How Much Of Your Life Is Spent At Quad City Stop Lights

While sitting at a red light today in the Quad Cities I realized I get stuck at the same light almost every time when on Harrison street. I swear this light is always red for me no matter what. It can be three in the morning, and no one else is on the road, but that light is still red! I know it's automatic, but I can just never time it right.

So how long do Americans spend waiting at red lights in a lifetime?

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How Much Do We Drive

According to AAA, the average American spends 17,600 minutes driving each year.

The research finds that more than 87.5 percent of Americans aged 16 years and older reported driving in the past year. During this time, drivers travelled nearly 10,900 miles on average and spent more than 290 hours on the road.

Makes sense why so many of us are trusted with gas prices, but that's an issue for another day. How much time do we spend at those red lights?

The Red Light Times

The study says that out of a year, you spend 58.6 hours at a red light. The study assumed you started driving at the age of 15 and end your driving days when you turn 65 (a bit early so we'll change that next) BUT with those numbers, you’ll have spent 2,930 hours sitting at stoplights. That's about 4 months of your life waiting for that light to change.

Now if we change that driving age to 75, that number jumps up to 4.7 months sitting at red lights. Yikes.

What's even worse is that it's the average. Many Americans including myself drive much more than that meaning we spend even more time on the road and at those lights.