Login

r/trafficsignals

▲ 0 r/trafficsignals+1 crossposts

AI traffic signals

When will get AI traffic signals? As a retired engineer, every time I stop at the light, I'm looking at all the wasted time and gas from the dumb signals we have.

For example, there is a light I stop at regularly that is a small two lane road entering a 6 lane road. It makes me wait 1.5 minutes no mater if it just turned red for me, or if it has been red for 10 min. While I sit there, I'll see that there are no cars coming in either direction for for quite a distance. A smart AI signal could look down the road, see nobody was coming, quickly change to green for me, maybe even eliminating the yellow light on the lard road to save time, let me on the road, and switch back to green for the large road. Instead I see the cars coming, and just before they get to the light, it will change to let me on the road, stopping 10-20 cars, when it could have let me on earlier.

We have self driving cars, do we not have the technology to do the same with signals? I believe the technology is there (cameras/embedder sensors), but that cost vs benefit is not there for the cities.

Your thoughts?

reddit.com
u/surf57 — 10 days ago
▲ 40 r/trafficsignals+1 crossposts

Dutch-style countdown timers in Portland

"Did you know one of the most recognisable Dutch cycling innovations is now helping people on bikes in Portland?

Via a collaboration between the Bureau of Transportation, Dutch-style countdown timers were introduced to give cyclists greater certainty while waiting at traffic lights."

https://bsky.app/profile/dutchcycling.nl/post/3msbbuh5r5f2g

u/Appbeza — 11 days ago
▲ 27 r/trafficsignals

This is illegal in Spain since October 1st of this year

This is due to a new regulation stating that the amber light cannot overlap with the green light for pedestrians. Since October 1st, local authorities have been required to change their traffic light sequences; otherwise, they face fines.

u/El_carretero1 — 11 days ago
▲ 6 r/trafficsignals

Is it weird my community has so many inconsistent treatments of pedestrian crossings and can anything be done about it?

I live an "award winning" master planned community in Texas that's connected to a commercial center at the "front" of the community.

I'm a frequent pedestrian and I've become interested in pedestrian safety.

I just started educating myself about the nuances of pedestrian crossings and signs this week.

Walking and driving around these days, I've taken note of the dozens of pedestrian crossings. It's as if no two crossings are alike. Options include:

  1. Many pedestrian diamonds signs at crosswalks with no downward marker or "ahead" marker. This one also has R1-6 post on signpost saying stop for pedestrian in crosswalk. Others don't.

  2. Pedestrian diamond sign but with school crossing figures, nowhere near a school, and with R1-6 sign on the signpost. 60 feet before the crossing, no AHEAD sign or down arrow.

  3. Signs telling pedestrian on sidewalk to stop when crossing vehicular driveway, instead of telling driver to stop before driving over sidewalk as required by Texas law

  4. Unmarked crosswalk with pedestrian median cut across divided collector road but no curb ramp to get there on east side of intersection, while west side of intersection has ladder crosswalk.

It goes on, all through the community. Maybe the crosswalk is painted, maybe not, maybe there's a sign, maybe not, maybe it's school crossing figures on a diamond, maybe a downward arrow, maybe R1-6 plaques etc.

It's a "box of chocolates" approach to marking each pedestrian crossing.

And no, I don't think someone used "engineering judgment" for each of these various pedestrian treatments, like "the road demands X here and demands Y there." I think they just told a contractor "we need a pedestrian crossing" and each time the contractor grabbed what was in the back of the truck and did it his own way.

Is this all par for the course in the world of traffic signals? I could write a long letter to the county but I don't know that they would care or find it problematic.

u/WoodyForestt — 13 days ago