Commuting - How many blasted traffic lights?

On a previous thread I asked what BikeForumites thought of running (or, more accurately, "jumping") red lights. Lots of good commentary ensued. ;)

Along the way I realized that I never actually counted the traffic signals and stop signs along my commuting route. Today I did just that.

I counted 51 traffic signals and stop signs along the way. Had I not taken an alternative hill-climbing route I would probably add 4 or 5 more lights. This is on a 20-mile one-way commute.

This is also 2.5x the number of signals/signs I thought I had along my route. Today on my commute in I swear I "hit" 70% of them !! Although I did manage to catch a green on two of the longest lights (where I almost invariably get snared), the others seemed to be stacked against me. Worse, I caught them when they just turned red. It's no surprise then that my commute in was about 12 minutes longer than normal.

How is your commute, red light-wise?

THe number of lighs on my 20 mile commute is not two bad, but there is this one pair that is extremely annoying. I make a left at the first (with traffic) then it goes down about a steep hill to another light which is ALWAYS timed against it! So I avoided going down that hill all together...:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Spire
... a steep hill to another light which is ALWAYS timed against it! ...
I have the same thing occur on a downhill after a pretty significant uphill climb. I climb up the hill and head down, and only then do I see the *&#$%*&#% red light. Always red, it seems. Or, I'll start zooming down the hill and the light will turn red. Never seems to fail !!!

I'll have to count, but I think it's in the mid teens.

If I followed the road I'd have 7 sets of traffic lights in the first mile of my commute, but at 6.20 am there's nobody walking around so I use the pavement, and go the opposite way to the traffic to miss them all, after those 7 sets of lights it's signal free all the way so I rejoin the road.

On the way home because of pedestrians I use the road all the way home but strangely there's only four set's of lights on the way home.

don't ask me to explain how but it's true.

Depending on the timing of the lights and how well I can see things like the opposing traffic and pedestrian signal states, I am sometimes able to stop at the top of the hill when I know or think it's likely that the light at the bottom is about to turn red. Then I can zoom down the hill with the green.

I laugh to realize that most cars must have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

Maybe this would work for you in some situations. :)


-nathan, seattle

My route is only 6 miles and I take as many back roads as possible, so the grand total of lights on my trip is five! And 3 of them are in a cluster at the interstate.

Over 14 miles, joining 4 towns/cities, 29 traffic lights, give or take a few depending on variations in my route.

I never would have believed it until I counted them up. 18 on the way to work - 19 on the way home. All that in a round trip of just 27 kilometres.

For my daily round trip of 47km, I think it would probably be somewhere between 10-15. I can't be totally sure of this because I've never actually counted them, nor do I plan to.

Wow, you folks are putting in great distances compared to me :) My commute is under 3 miles inbound, a little more on the way back. Inbound... *thinks* ...7 traffic lights and one stop sign. Homebound... depends on the route I take.

Welcome to Nathan, by the way :)

Depending on which route I take (12 - 14 miles) between one and four sets of lights. Two of the routes do have about five roundabouts (rotaries) though.

On my 13 miles 6 sets

Over a ten mile (16 km) round trip, I counted 40. This includes "yield" signs where I almost always stop, stop signs, traffic lights, and all unsigned intersections where I normally must stop. The location is Arlington, VA, just across the river from Washington, DC.


Paul

17 in mine. More than I thought.

I carefully counted the traffic lights on my route today.

There are NONE! None at all! Muahahahaaa! ZEEEERO! The entire city of Seymour only has one traffic light, and it's at a major highway intersection that I wouldn't want to be at on a bike, and is easy enough to avoid if I happen to be on that end of town.

Sorry for gloating. I seem to be in an obnoxious mood lately.

Originally posted by Inkwolf
I carefully counted the traffic lights on my route today....
There are NONE! None at all! Muahahahaaa! ZEEEERO!
Jealous. Totally jealous. But I'll get back at you in the wintertime when the lows in San Jose will drop to -- get this -- 40 degrees!!

Forty degrees? Really? :eek:

Gee.....in March, when it goes up to 40, we run around in tee-shirts!

