The Timing Is Everything

I’ve often thought it might be interesting to be an invisible fly on the wall during some city traffic commission meeting while they decide how long to time their stop lights, especially left hand turn signals.

“Let’s see, we’ll keep the light red for about an hour in the left hand turn lane. Yes, an hour. Then, we’ll allow the light to turn green for, oh, let’s say 4 seconds?”

“Not a lot of time, J.B.”

“You’re right. OK. We’ll make it 6 seconds.”