop sign mode and let drivers alternate in the order in which they get to the starting line. It will avoid the problem of having to wait at stoplights while nobody is going in the other direction and the road is clear. Why not just have drivers proceed in a queue through the intersection at that time.
It won't work on big intersections between two large streets, but it seems that when you have one very large street and one much smaller this is probably the best way to handle the mess that our current system leaves.
Or at least not leave me so frustrated while sitting at stoplights with no other traffic.
If you think about it, either traffic along major roads should be flowing smoothly (when there's not much traffic in the perpendicular directions), or it should be doing its best to ensure everyone goes where they want to go. If there's no cross traffic, the light should just be green. When there is, it should just switch over to stop sign mode and let drivers alternate in the order in which they get to the starting line. It will avoid the problem of having to wait at stoplights while nobody is going in the other direction and the road is clear. Why not just have drivers proceed in a queue through the intersection at that time.
It won't work on big intersections between two large streets, but it seems that when you have one very large street and one much smaller this is probably the best way to handle the mess that our current system leaves.
Or at least not leave me so frustrated while sitting at stoplights with no other traffic.