Sometimes traffic lights seem to change from red to green within seconds. Other times, it seems you wait for five minutes at a red light.

A traffic light’s timing depends largely on the time of day and the number of cars on the road.

Increased attention is being placed on the traffic grid in Colorado Springs after 50-year-old Kimberly Mears and her 10-year-old son, Raley, died in a crash Aug. 8. City traffic management officials say the grid is a complex system and they aim to keep traffic flowing and crashes to a minimum.

Mears’ red Ford Mustang collided with a Dodge pickup at Marksheffel and Bradley roads – an intersection where the traffic lights operate as “rest on red” signals, meaning that lights in all four directions remain red until a vehicle approaches the intersection. The light remains green long enough for a car or group of cars to cross the intersection.

Throughout the city, the cycle lengths and timing of lights can change at an intersection depending on multiple factors, explained city traffic technician Bryan Curtis.

“Cycle lengths and timing are different for each circumstance,” said Curtis. “Light cycles are determined based on traffic volumes and physical size, geometry and configuration of an intersection. It may be different, for example, in the morning while traffic is going one way than in the evening when traffic is going the opposite direction.”

As traffic increases, Curtis added, the cycle length generally increases to help handle traffic flow. This is particularly true on major thoroughfares such as Academy Boulevard, according to city traffic manager Kathleen Krager.

“Academy has lots of signals and they’re randomly located; they don’t have the usual half-mile spacing, so some of them are quite close and it’s a road with fairly high volume and posted speeds in some locations,” Krager said. “It can be difficult to get efficient traffic progression on roads like Academy Boulevard, so we’re constantly checking on it and adapting accordingly.”

Traffic management technicians also consider whether an intersection is isolated, such as Bradley and Marksheffel roads, or if it is in an area where it needs to be synchronized with surrounding intersections, such as Cimarron Street as it becomes U.S. 24.

“U.S. 24 is a state highway and Cimarron Street is in our area, so we work with the state on signal timing because roadways like those can be more difficult to time correctly, the traffic flow is heavy and there are lots of intersecting streets,” Krager said. “Sometimes the answer is simply to add a left-turn arrow and adjust the traffic light cycle to allow the intersection to clear completely, but sometimes we actually have to introduce more advanced equipment to address the traffic progression.”

No matter how the traffic signals operate, Krager explained, driver frustration is to be expected, but there are a few things that motorists can do to help keep traffic flowing and to lessen wait times at traffic lights.

“Drivers should try to drive the speed limit; our progression systems are all set up for posted speeds, and people who are speeding will catch red lights,” Krager said. “Also, bear in mind that the traffic progresses in a straight line with the lights. If a driver turns onto another street, they will get into a new progression pattern of that road and its signals.”

Krager added that anyone with questions about any of the traffic lights in Colorado Springs can visit the city’s website and submit a “FootPrint,” or a message that will be reviewed and answered by city staff. For more information, visit the city’s customer service page at springsgov.com/citizenreq.

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Twitter: @GazetteAndrea