The problem with traffic signals

Try this experiment the next time you stop for a red light: Take note of the cars around you and you'll see that after 15 to 20 seconds, most drivers start looking for something to do to alleviate the boredom. Popular diversions include eating, reading, texting, making phone calls, adjusting makeup and hair, or rummaging through a purse, briefcase, backpack or glovebox. And when the light turns green, it's always the lead driver who's the last to realize. Bicycle or drive on the streets of most any US city and you'll find yourself waiting at a poorly timed traffic light, marveling that there's little or no crossing traffic. Bicyclists may take matters into their own hands and simply dart across the intersection. Car drivers can be equally creative. And the situation is no better at four-way stops because these days anyone who actually obeys a stop sign and adheres to right-of-way is a sucker. Americans may talk a lot about law-and-order, but it seems we 1) don't like being told what to do, 2) are overworked and in a hurry, 3) are distracted by the myriad of activities that we try to squeeze in while driving, and 4) we'll break most any law if we think we won't get caught. Rather than wasting millions of gallons of fuel with our engines idling at red lights, condoning distracted and illegal driving, and treating four-way stops as a game of chicken where he who doesn't stop, stops best, more US cities need to embrace the traffic circle.

A common objection to traffic circles is that they can be intimating, but you just need to remember a few simple rules:  Put down your smart phone, batten down the lattes, and pay attention. When approaching the entrance to a circle, yield to traffic already in the circle. Wait for a gap. Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. Be alert for bicyclists.

Many traffic circles already exist in US cities, though the entrances are often festooned with stop signs. What traffic engineers have done to our streets! If you haven't the eyesight, reaction time, and moxie to handle a traffic circle then you may want to consider hanging up your guns, giving up driving, and take the bus or a taxi instead.