Do they use a stopwatch?!?

Another long hard day at the Institute. I just want to rush home, but the thought of traffic sours my mood. Oh well, that's the way it is. So I take a deep breath and ride out the gates.

Pretty soon I'm going at 60 kmh, which is the limit by dear Kiney can go at. Im weaving in and out of traffic, enjoying the game of correctly predicting the best path to take, successfully avoiding the autos with UFO-level maneouvres. I'm still going, when, damn it, the signal up ahead turns red.

I turn the engine off, and coast to the white line that has a pathetic, eroded ' STOP ' painted beyond it, and beyond that an even more invisible 'zebra crossing'. I can't stand it. I'm not moving. I'm restless. Some dude on a Pulsar stops next to me. I look at him, and then at the CUTE chick behind him. We both check each other out to see if we're being checked out. It's a quick look, averted since we were so hopelessly obvious. Why do we doubt it. Why don't we admit it? We both adopt the disinterested expression. I look back at the guy, guilty. He glares.

Another guy coasts in on the other side. I pretend to ignore him. I see his head turn. I look towards him. Our eyes meet. We exchange ... The Look. That challenging expression peculiar to childish men. I stroke my kiney, silently urging it to back me up. The count down begins!

One last look at the girl, and a glimpse of the guy's fuming face.....

And we're off!! I'm on full throttle, and I'm winning. Kiney's have a faster acceleration, at least mine does, initially. However, I know they will eventually catch up, but somehow I've seen they often don't. Not everyone is a psycho like me. Anyway, the road' 's free ahead of me, and I can see the signal. It's green. I'm almost there.

The light turns yellow. OH NO!!!!! Will I make it? should I? Shit.... I slam the brakes, and stop a bit beyond the line, while the signal turns red.

What's the big idea? I mean, do they time how long it takes for a guy to travel from one signal to the next, so that when he leaves the first one, they can EXACTLY stop him at the other. This isn't one-off, I've had this happen so many times. Nowadays I try to push my bike to 65 to make it to the end of the previous green light, but no, they've estimated my speed envelope, and made DAMN sure I have to stop at every signal, wasting my speed and time.

Sheesh.

Oh well, as long as I those cute girls keep stopping next to me.....