Ive had many discussions with traffic engineers regarding how cyclists are treated at traffic lights. Here is a perfect illustration of why all major cities need to have at least one daily bicycle commuter on staff, to advise them on how to make lights work better for all users. Basically, the engineers argument is that since the goal of the traffic light is to keep the flow high on the main road, that the cross traffic green should only be activated when vehicles are present. In the case of bicycles, this particular light should only be activated when the cyclist pushes the pedestrian button. I have argued that programming an automatic eight second green for me to proceed, after the opposing traffic gets a green and protected arrow, is much more effective in limiting the delay of the major arterys traffic flow. This video proves my point. I must push the button. First, the pedestrian walk signal causes the major road traffic to wait 30 seconds for no reason at all. Next, I get a green, but the green is much longer than I need; another 30 seconds. In fact, the reason I ran this video for this long was to show how long that light remained green. It remained green longer than I could see in my mirror; longer than 30 seconds. So, the decision of traffic engineers to improve traffic flow, by not programming a short green for me after the cars on the opposite side get their green, forcing everyone to wait a full minute for me to cross, when I only need eight seconds, is an extremely inefficient way of handling traffic. I am available for consultation, city engineers. https://youtube/watch?v=FldkXBC8GjA&list=UUofHXn2t_kSVPiLEuZODOVA
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 14:44:29 +0000