I commute during the leading edge of rush hour. My commute is 50-70min assuming no backups. I'm not "beating" the lights. I'm picking my lane coming up to th

I commute during the leading edge of rush hour. My commute is 50-70min assuming no backups. I'm not "beating" the lights. I'm picking my lane coming up to the light based on how much of that traffic is likely to exit the lane into a left or right turn lane. Getting through them in less cycles than I would otherwise has a compounding effect because the luckier I get early on the less traffic/congestion there is later in my commute (because I have arrived at those points earlier in time). The portion with the lights is a "would be a limited access highway if it weren't for NIMBYs" type of road and speeds reflect this. A minute or more to wait for a light is more than the time it takes to get to the next light. There are six lights. The bulk of the highway is after this portion of my commute so a few minutes at the lights may very well mean I get past the problem points on the highway before they become problems. There's no lane advantage at the first light but getting lucky and not waiting on the first light pretty much always translates to 1-2 less cycles waiting at the second. There is a massive lane advantage there so choosing the proper lane means you wait ~2 cycles less. The last light is the worst and +/-5min arrival time can easily have a ~10min influence (the difference between being several cycles back vs getting right up to it and only. I've been doing this same commute and leaving at the same time for years. There's definitely a gambling aspect to it but there is also quite a bit of improvement to be had if you know where to be. >On the highway, if you are leaving 2 seconds following distance, and everyone else does too (obviously more than reality), every car you pass on the highway buys you a grand total of: 2 seconds. Right, but now imagine that working you ass off to pass dozens of cars means four less cars in front of you at the end of your really crappy exit ramp that takes ~30sec/car because of cross traffic. You've just saved two minutes.