Were you using only electric when you went the 23 miles? I live in Japan now and all the bikes are "electric-assist." You still have to pedal and it just feels like someone is pushing you or you are in a much higher gear than you are.
On my regular bike in the bay area (Berkeley area), I was able to turn 95% of the signals green by stopping right on the sensors (I rode a motorcycle too so I knew where they were). There was 1 signal that I could never change to green with my bicycle and the crosswalk button was reachable from the street. I always rode on the 'smaller' roads for what it's worth.