One reader challenge my accounts of the problems around signal light progression on Telegraph Road, a main surface road in the Detroit area.
He wanted to know if I was speeding or simply being "tripped up" by other drivers creating backups.
The answer is that I have driven that road countless times attempting to maintain the posted speed of 50 mph. In some sections, the progression is timed for about 45 mph, in others it has to be closer to 60 mph, while specifically between 12 Mile and 13 Mile Roads on Saturday (no real traffic) the 2 intermediate lights will stop you just before you reach them if you are the first driver traveling at the posted speed (I think they are timed for 25 mph progress in a 50 mph zone).
No, dear readers, it is just the chaotic mismanagement of signals from township to city to village that is the problem.
I think some high school students could probably work out the progression so that traffic under normal conditions (peak conditions will kill most roads) flows smoothly. Or it is just that those Intel 286 chips controlling the signals can't keep up with the data processing requirements.
