I drive through an intersection every day on the way home from work, and I’m almost always forced to stop at a red light, even when there are rarely any two cars going the other direction. When I first see it, it’s usually green, but as I get closer it turns yellow and then red, which means I’m stuck waiting for no good reason for it to turn green again.

The intersection is almost never busy on the way home, but occasionally, during the peak rush hour times, it can get a little bogged down. In those cases, I’m perfectly content to wait for the light to change. What I don’t understand is why they can’t leave the intersection alone for the most part by putting a blinking yellow traffic light in the higher traffic direction and a blinking red light on the second. This method was used quite frequently back east, but I rarely see it used in Utah. The benefit during low-traffic times is that if you’re on the yellow side, you get to zoom right through the intersection (with caution of course) and you don’t have to wait at all. If you’re on the red side, it’s treated like a stop sign, so you get to the intersection, come to a stop, make sure there aren’t any cars and you’re on your way again. This is especially appreciated when it’s 2am and you’re the only car on the road.

So, on the very slight chance that someone from UDOT is reading this, make a comment to let me know you’re listening, I’ve got more where that came from.