Long term observations can be revealing.
Fascinating for example, every morning I go to work pretty much the same way, and have to face eastward for a long light before getting on a major feeder, and have time to lift my visor and see precisely against the local horizon where is the sun, and through the year, really see the full 46o sweep of the sun as the Earth rotates through its 23o offset from the ecliptic plain.
We have lived in the same house now 22 years, and likewise have been going through a similar intersection near our neighborhood for that entire time. For the first years living there, I could stop in the line of cars waiting at the light, look to the side of the road, and pretty much know the point where ahead, I would make it through the light, and behind, I would be caught by the light. Everyone was interested is making it home and you could see the reactions of the drivers, picking up on the movement cars ahead and be ready to go as soon as the car in front moved.
As the years went by, and cell phones became omnipresent, followed by smart phones, the so-called "cell phone gaps" would appear, and the point at which I could count on making it through the light became closer to the light, and greater variability.
This got so bad, the county spent $300,000 to add a second turn lane, so that the gaps are still there, but with two lanes going through the light, now they are back almost to the same number of cars through each cycle of the light as twenty years ago.
Progress ?
