So, sitting at another untimed intersection on the Arterial and flipping through the radio, Mariah Carey's “All I want for Christmas” pops on in an endless string of Christmas songs on Y94 FM. The song is still going when the next stoplight is hit and the next and the next - all in a straight row, less than a half mile in length apart.

Just another day in the life of those who drive through the city of Auburn on a regular basis, having to go through more than just three lights on East Hill to get from City Hall to home.

Starting and stopping going east and west on the Arterial or Genesee Street or crossing along both on either North or State streets has become the standard aggravation of the day.

Imagine my surprise (OK, not really) to read Amaris Elliott-Engel's report last week regarding the city's most dangerous intersections (the Arterial at Columbus ranked first) and what some of these accidents are attributable to. According to her superb story, such accidents result from

“ ... drivers going through red lights, speeding or tailgating.” Officer Tom Weed, the Auburn Police Department's traffic coordinator, believes that local drivers “typically” exceed the city's posted speed limits by nine to 10 mph.

Could it be that frustrated drivers believe that the only way to get from one end of Auburn traveling east or west or going along North Street's Route 34 requires you to drive as if you were at Indianapolis to catch more than one green light?

Could it be that frustrated drivers are more concerned about the chance of getting through the yellow light they see ahead instead of paying attention to what is to the left or right of them?

While we shouldn't excuse bad driving or condone breaking the law, complaints of frustration with the city's horribly timed sequence of traffic lights seems, like so much at City Hall, to fall on deaf ears.

Talk to some officials about the issue and they say it isn't that bad or they get this glazed over look; the talker quickly figuring out that any complaining is useless to the powers that be.

So sitting at another intersection and again hearing Carey's rendition, I can only think that, just possibly, the only gift I want this year is not the four disc set of New Yorker cartoons or the new Sen. John McCain book, but timed stopped lights. This is not rocket science, and it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to get this done.

Yet, for some reason, I think I have a better chance of getting a gift from Ebenezer Scrooge or Christmas back from the Grinch. Yet one can always hope - isn't that what Santa's all about?

Merry Christmas and may all your lights be green.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be e-mailed at cozguytho@aol.com