So it appears the Regional Transportation Commission has conducted a study that shows that the timing of traffic lights is up to 60 percent better in some places, and that travel times on those special streets have been cut, between 32 percent and 45 percent.

Now, we know the Review-Journal has to report on these things. Hell, we encourage it. The problem we’ve always had is how the story is reported, with way too much credulity. We have to wade five paragraphs into Omar Sofradzija’s story before we learn this is an RTC-conducted study of the RTC!

Here’s how he led the piece:

"Statistics indicate stoplight synchronization is improving in the Las Vegas Valley.

"Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman’s gut says that’s bunk."

Now, we happen to agree with Goodman’s gut on this one. But this is how the story should have begun, in our humble view.

A study conducted by the Regional Transportation Committee says the committee is doing a better job on timing signal lights on certain roads. The RTC claims timing is improved by up to 60 percent.

Why are we so cynical, you ask? Because, like Goodman, we drive on those roads every day, and we see for ourselves that signal light timing is often awful. In Goodman’s words: "I don’t know how much money has been spent. Whatever it was, it’s a waste of money. I’m not having the pleasant experience that’s been represented to us."

Exactly! Goodman is judging the RTC’s claims based upon what he’s seen in the real world. And so should transportation journalists, assuming they actually drive in the real world. We’ve seen Sofradzija’s TV commercial, in which he gets in somebody’s car and tells a surprised drive the route he should take, so we assume Sofradzija drives, too. And there’s nothing wrong with calling bullshit when you hear it from the RTC.

One thing that did come out in Sofradzija’s article struck a note with us: Signal timing becomes impossible when signals are placed too close together. And since every whiny request to get a signal light in the middle of a block is granted with Pavlovian efficiency by local officials, we know some of the blame belongs with the city and the county, not with the RTC.

Where we used to live, in fact, there were two mid-block signal lights between major streets, and a total of 11 signal lights between our flat and the Summerlin Parkway. They were rarely timed correctly. Even worse, they were programmed on a timer, so they would stop traffic on Sahara Avenue (a six-lane, major arterial street) to allow … well, nobody … to exit from a shopping mall, even late at night. Ditto for left-turn signals, which would turn green for phantom eastbound cars that didn’t exist, when there were three lanes of cars waiting an extra 20 seconds to go west.

So that’s how we know the RTC’s self-contratulatory study is suspect. And that’s how Goodman knows the study is suspect. We suspect Sofradzija knows it’s suspect, too, but is constrained by the false notion of "objectivity" from saying so outright.

But in the spirit of the RTC study, we at Various Things & Stuff have just completed a comprehensive analysis that shows we produce the best blog in town. It’s up to 60 percent better than blogs written by our colleagues Jon Ralston, Anjeanette Damon, Hugh Jackson and Scandalmonger!

Anybody skeptical? You should be.