Cities are shifting to smart technology for traffic to reduce energy waste and improve road safety, as traffic congestion in urban areas is becoming a growing issue. This helps both drivers and passengers save time, cuts emissions and delays in traffic.
The technology behind it is built on hardware and software. The first is the subcomponent that runs, and the second is the command and control centre. Both are complemented with advanced sensors and processing techniques for example, like ANPR (automotive plate recognition) that collects information about the movement of vehicles and detects road signs.
Depending on the solution, smart traffic lights are able to process data on-device or transfer it to a cloud. This type of solution allows for more sophisticated analysis and modeling to reduce congestion in traffic and to harmonize schedules of public transport. This way, they can cut the average travel time by 25%, reduce the time between signals by 40%, and lower emissions by 20 percent, according to Carnegie Mellon University.
A well-designed traffic light system, in addition to reducing the time it takes to get traffic signals it can also improve the flow of pedestrians as well as of micromobility vehicles like ebikes or e-scooters. They’re not able to conform to the traditional traffic law regarding preemption of signals. In London the number of accidents involving e-scooters increased by 2800% in the first half 2021. Therefore, it is important to include them in traffic light controls.
technologytraffic.com/2020/05/01/modern-traffic-technologies-by-board-room