Smart Traffic Lights Could Help Cars Save Gas

I started a discussion about this:http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/55202 and the general concession was: Fuggetabouddit, especially the "Green" angle.

I'd settle for more up-to-date controllers here in Akron.

Eureka!

Of course NYC has been doing a form of this since I was a kid in the 1970s. 40 years later someone starts thinking this may be a good idea?

I hope the transponder doesn't draw too much current, or the old Briggs and Stratton is going to stall.

I'll get on board with this one when they decide to include motorcycles in the mix.

Current red light sensors sure don't work well with most bikes and never have.

Hooker

I used to cross the border and ride in Indiana (less traffic) and one intersection that crossed route 41 had an almost ultrasonic sensor (it was so unloud as to cause pain). but it did work.

That was in the 60's.

Motorcycles... nearly all imported. So more stuff the gov't will require to be installed on imports. As well, dirt type bikes are often used around town... them too? How about mopeds?

Bicycles? Or just let them run the light as they usually do now ?

All of this comment assumes it really will save a substantial amount of fuel. Hard sell to me. However, if someone does not investigate and consider, no fuel will ever be conserved at stoplights.

They use camera-like sensors down here to detect traffic at the intersection.

They seem to work 100%. Every time I approach an intersection the light turns red.

It is so bad where I live, if you push the pedestrian crossing button, all you get is loud derisive laughter from a small speaker.

Whatever works to improve traffic flow will help reduce vehicle operators' frustration levels and yield a "greener" solution for the reasons mentioned in the article. Transponders in current use sense approaching emergency vehicles, interrupting the signal cycle to provide them a green, where signal controllers are so equipped. Among my concerns is the mandating of transponders in all vehicles, their added costs, and their potential intrusions on personal privacy and liberty. Another is the vagaries involved in the application of the technology and its maintenance by the municipality responsible for traffic signal operations, starting with, is it cost effective?

A new systems approach to dynamic traffic signal operations is summarized in a recent Science News article, if you have an interest.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63481/title/To_tame_traffic%2C_go_with_the_flow