Triggered Traffic Lights Leave Sacramento Timed Out

Sometimes technology overwhelms common sense. Such is the case with many of the Sacramento area’s traffic lights.

In Los Angeles, where I come from, there’s a saying that every destination is “twenty minutes” away. Of course this is not true, but it sure feels about right when you drive it. Around the Sacramento area, it’s really hard to judge how long it will take to get where you’re going.

In Sacramento, sometimes I can get to my local Target in a few minutes. Sometimes it takes forever because I have to stop at five consecutive traffic lights in less than a mile.

As the region grows and expands, so does the traffic situation. The solution that local authorities have chosen is to place sensors in the pavement to change signal lights based on traffic flow. And there must have been a sale on left turn arrows because this area is overflowing with them.

It all seems logical, at least on the surface. When the sensors detect vehicles at intersections, the traffic lights change accordingly. The problems with this system become very apparent very quickly.

One problem is that traffic signals stop all the vehicles on one road when a single car hits the sensors on a cross street. It may be nice for that one car to be able to proceed, but it’s not logical to halt the flow of all traffic for a single vehicle.

Another problem is reaching the sensors before the signal changes. This is especially frustrating with left turn arrows. As soon as the sensors detect no vehicles, the light changes. If you don’t hit the sensors, you’re forced to wait through an entire traffic light cycle before you can proceed.

The reason I find these triggered traffic signals frustrating comes from many years of driving the streets of Los Angeles. In L.A., just about all of the signals are timed and only major intersections have left turn arrows.

Timed signals mean that if traffic is able to flow at or about the speed limit, vehicles can get through multiple intersections without having to stop. I was often able to get through six or seven intersections on my way to and from work and not stop once.

Since relocating to the Sacramento area last year to finish college, I have noticed that my fuel consumption has decreased by about 3 miles per gallon. These triggered signals are forcing a stop-and-go pattern of traffic that’s sucking down the gas.

Considering the price of oil and concerns about the environment, it’s kind of surprising that the region has gotten carried away with a system of traffic signals that waste gas and cause a lot of stop-and-go traffic.

It’s not possible to compare traffic in L.A. with traffic in Sacramento, but in L.A. we share what I would describe as “mutual frustration.” That is, we all know traffic is a mess and we all know we’re stuck in it so we might as well work together to get through it.

Unlike Sacramento, drivers in L.A. are generally more patient when allowing lane changes and navigating through freeway and surface street traffic. While the volume of traffic is greater in L.A., my frustration with traffic in the Sacramento area has convinced me that people up here just don’t know how to drive.

I’d also like to meet the Einstein who designed the Watt Avenue and Highway 50 interchange. To get on or off the freeway at Watt, vehicles have to cross over in shared lanes. Stupid. I can’t think of any way to describe it better than that.