Here and There

Some things just bug me.

I’ve been working in downtown Oakland lately, in an office building three blocks from BART. After a couple of days, I noticed that the traffic lights were timed just perfectly so that as I approached each of the three intersections, I’d have a green light. That non-euphoric happiness would soon be dashed, however, as each and every light changed yellow, then red, just soon enough so that I would no longer be able to afford a crossing.

And, to make matters even more aggravating, this engineering masterpiece repeats itself when I walk back to BART.

Now, I have to imagine some pretty well-qualified individuals are involved in designing and maintaining traffic lights. So why can’t these good folks get together and time the lights so there’s at least some semblance of coordination? It’s got to be equally as frustrating to drivers as it is to peds like me.

New York City, on the other hand, does it right. I’m sure many other places do, too. That’s not to say pedestrians amble up the avenues uninterrupted by pesky traffic signals always changing on them. But, well, here:

Okay, they’re not the best examples, but if you look closely, notice there’s about four or five consecutive blocks whose traffic signals are one color. Then four or five more of another color.

Even in San Francisco, on a thoroughfare such as Valencia Street, the timing is all over the place. I’ve tried over the years to determine exactly what the system is, but I end up with the same answer: no system.

Coordination. That’s all I’m asking for.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.