One reason for what may be seen as badly timed lights is due to the traffic engineers trying to keep cars moving as much as possible, so as to minimize pollution from too much idling. That's called "platooning". The timing used to be set so that cars heading towards the CBD in the morning and away from the CBD in the afternoon (major flows) would be kept moving by the lights turning green as those who left the previous light when it turned green, arrive.
The problem with this comes on two-way streets, and various cross-streets, because it's hard to time lights this way in both directions on one street, or at multiple cross-streets. Lyndale versus Lake versus Franklin versus Hennepin are examples. Bikes on sidewalks can cause intersection problems if they approach the intersection at a speed much above a walk. Drivers are looking for pedestrians and a bike (or runner) can enter the intersection between a driver's scans and expectations of when the person might reach the intersection. Somebody who was 30 feet away from the intersection can be in it whereas a walker would still be 10 feet away. I would like to see the US follow the example of the Netherlands and Germany and require true bike riding training and licensing, just as I would like to see considerably better auto driver training and licensing. Look to www.johnforester.com for info on cycling in traffic. Bruce Gaarder [EMAIL PROTECTED] Highland Park Saint Paul _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