Okay, you got me back! I'm jealous! :cry:

:D

8.5 miles each way. One 4-way stop, two lights (right hand turn for each)

One way (24 km) East-West commute in the Northern Toronto Area (McNicol/Cummer/Drewery/Bathurst/Steeles/past HW400):

31 stop lights not including stop signs. I always stop at stop lights, slow down at stop signs unless a car has beat me to it in which case I stop.

On my 3-km route (one way), I have 11 traffic lights and 5 intersections where the cross-street has to stop.

Lights are well timed, however, and on my way to the office (a slight downhill), I hit 2 or 3 red lights, depending on the wind. On my way home, I hit 3 or 4 red lights.

Regards,

Four, but then my commute is only 3-1/2 miles one way, and two of them are right together crossing over the freeway. I only have three (counting the two freeway lights) on my way home..

Now if I could just do something about Texas heat and humidity in the summer, I'd have it made. Lucky the health club's right next door to the office! :D

I counted yesterday- the first 9 blocks have 6 traffic lights, after that, (depending on which way I go) there are only 3 or 5 traffic lights for the rest of my 15 km commute. If I go back streets, (I usually don't) there can be a 4 way stop (I slow down) every 2 blocks for the first 10 blocks, then just a few traffic lights. There must be better ways to control urban traffic!!
I have been known on occasion to "not wait" for the green light, especially at 5:30am, traffic is sparse.

We have just moved, and my new route is 38km/24miles one way (I get a lift home) and there are no lights for the first 30km, hilly country roads then about 12 sets as I reach the city.

My old route was 40km/25miles one way (I get a lift home), flat terrain, once I counted 35 sets and 3 train lines, before I lost count.

Traffic light's suck but I have never run ANY.

CHEERS.

Mark

BTW. I only ride to work 3-4 days per week.

One-way is about 6 miles with about 23 or 24 lights and stop signs (mostly lights). But the street I take into the city center has well-timed lights, so I can roll the last 7 or 8.

On my 13 mile each way commute, I have 11 traffic lights (which is more than I expected when I first thought about it). It seems like I'm able to time most of them correctly, but I seem to invariably miss the long ones.:rolleyes: All-in-all though, I'd say waiting at lights only adds 2 to 3 minutes to my commute.

Resurrecting an old thread - I counted today and there are at least 36 traffic lights on my present commute! I thought that was a big number, but Andy's first post says he has 51!
This morning's ride in was great, I didn't stop at any of the 36 traffic lights! (only about 8 or 9 were red)

My old route has 44 lights and 2 railroad crossings (one crossing is near where a train has to drop cars off so it can be a bear watching the train move back and forth for 20 minutes). My new route is three miles longer (for a total of 21 miles) but has 10 less lights so I think it likely is not that much longer timewise than my old route (not to mention shoulder room for bikes all the way now and less traffic!). I figure lights add between 10 and 20 minutes to my commute. We need a bike interstate system! Wouldn't that be cool! It could have overpasses over major intersections! Hmmmm, that would probably be about as feasible with city transportation people as a monorail now that I think about it.

Out of memory, There are 5 stop signs on my 8 mile ride. Most of my commute is done on a bike path and there are 2 more stops for pedestrians. There's one traffic light but the way it's configured, I don't have to stop, even if there is traffic.

From memory, I think there are 4 sets on my 12.5 mile route into work, and none on the homeward route! (I'm not counting the ones on the roundabouts over the A14, because I go on the pavement around them. If I did count them it's plus two sets each way.)

Ellie

Morning: 9 redlights and 10 stop signs
Afternoon: 13 redlights and 5 stop signs

Based on my current commute route. It changes all the time.

5 on my route in this morning. 10 on another route I frequently take, but I've got the timing down so I only have to stop for 4 or 5 of those.

Number of traffic lights on the 14-mile commute to school (the route I bike, anyway):

ONE.

And it's right in front of my school's entrance. Woo-hoo!
There are a few stop signs, but the commute is mostly winding country roads.

A mental count of the lights etc. on my route of 8(ish) miles includes the following:

23 traffic lights
3 roundabouts (rotaries)
1 level (railroad) crossing

At first, of course, these seem to be obstacles. What they really are is excuses.... for not beating that personal best :)

Ed

Short commute: 1 yield, 10 stop signs, 1 rotary, and 3 lights.
Long commute: 1 yield, 10 stop signs, 1 rotary, and 7 lights.
Oh, and inner peace.

