So I'm cruising along on my way to the office looking toward the horizon in nervous anticipation. I see the red hand blinking at the next intersection. Can I make it? 100 more feet and I'm in the yellow-go-zone. I gently press down on the accelerator. 60 feet....40.... and...Solid red hand, light turns yellow and my lemon yellow Skylark comes to rest just shy the thick white line. I look left. I look right. No cars coming. 120 seconds later, there are 14 cars lined up behind me and not a single car has crossed through this intersection. The light turns green and I curse under my breath as both time and energy are wasted for no reason.
This ritual has been going on at the very same intersection for the past four years. And in those four years, I can count the number of times another vehicle has passed through the intersection on one hand. Every morning I think to myself, "Maybe they opened my letter last night and realized just how foolish this traffic light is." But each morning I'm yet again disappointed like a Cubs fan in October. So why do we put up with such waste? How much fuel is burned unnecessarily while sitting at these ghost lights? How much carbon is emitted into our atmosphere while we sit idling?
Recently, after hitting a series of six meaningless red lights in a row, I started to research the impact of better timed and dynamically controlled traffic signals. It won't surprise you that there is some serious money to be saved, and green house gas reduction to be realized by timing our traffic signals.
The EPA estimates that over 3 billion pounds of air pollutants are released by automobiles each year. According to a study conducted by the National Transportation Operations Coalition, there is an opportunity to reduce these emissions by 22% through effective signal timing. Other benefits include traffic delay reductions of 15-40%, reduction in travel times of up to 25%, reductions in fuel consumption of up to 10% and an 18% reduction in exposure to radio ads for Viagra and monster truck rallies.
We could save time, money and reduce pollution. Wow. What a crazy notion. To put this into perspective each driver could save $200 in gas, and spend 100 fewer hours commuting each year. That's four days of you life that you could be spending with your family, volunteering or updating your Facebook page.
Some cities have looked into this, but they believe that updating traffic signals will be cost prohibitive. San Francisco estimated an outlay of $270,000 per intersection. Seems a little steep, personally. For $270,000 you could hire a traffic cop for seven years. And given California's economic situation, they should probably hold on to that $270,000 per intersection.
Other efforts to tackle the wasted energy of idling autos are starting to spring up in the meantime. Burger King is installing kinetic generators at some drive through restaurants in New Jersey. The purpose is to convert the energy of idling cars waiting at their drive through into electricity. Kudos for thinking outside the bun, but if you really want to become eco-friendly, try serving healthier food. After eating fast food, I'm the one emitting green house gases.
Maybe if fast food restaurants weren't contributing to the obesity problem, people would actually have more energy to walk instead of drive. Try cutting 600 calories from the triple bacon cheddar stuffed deluxe with a side of mondo fries if you really care about the environment. But this is a topic for another day.
So all this stimulus money is sitting there waiting to be spent. Eco-friendly ideas are strongly encouraged. We're trying to become better stewards of our planet. Global warming has caused my father to start wearing shorts again. And yet we sit idling at red lights while tumbleweed rolls by. We can fix this. And I'm guessing someone can make our traffic lights green for less than $270k per intersection. Next time I'm sitting at a traffic light, I'll give it more thought.
This ritual has been going on at the very same intersection for the past four years. And in those four years, I can count the number of times another vehicle has passed through the intersection on one hand. Every morning I think to myself, "Maybe they opened my letter last night and realized just how foolish this traffic light is." But each morning I'm yet again disappointed like a Cubs fan in October. So why do we put up with such waste? How much fuel is burned unnecessarily while sitting at these ghost lights? How much carbon is emitted into our atmosphere while we sit idling?
Recently, after hitting a series of six meaningless red lights in a row, I started to research the impact of better timed and dynamically controlled traffic signals. It won't surprise you that there is some serious money to be saved, and green house gas reduction to be realized by timing our traffic signals.
The EPA estimates that over 3 billion pounds of air pollutants are released by automobiles each year. According to a study conducted by the National Transportation Operations Coalition, there is an opportunity to reduce these emissions by 22% through effective signal timing. Other benefits include traffic delay reductions of 15-40%, reduction in travel times of up to 25%, reductions in fuel consumption of up to 10% and an 18% reduction in exposure to radio ads for Viagra and monster truck rallies.
We could save time, money and reduce pollution. Wow. What a crazy notion. To put this into perspective each driver could save $200 in gas, and spend 100 fewer hours commuting each year. That's four days of you life that you could be spending with your family, volunteering or updating your Facebook page.
Some cities have looked into this, but they believe that updating traffic signals will be cost prohibitive. San Francisco estimated an outlay of $270,000 per intersection. Seems a little steep, personally. For $270,000 you could hire a traffic cop for seven years. And given California's economic situation, they should probably hold on to that $270,000 per intersection.
Other efforts to tackle the wasted energy of idling autos are starting to spring up in the meantime. Burger King is installing kinetic generators at some drive through restaurants in New Jersey. The purpose is to convert the energy of idling cars waiting at their drive through into electricity. Kudos for thinking outside the bun, but if you really want to become eco-friendly, try serving healthier food. After eating fast food, I'm the one emitting green house gases.
Maybe if fast food restaurants weren't contributing to the obesity problem, people would actually have more energy to walk instead of drive. Try cutting 600 calories from the triple bacon cheddar stuffed deluxe with a side of mondo fries if you really care about the environment. But this is a topic for another day.
So all this stimulus money is sitting there waiting to be spent. Eco-friendly ideas are strongly encouraged. We're trying to become better stewards of our planet. Global warming has caused my father to start wearing shorts again. And yet we sit idling at red lights while tumbleweed rolls by. We can fix this. And I'm guessing someone can make our traffic lights green for less than $270k per intersection. Next time I'm sitting at a traffic light, I'll give it more thought.
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