Originally Posted by john gault

I always use lights to practice my accelerations -- good for redlining. However, if there are just way too many lights, you may want to get a map and look for a different route. When I lived in South Carolina I had a bike commute of about 9 miles, but about 3 miles of it was on a very narrow two-lane road with a lot of 18-wheel truck traffic going at over 55 mph; on more than one occasion I had to jump off the road (thanks to my mirror). I found a new route, it was 16 miles, but much nicer roads.

Originally Posted by puppypilgrim

Good news is you have a short commute. Bad news is, getting a different bike won't make it much shorter due to the nature of urban riding and the relatively short distance your commute covers. Any increase in average cruising speed is easily forfeited waiting at traffic lights.

You could see if you could gear your bike a little higher so you can go faster. But the faster you go, the more you will appreciate a more aerodynamic position on the bike as wind resistance increases dramatically. So next you may wish to consider the kind of handlebars on your cruiser. By that time, you're putting lipstick on a pig to dress her up. For lots of stop and go urban riding, I recommend singlespeed freewheel bikes for simplicity and speed. I ride three different singlespeed bikes for my 20 km commute (one way) for that reason. Hills and traffic lights. One of the bikes has narrow flat bars and short bar ends. The other two have drop bars.