Smarter Signals Are Traffic Solution

This letter is in regard to the many articles and letters I’ve seen describing the traffic problems and solutions in Southern California. Recently, there was an article that some company had won a contract to improve the timing of the traffic lights in Orange County but, based on the article, they are not spending our money in the best way.

Many people don’t realize that our traffic lights are almost all triggered as opposed to timed. They do have timers also but, in general, they are triggered by cars running over a sensor buried under the pavement.

As nice as the triggered lights are (and as expensive as they are compared to simple timed lights), they are completely unintelligent and, with the amount of traffic we have, designed more to clot traffic than to permit it to flow smoothly.

They are timed to remain green (after being triggered) for the same amount of time as the previous light in the highest traffic flow direction. This means that while traffic is waiting for one light, the next light is usually green. As soon as the waiting traffic gets to the second light, the timer has elapsed and the light changes, requiring the traffic to wait again.

A solution for this situation is a more intelligent network of traffic signals. The lowest level of improvement would be to put a computer in each light (I figure the cost should be no more than $200 per light), to figure out traffic patterns for different times of day.

An even better solution would be the same computer system but where the traffic lights communicate with each other over a network via microwave, infrared or fiber optics. Then these lights can tell the lights around them what their traffic pattern is and the surrounding lights can adjust.

All of my analysis can be verified by simple observation. Check how many times you find yourself waiting for a light, only to find that you have to wait for every light after that.

Correcting this problem with the traffic lights will not only improve traffic and lower frustration, but will help the smog situation. A car generates the most smog while it is idling and accelerating.

CHRISTOPHER W. CARLSON

Mission Viejo