Traffic Lights – The Rant

OK, so I try to refrain from ranting and raving like a lunatic on these posts but here I go. I drive home late at night often. After working at the night club or after a wedding or party I find myself tired and sitting at... a traffic light. I look in every direction and see not one other driver going in any direction.

I know why this happens. The lights are on a timer set to control traffic in normal intervals. I just don't understand how with all the fairly cheap technology we currently have, why the lights can't be updated to "sense" when there are cars at the lights and when there are not! Other cities and towns have this technology. I will pull up to a light in let's say Syracuse, and if no vehicles are present at an intersection the light immediately changes. In Binghamton... we wait for the timer. Lets say I travel from my favorite restaurant on Upper Front Street to home. I will encounter seven traffic lights. All of them run by timers. Stopping seven times for no visible traffic for what feels like an eternity gets annoying fast. There... Rant Over.