Fix timing of traffic lights to conserve

It seems as if every time gasoline prices hit another new level, I write another letter to the Daily Herald about the timing of traffic lights in the area. Various states have looked into the matter and found that drivers can save millions of dollars when this is done.

This doesn't include the frustrations involved with watching the next traffic light turn red a block away as you are just pulling away from a green light.

It doesn't include the cost in added pollution to the environment. Randall Road is a premier example of this craziness. How many drivers have tried doing the speed limit, 5 miles under the speed limit or 5 miles over the speed limit to see if they can time the lights correctly?

Simple studies in human behavior will tell you that if humans are rewarded (being able to hit the traffic lights when they are green) they will repeat the behavior that gives them the reward.

I would venture to guess that you would see more people obeying the speed limit if doing so would cause the traffic to flow better. It's bad enough that local communities apparently refuse to cooperate in trying to do this, but when you have one community controlling the traffic lights in an area and they still are not coordinated, it is maddening.

How many drivers want to pull their hair out when they have this happen only to notice that there is no traffic coming from the direction that the light just turned green for? Please!

With the cost of gasoline going higher and higher, local communities should do their part to help us conserve.

Walter O'Brien

Dundee