Just recently, I was reminded of an video I shot a couple summers ago. It’s on “Timing Traffic Lights”.
If you’ve never heard of the technique, don’t worry it’s simple and only takes a minute to learn. What I think is really great about it is that it is a TECHNIQUE rather than a “Feature.”
In these days, it seems like technological creep is all the latest rage with automotive manufacturers. My wife is in the market to replace her aging vehicle. We went to a few dealerships just to see what’s out there, including the newest vehicles. We were shocked at how everything but the most base model (which the dealerships usually don’t even have on their lots) was just CRAMMED full of techno-bells and whistles. On one car we saw, more or less the entire dashboard was one big computer screen. And that was NOT even close to their top-of-the-line model.
Technology CAN be a good thing for fuel economy as well. Hybrids have become rather popular, and I’ve heard that Ford is now selling more V-6s than V-8s because of their “Eco-boost” engines. Of course all this technology comes at a cost, and some of the neatest features are only on brand-new cars. (CRASH! Can you hear that!? It’s called “Curb-Drop”!)
So, FEATURES come at an expense, whereas ANYONE in ANY car can learn a new driving technique.
In this case, I’m teaching how to time traffic lights. Here’s the basics, (although the video explains it better.)
If the traffic light is RED, SLOW DOWN, so by the time you get to it, it’s green. Then roll right through the green light! It’s that simple! Well, there’s a little more to it, but not much. Please enjoy this video, demonstrating the technique.