11 mile one way burb to urban commute
9 stop signs, 35 signals to work
12 stop signs, 29 signal to home
I wouldn't have guessed it was that many, but as you get comfortable with the route you know what the sigs are doing and get more greens than not. There are always some that are just evil and are out to get you.

BTW: Andy, are you counting Tully, Lewis, Fehren and the Capitol lights southbound? Do you stop at those reds? Do you have to?
Steve

SBeach, are the streets you refer to the ones that form a 'T' on Monterey? Funny, I don't even know the street names. And, yes, I did include them (or at least those headed northbound that day) because, well, they're stop lights. I suppose you'd get a ticket there if you "ran" them in front of a cop.

Do I stop for them? No, but I definitely slow down to ensure that I don't get squished by a car that swings the turn a little wide.

Andy,
Yes, those "T" intersections.
This brings up a good question about which vehicle laws bikes should follow and what are the implications.
When I come to a signalled "T" intersection, from the top of the "T" direction, I used to slow a bit, scan the traffic, look for pedestrians, and if clear blow through it. I don't think there is any danger in that. Even though I believe it is technically a violation of the law, even a cop would think it is OK.
The problem is two fold. The drivers witnessing it may have their feelings that cyclists don't obey traffic laws reinforced. And/or if I do plan on stopping at one of these signals and the cyclist behind has no intention of stopping we have a possible cyclist/cyclist crash.
This is probably a very rare circumstance. As you know there just are not that many cyclists and these types of intersections where this would be a problem. But I've been there. I've been reading articles about how it is very important for cyclist the follow all vehicle laws for cyclists to be taken seriously as vehicles. We have all seen the daily cycle commuters, no helmet, no light, *mart full suspension mtb bike, on the wrong side of the road, breaking every vehicle code possible, and we worry about their safety and cringe that they give us more serious commuters poor credibility.
As a serious cycling commuter I see my role as an example of the viability of this type of commuting. Like most of you I have seen rude/stupid/inconsiderate drivers. But more often I see courteous/polite/gracious drivers. And I believe it is because they see me as a law abiding cyclist.

Andy, this is in no way pointed at you. It is just some personal rantings. I used to always blow by those signals and sometimes still do. I've just been thinking. And that is what scares me. (the thinking part)
Steve

Originally posted by SBeach
Andy, this is in no way pointed at you. It is just some personal rantings. I used to always blow by those signals and sometimes still do. I've just been thinking. And that is what scares me. (the thinking part)
Steve
No offense taken. It is a perfectly valid question. I know I'm violating the law when I only slow down for the 'T's. However, I balance that against the need to safely shave time on my commute. You see, if I stopped at every light -- always -- it'd probably add 10-15 mins to my commute, making bike-commuting impractical (I'm right on the edge now).

To be clear: I operate in a very safe fashion but I fully realize the consequences of running or jumping a 'T' or any light for that matter. I'm not rationalizing.

I think mine count would be between 20-30 lights, and maybe 10 stop signs. I'll count them tomorrow. Some days I seem to hit all the lights and fly. Other days I can't make any of them.

Six km (4 m) commute each way: no traffic lights, no roundabouts, 1 give way sign (on my way back). I'll change jobs in a month, then it will be 8 Km, 5 traffic lights and 1 roundabout.

I hadn't appreciated how few traffic lights I had on my 8.75mi/14km morning commute: 3 traffic signals and 7 stop signs. Evening commute (8.8mi/14km): 3 traffic signals and 3 stop signs.

Where I ride there aren't a lot of traffic controls. It's possible to ride on the main roads as long as you want: twenty miles or more in some directions without any stops, and barely any turns.

On the side roads, through the farms, a typical twenty-mile ride will have maybe twelve stops. All of these are stop signs, not lights. They're the sort you'd see in a commercial going for an ironic effect: you, the blue sky, ten miles of open road in every direction, and a stop sign. So, you're not arrested for any appreciable time.

There's not a lot of traffic, as you might guess. I've gone on fifty mile rides and passed fewer than ten cars, in either direction.

D*mn dogs are the most serious concern out here, not traffic controls. That reminds me, I should buy a paint gun to scare off the curs.

16.2 Miles, 5 lights, 5 stop signs.