Hi Neighbor,

You old-timers out there – OK, OK…us old-timers – might remember a newspaper comic strip that ran from the 1940s through the ‘80s called “There Oughta Be a Law.”

It was an everyday look at the common-sense frustrations and ironies of life – and there oughta be a law to fix them.

Seems common sense is not something our city has ever had a lot of. Especially our favorite punching bag, the Department of Transportation.

Now before my DOT pals – I do have one…at least till he reads this -- get upset, let me stress that they are all good people.

But it seems the ones who spend most of their time in Manhattan don’t get the Staten-Island-500/Formula-One-Get-Outta-My-Way-Road-Racing-Experience.

When I first met Polly Trottenberg, the transportation commissioner, back in 2014 when she got the job, I described how Staten Islanders take the most convoluted, circuitous routes to avoid a traffic light, citing the three in a row on Richmond Road in Concord.

She was aghast. She just couldn’t comprehend why we’d do that.

Next time, I asked her if she’d be putting crosswalk countdown clocks at every intersection. “They help drivers as well as pedestrians,” I told her.

Nope. Didn’t think it was a good idea.

Enter Steve Matteo, who represents the Mid-Island in the New York City Council.

Steve, a common-sense kind of guy, thinks there oughta be a law.

So he wrote one to require the Department of Transportation to install pedestrian countdown clocks at all intersections that feature red light cameras.

Steve’s theory is that intersections with cameras must mean they’re dangerous. So countdown clocks are the next logical safety step.

He’s right. And I’ll take it a giant leap further.

Countdown clocks should be at every single traffic light intersection.

As I now prepare to get beaten up by commenters who think it’s a waste of money and will just encourage lunatic drivers to floor the accelerator to beat the light – the second point something the DOT agrees with -- I have just three things to say.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The DOT says the clocks are a good idea for pedestrians but not for drivers.

I don’t follow the logic and don’t know how you separate them anyway.

“Yellow signal time is standard across the city, based on the speed limit of the street, to provide sufficient stopping time for those traveling at a safe speed,” a DOT spokesperson told us.

Excuse me for saying so, but “Huh?”

Doesn’t the width of the road the pedestrian has to traverse have something to do with the length of the yellow light, and if not, shouldn’t it?

If anyone thinks Staten Island drivers hell-bent on beating a red light slows down when they see the yellow, see above:

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Let’s face it…there are Staten Island drivers who could not care less about yellow lights, and probably countdown clocks, because they’ll blow through the first 10 seconds of a red light. Those idiots don’t deserve to drive.

Then there are Staten Island drivers in a constant state of rush who play chicken with every yellow light they see. But if they see two or three seconds left and they’re a half-block away, they’ll hit the brakes.

Bottom line: If the DOT thinks the clocks are a good idea for pedestrians, do it. Install them all over.

I promise. We’ll never say another word about them being good for drivers too.

(But they are. Shhhhh!)

Brian