The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 18, 1980, Page page 9, Image 9
tuesday, november 18, 1980 daily nebraskan page 9 Traffic lights are frustratingly energy conscious By Robert Bauer Traffic lights. Can you think of anything that makes traffic run so smoothly and so slowly at the same time9 I have considered shutting my car off when waiting for the traffic light at 48th and Vine Streets. It seems in terminably long. I wondered how long the traffic lights in Lincoln really are so I called the city's traffic engineer, George Selvia. Selvia seems to possess more information on traffic lights than a similarly equipped 16K-memory bank. departures The first question to Selvia was what intersection in Lincoln had the longest street light. The answer was somewhat devastating. According to Selvia, no traffic light in Lincoln takes more than 2 minutes to complete its entire cycle from red to red. I felt like calling the gentleman an outright liar but he really seems to know his traffic lights. He cited a study which revealed for every two minutes you spend at a traffic light, it seems like 10. To test his theory, 1 immediately drove out to 48th and Vine streets. As f waited at the intersection I watched the clock. Sure enough, it took only two minutes. 0 Street a stopper AJso, I asked why it was impossible for a person to drive through downtown Lincoln on 0 Street without stopping. Selvia explained that in the downtown area, the one-way streets are designed to run nonstop. He said someone has to stop at every traffic light (in theory), and it was decided long ago that 0 Street would be the one to stop. I suppose you could liken that to the NU Board of Regents asking for a 18 percent increase in state aid. Something will have to give and the Nebraska Legislators will decide. At certain times, traffic lights seem to be much more appreciated than at others. For instance, when you are running late, traffic lights generally are not well received. However, when you are lost, traffic lights seem a God send. When your Coca-Cola has been flung to the floor or your Whopper launched towards the windshield, traffic lights generally are welcomed. In fact, traffic lights probably have prevented innumer able accidents that would have occurred had they not given the driver a moment to free his hands. Trying to put o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 o o o o o o o o o 0 0 o 0 on a seat belt and drive at the same time is one that comes to mind right away. Lights computerized Of course, like everything, the traffic light has been changed for the better in the face of technology. Over the past few years, Lincoln traffic lights have been bound over to the command of a computer. At present, about half of Lincoln's 250 traffic lights are being operated by comput er. This, according to Selvia, has made things go much faster for Lincoln motorists. According to a study completed recently, the comput erized traffic light system is saving motorists 94,000 gallons of gas each year on O and Vine streets alone. There are 28 percent fewer stops on Vine Street because of the computer and the delay time (waiting period at lights) is cut in half. Over the entire city, the system saves motorists 1.3 million hours in delay time and produces 1 16 million few er stops in the course of a year. For chemistry folks, the study showed that in a year's time, 1 .3 million fewer kilo grams of carbon monoxide are produced and 107,000 fewer kilograms of hydrocarbons are produced. The clincher was the gallons of fuel saved by the computerized system: 1.14 million gallons in the course of a year. The next time you curse truly bite your tongue. a traffic light, you should douglas 3 i.iih x, p !: :??? 5:40-7:40-9:40 WUTtfl BATUMI) GUAM JACKSON 5:30-7:30-9:30 CHEVY CHASE Caddy - shack : 20-7: 20-9. 20 TT.V?- w ur is SH0UIX6 QUALITY FEATtSSE F1USS Growing V 1 fiirl Has To Mm cai Main Feature: "The Violation of Claudia" Starring Sharon Mitchel Jwild West Women OPEN 10 A M CONTINUOUS SHOW!NGS i I Now Featuring (3 utftlWD(SSo At 7m & Tonight Comedy Double Feature fo) oj aQBDg) Starts at 8:00 o Cover Charoe! o o o 0 o o 0 o o o o o o o o o o o D 6 o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 o 0