Green Lanterns
December 26, 2016 2:46 PM   Subscribe

Noah hits 240 green lights Noah Forman is a NYC ride-share driver and used to drive a yellow cab. Here he attempts a record run at hitting consecutive green lights while driving in Manhattan NY. He gets an estimated 240 of them. What the record is we have no idea. But I'm going to call it this run of 240 of them unless someone shows us video proof of someone beating this one.
posted by chavenet (29 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
If there's anything to this universal karmic balance thing, this right here is the bastard responsible for all of 2016.
posted by Behemoth at 2:48 PM on December 26, 2016 [32 favorites]


HOW?
posted by Going To Maine at 2:53 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


He hit a yellow within the first five, for crying out loud.
posted by Etrigan at 3:03 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


A lot of places, it's dead simple to hit all green lights if you just drive the speed limit, especially on thoroughfares (green most of the time anyway) with no traffic in the middle of the night.

It certainly helps that there appears to be a light every three feet in Manhattan.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:05 PM on December 26, 2016


Uncut 27 minute version with Forman's audio commentary.
posted by effbot at 3:08 PM on December 26, 2016 [2 favorites]


It's really the crossings at Waverly and 59th that are note worthy. Gliding down those avenues at 330 on a weeknight doesn't surprise me, but I've never been able to make the turns.
posted by JPD at 3:11 PM on December 26, 2016


I had 5 lights on my old comute and damn if I didn't regularly hit every single one of them... kudos to this guy's luck. May I someday kiss whatever lucky public works official that determines all those light timings.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:35 PM on December 26, 2016


That was mesmerizing. I was wondering about the turns; if this was something like memorizing PAC-Man moves.
posted by MtDewd at 4:55 PM on December 26, 2016 [3 favorites]


Riding a wave of green down a major avenue brings me unending joy, which makes it all the more frustrating when a cab driver gravitates towards Park Ave (a two-way street where you can go, at most, 6 blocks before hitting a red). I'm also finding that Uber/Lyft drivers are way too prone to blindly follow the zig-zag directions given by Google Maps/Waze rather than minimizing turns.
posted by rmannion at 5:01 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


That was so soothing. I'm also digging the uncut video with commentary. I kinda love watching videos of people driving.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 5:32 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


"A lot of places, it's dead simple to hit all green lights if you just drive the speed limit,"

In South Bend, Indiana, you could drive the entire main drag on greens at night if you went 19 mph exactly. I don't know if they've updated from timed lights to traffic-triggered lights, but it was a glorious thing at 3 a.m. to drift slowly through town 11 under the speed limit and not have to stop once.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:49 PM on December 26, 2016 [6 favorites]


I might be imagining this, but I seem to remember reading an article with the late Mark Sandman that consisted of him driving around the interviewer. he pointed out that lights timed to 35 mph were also timed to 70 mph and proceeded to demonstrate that theory.
posted by jacy at 6:25 PM on December 26, 2016 [2 favorites]


I'm remined once again that I live someplace completely different from large east coast cities. I'm not sure there are 200 controlled timed intersections in my entire city. Doing this sort of thing would be impossible because there are only 6 timed lights each direction downtown and getting between the two one way streets without stopping at a light at an intervening street is impossible.
posted by Mitheral at 7:38 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


Near where I live in Mountain View, California, they syncrhonized the downtown lights in a way that allowed for reasonable traffic flow. Note that it is just a suburban downtown, but the main street, Castro, leads to a train station that many commuters take.

Many years ago, one enterprising commuter figured out that if you went about 90 miles per hour you could hit green lights all the way to the train station. As word got out, this, of course, lead to mayhem and when they finally figured out what was going on they re-timed all the lights.

(My Dad, who took this commute, was strangely silent when I asked him if he ever tried it).
posted by eye of newt at 7:59 PM on December 26, 2016 [7 favorites]


I remain convinced that the traffic lights where I live now (Canberra) are deliberately anti-synchronised to obstruct traffic. Maybe they're meant to limit the rate at which cars arrive at any of the numerous chokepoints scattered around the horribly-designed road network.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 8:00 PM on December 26, 2016


Designing light timing to protect pedestrians and bicyclists can often mean intentionally stopping car traffic so it's safer.
posted by garlic at 8:11 PM on December 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


