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Old 05-01-2010, 03:39 PM   #29 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by puddleglum View Post
I agree that this will work in certain situations, but it is the exceptions that mess it up. The streets still have to be evenly spaced in a grid and all lights working the same way. If you have stupid city planners that place cross roads at random intervals and you throw in some left turn signals (As Aerohead said) and some heavy traffic into the into the mix, there is no way to time the lights both ways. Even on timed roads, if you have a lot of turns on your route, your hooped. I think more efficient cars that minimize the hit at stop lights is still the real answer.
And then you get the city planners that are lazy and just don't want to straighten out the rivers/lake shores, level the hills/mountains, or totally redo a city thats had roads years before cars were even invented.

I'd say that well timed lights are the exception, and shouldn't be depended on. They're nice to dream about, but in most cases I bet they just don't work. About the only way I can see them working is if there is a traffic control system, and cars pilot themselves. Whenever you add people to the mix, it gets messed up.

Michael
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