Nice traffic light design

And when it's amber, how do you know if it's going to go green or red
if you've just arrived?

 

There are very few intelligent traffic lights, and those tend to go
bad after a few months. One of my pet peeves - the amount of time
wasted sitting at vacant stop lights, where there is no cross traffic
in sight. Worldwide, it's an enormous amount of wasted time and
petrol, and far too much pollution generated by vehicles idling for no
reason. Prediction - In a generation, stop lights will be intelligent
enough to sense surrounding traffic and will move vehicles far more
efficiently.

 

Check under your saddle. I think there's a burr there. Or perhaps you
just need to get laid.

I've done my time in engineering, solving other problems. I have no
desire (or need,) to put up with bureaucrats and other idiots to solve
more problems that anyone with half a brain can spot. The problems
WILL be solved, I'm certain of that. I'm just impatient, knowing the
future will be better. Call it whining if you like, but the squeaky
wheel, etc. There are dedicated phone numbers in my area to complain
about malfunctioning lights. They _want_ people to whine.

Intelligence. Traffic lights have progressed from set times in all
directions to impedance driven controls, that can tell how many cars
are waiting for a turn signal. There are also little sensors on top of
the light poles that can be triggered by emergency vehicles to turn
all directions red. There are urban plans that control a series of
lights to keep traffic moving smoothly, but if there is very little
traffic, those same lights keep the same pattern. In some cases, that
means 120 seconds waiting for the light to change. It isn't
malfunctioning, it is an "intelligent" design, but the technology
isn't able to see how little traffic there is. The light closest to my
home has two patterns. During the day, it is set for the boulevard to
stay green for 120 seconds, while the cross street is green only as
long as the impedance wire is tripped (often 3 vehicles or less,
meaning it goes yellow far too quickly.) Late at night, the signal
switches almost immediately when the cross street wires are tripped.
It is semi-intelligent, but it could be so much better during the
day.
I have never seen a system that can accurately tell individual cars
"you may go now," but that day will come.

 

UK Lights never go green to amber, so I imagine they won't implement
that pattern.

 

We'll get back to you with a quote, Sir.

 

/s/impedance/inductance/ (Call it a senior moment.)
The wire loops underground that detect the presence of vehicles and
send signals to the control box.
I don't know how traffic lights are controlled in your area, but it's
how they are controlled in most places here. If it isn't an induction
loop, it's a fixed time interval.

My point is that current systems don't work well on day 1 and it's a
design issue, not quality of hardware. Municipalities buy systems from
companies like GTT.
http://www.gtt.com/
They do cost/benefit analyses (& there's always politics,) so
"cheapest" isn't always a relevant issue when considering contracts.
I'm not sure where you get the idea I don't like paying taxes. I don't
ever remember claiming that. I certainly do hate the inevitable
inefficiency and waste of tax dollars, but I know we need government
services and taxes are how we pay for them.

 

Red is a warning. Amber is a challenge.

 

Exactly like they've been doing in Sweden for the last **** knows how many
years.

I believe it's called "Green Waving" by our government and it was only
recently that they admitted (in a roundabout way) that it's not implemented
countrywide - if at all - because it reduces the amount of petrol tax they
can grab.

Of course like everything else, that information could've been passed on to
me by a malicious ****, so wibble-flip.

 

Oh come on, behave yourself. It's ALWAYS going to go to red innit.