About 10 years ago NY taxis went on strike for two days. Streets were practically empty. I drove up 10th Ave/Amsterdam from Greenwich Village to Morningside Heights, about a hundred blocks, without stopping, in the middle of a weekday afternoon. Amazing what clearing the streets of cabs will do for traffic flow.
posted by stargell at 10:15 PM on December 26, 2016


This reminds of a skit I saw on SNL (I think) several years ago, but can't find online. It was advice on saving gas by first going through the entire city and carefully timing each light, then going home and using a computer to determine a route that no matter how circuitous was actually efficient because it avoided red lights.
posted by TedW at 10:55 PM on December 26, 2016


So this means the Fast and Furious races can actually happen? Good. Because I refuse to watch unrealistic action films.
posted by Beholder at 12:21 AM on December 27, 2016


i know that video probably looks time-lapsed, but i assure you that nyc cabbies actually drive that fast
posted by Zerowensboring at 6:11 AM on December 27, 2016


Oh! that is so soothing...

A lot of places, it's dead simple to hit all green lights if you just drive the speed limit

You also have to roll up slowly on the stale reds: people think driving in Madison (Wi) is a cluster headache--and it can be--but I've made it from Middleton to East Town at 3:30 in the afternoon with just one full stop.
posted by mimi at 6:44 AM on December 27, 2016 [2 favorites]


Many years ago, one enterprising commuter figured out that if you went about 90 miles per hour you could hit green lights all the way to the train station.

This is why drivers scare the hell out of me. What kind of logic says running a red light is super bad, but zooming down city streets at 90mph to avoid them is okay?
posted by xedrik at 7:17 AM on December 27, 2016 [4 favorites]


The local crosswalk lights count down the seconds: 10 9 8 ...

When they hit zero, the green light turns yellow. It's nice on a bike: do I sprint to cross before the yellow, or just coast to the red light?
posted by jjj606 at 9:36 AM on December 27, 2016


I, too, love countdown crosswalk signals and use them to my advantage either driving or walking. The tricky ones are the signals that don't turn yellow when the crossing signal hits zero, or the intersections with an atypical pattern like a leading green on the opposing side.
posted by a halcyon day at 10:14 AM on December 27, 2016


This is puzzle #1 of 4 in my morning commute:

There's a long straightaway leaving the island interrupted by a single traffic light at the grocery store intersection. The light cycles from red to green in exactly 15 seconds, but generally stays green unless there is a vehicle waiting at the cross street.

The general question is: If ElGuapo is traveling 50 miles per hour and sees the light turn red from 1/2 mile away, what adjustments should he make to his speed to pass through the intersection with maximum legal velocity at a safe interval after the light has turned green?

Assume "safe" means that the light will turn green 2 seconds before the breakeven point where the vehicle will be able to safely come to a stop just in case the light does not change as modeled.

Bonus points: Derive a general function for varying distance from the intersection at the time the light changes.

Super bonus points: Extend the function to adjust for those idiots who drove full speed up to the light and will be stopped blocking both lanes when the light turns green.
posted by ElGuapo at 12:29 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


Etrigan: "He hit a yellow within the first five, for crying out loud."

A yellow is a green. Have you ever driven in New York City?
posted by Plutor at 12:47 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is why drivers scare the hell out of me. What kind of logic says running a red light is super bad, but zooming down city streets at 90mph to avoid them is okay?

Mountain View (ie, Silicon Valley) logic - it doesn't have to be safe, it just has to be legal.
posted by solarion at 1:28 PM on December 27, 2016 [2 favorites]


What kind of logic says running a red light is super bad, but zooming down city streets at 90mph to avoid them is okay?


Well, they are both illegal and dangerous, but you can't run reds during a commute because of traffic, and if you're surrounded by people speeding consistently, you don't feel like the problem. Late at night, you can see people doing both!
posted by michaelh at 2:14 PM on December 27, 2016


I might be imagining this, but I seem to remember reading an article with the late Mark Sandman that consisted of him driving around the interviewer. he pointed out that lights timed to 35 mph were also timed to 70 mph and proceeded to demonstrate that theory.

Infuriatingly, there are several roads in my city where the speed limit is 30, but the lights are seemingly timed for 35-40.

As in, driving the speed limit you will just barely miss EVERY light. But if you speed a bit, you'll just blow past endless greens and maybe an occasional yellow.

And i mean, poor infrastructure planning is par for the course here but all my rage.
posted by emptythought at 4:29 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]


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