My commute is 31 miles total, and I only have to go through 2 traffic lights just about 1 mile apart. It's all neighborhoods and rural roads otherwise. But those traffic lights either always have cross traffic (even at 6:30 AM), or only change to red if there is traffic on the cross street. So yeah, I always have to stop. I roll stop signs if no one is around but never traffic lights. I'm not that brave.

Interestingly, I pass a new outlet mall under construction every day, and they're adding 2 new light controlled intersections for the mall, immediately north of one of the traffic lights I already go through (very busy major intersection). One of those lights is replacing a 3-way stop where the side street was recently blocked off and will almost never have traffic. That means it will likely stay green most of the time, and I won't have to stop where I currently do stop for the 3-way stop sign. So that will be nice. The other new light is for traffic coming out of the new mall, so I expect that one to change regularly on my commute home (not so much at 6:30 AM). That's going to suck, because it's right on a nice downhill where I usually get up to 20+ mph.