The delayed green

Went to see Tom Vanderbilt speak at the Harvard book store in support of the paperback release of Traffic the other night.

You could tell it was a transpo crowd, as the bike racks outside were packed, and about half the folks there had bike helmets.  Maybe surprisingly I only saw one person in lycra shorts.

Although there was one cranky guy (not wearing lycra, so I don't know what his problem was) , in general it was a supportive and interesting audience, and I had a great conversation with a couple of folks outside after the talk.  If I hadn't known The Scientist was waiting at home (and very pleasant surprise, cleaning the kitchen)  I would have encouraged everyone to go out for a drink  instead of taking up sidewalk space.

Anyway,  I think one person introduced Tom to a what I think is a uniquely Massachusetts invention, "the delayed green" that seemed to baffle him.  In case you don't know it,  it's when one side gets a green light, but the other side has red, or "delayed green"  It gives the people on the green side a protected left, with the interesting complication that they have no way of knowing when that  left will no longer be protected until cars start speeding toward them!  Just a little more uncertainty out on the roads!