Welcome, snowbirds: Here’s how traffic flow can be smoother

Welcome, snowbirds!

We are happy you are back but cringe at the anticipated increase with traffic. While visiting, you can help with the traffic woes. Specifically when you head out to take advantage of the “early bird specials” or are on your way to the beach, remember that a bunch of us are off to work.

One thing you may not be used to is our side-street speed limits are a bit faster than what you may have experienced back home. Some posted limits can be as high as 45 mph and our commute speeds usually exceed the limit. You should increase your speed to at least the posted limit as we commuters are used to this speed and sometimes have improper thoughts about those impeding traffic.

You may have also noticed that many traffic lights are long and do not stay green for very long. When the light changes, your vehicle should move in sync with the vehicle in front of you as hesitation will cause several car lengths of distance between cars to occur.

Every car length causes a vehicle behind you to miss the light and again causes improper thoughts about the driver causing the delay. Think about the ecology as there will be less petroleum wasted by vehicles left idling at the light because you were thinking about waffles.

U-turns are allowed at several intersections but please don’t do this during rush hour as the turn also delays the turning vehicle behind you. We are all a little perplexed about why our local politicians will not disallow U-turns at rush hour.

I hope my thoughts on how you can help improve our local traffic and at the same time discourage negative thoughts useful.

This story was originally published November 7, 2016 at 7:43 AM with the headline "Welcome, snowbirds: Here’s how traffic flow can be smoother."