Interesting Idea to save energy

[kknudson]

And IMHO a far better solution than some the Government is pushing, for instance high speed rail.

I can't take credit though it was mentioned in an editoral I read today.

How about if we develop the technology to better manage traffic flow / traffic lights. When you think about it most of how traffic lights are controlled today is 1950s technology.

We could save a lot of energy, time, wear and tear on our cars AND frustration !!

[LandYaghtLover]

Or how about making sure our tires have proper air pressure. No joke there as silly as it sounds. I see at least once a day several vehicles with clearly low air pressure.

By the way, my town purposely makes the stop lights hold traffic to drive more local business. Thoughts are that if people have to stop, they look around. If they can just fly through they dont make note of local businesses.

[Chas H]

Several towns in the UK and Europe have eliminated all traffic controls.
http://www.naturalnews.com/021164.html

[SirNik84]

I work for an electrical engineer, we do control systems and factory automation. About once a year we have the "wouldn't traffic work better if lights were networked" conversation. We are not in the business of traffic control, we do drinking water and waste water controls. But I can tell you there is a lot of room for improvements. if you had a PLC at every light and had all the lights networked, the flow of traffic could be done in blocks of cars. much like the old timed lights on the main drags of small towns. If you drive the speed limit then in theory you would never have to stop at stop lights.

[The Clk Man]

I save energy by burning wood in the winter and sweating in the summer. I also save my own personal energy by letting go of users that take advantage of my good nature. I have lost over a 1000lbs, of losers weight this month alone.

[KarTek]

I don't know about where you live but all traffic lights here are networked and computer controlled with modern technology. The programs are coordinated and adaptive. One particular light in the area is engineered perfectly:

There's a sensor positioned just about 300 yards from the light. The light is timed so that when going the speed limit (45), all you have to do is slow down enough (about 20 MPH) to take a look for crossing traffic and the light turns green at the exact right time for you to continue on your way.

Over the years, the light has done this perfectly 100% of the time I go through.

Other lights continuously analyze the number of cars that flow through the intersection and adjust the timing of the cycle accordingly.

[Skid Row Joe]

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

I save energy by burning wood in the winter and sweating in the summer. I also save my own personal energy by letting go of users that take advantage of my good nature. I have lost over a 1000lbs, of losers weight this month alone.

I save energy by drinking beer at home, instead of expending the energy, time, and money necessary in commuting to a bar.

[The Clk Man]

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

I save energy by drinking beer at home, instead of expending the energy, time, and money necessary in commuting to a bar.

Did you know that I have never been in a Bar?

[Skid Row Joe]

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

Did you know that I have never been in a Bar?

There's no need to, when the cost to drink at home is so much less expensive - and the company is a whole LOT better!

[catmandoo62]

Originally Posted by LandYaghtLover

Or how about making sure our tires have proper air pressure. No joke there as silly as it sounds. I see at least once a day several vehicles with clearly low air pressure.

gov'ment beat you too it.starting in model year 2007 ALL new cars sold in the U.S. have to have a tire monitor system.my 05 suburban has them as an option.which i didn't know about til i put different wheels on it and took em in to have new tires mounted.when i put em on i get this stupid message on the dash to check tire monitors.i thought "what the hell"then i took one of the old tires and popped thge bead and pulled the vavle stem and sure as hell theres a funky module connected to it.

[kknudson]

Originally Posted by KarTek

I don't know about where you live but all traffic lights here are networked and computer controlled with modern technology. The programs are coordinated and adaptive. One particular light in the area is engineered perfectly:

There's a sensor positioned just about 300 yards from the light. The light is timed so that when going the speed limit (45), all you have to do is slow down enough (about 20 MPH) to take a look for crossing traffic and the light turns green at the exact right time for you to continue on your way.

Over the years, the light has done this perfectly 100% of the time I go through.

Other lights continuously analyze the number of cars that flow through the intersection and adjust the timing of the cycle accordingly.

Nope here there are some sections that are connected, but they are a small percentage. There are sensors to detect traffic and people in the left turn lane, but even those have issue's.
Some of the older ones don't always detect newer cars, too light, not enough steel, badly positioned etc.

Timing is manually done from light to light whenevet the state or county or ? decides to recalibrate them, ie every several years.

Had one Saturday evening, train coming light went red, train went by light went green, except the road I was on was parralel to the tracks. We should have had the green all along.

Heck we could do a major hit to the unemployed, put someone at some of these busy intersections to control the traffic manually during rush hour.
Like the cops do now for special events etc.

[kknudson]

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

If you would the math - you would learn that is no solution in what you propose.

This is an old story (what you propose) but the math doesn't work.

You'll have to support your side, I've sat at enough intersections with a red light, with NO cross traffic in sight.
There is an intersection here, that until the newspaper got on the county's butt was allowing 3 or 4 cars per cycle through. Causing a several mile backup, yes the cross street is a busy one, but because they rarely had a red light it flowed well.
Now that it's been adjusted, the intersection almost works smoothly.

[Pooka]

The stop lights in downtown Tulsa are set up this way. If you take off from a red light and drive about 18 mph they will all turn green just before you get to them.

But this only works if you are the only car on the road, like on a week end or early in the morning, like 5 am. Any kind of traffic snarls the system up pretty quickly.

The speed limit in downtown is 20 mph.

[tbomachines]

Just think of how much energy we could save just by eliminating traffic lights altogether, nobody would ever have to slow down!

[KarTek]

Originally Posted by kknudson

Nope here there are some sections that are connected, but they are a small percentage. There are sensors to detect traffic and people in the left turn lane, but even those have issue's.
Some of the older ones don't always detect newer cars, too light, not enough steel, badly positioned etc.

Timing is manually done from light to light whenevet the state or county or ? decides to recalibrate them, ie every several years.

Had one Saturday evening, train coming light went red, train went by light went green, except the road I was on was parralel to the tracks. We should have had the green all along.

Heck we could do a major hit to the unemployed, put someone at some of these busy intersections to control the traffic manually during rush hour.
Like the cops do now for special events etc.

That's a shame. It seems far behind the times. I've seen the new intersections go up here and they're switching to digital cameras that monitor motion in the lanes rather than the traditional coils in the road bed to further tailor the program to suit conditions.