3 ms·
Lots of traffic lights in my area already have sensors (induction loops to detect waiting cars or approaching bicycles, IR motion detectors to detect pedestrian
by jakobegger 9y ago
Lots of traffic lights in my area already have sensors (induction loops to detect waiting cars or approaching bicycles, IR motion detectors to detect pedestrians). In some cases this is really useful (eg. a traffic light for a bike path does not need to switch very often in winter, so it only switches when a bike approaches)
I think that the problem is that often there is too much traffic from all directions and even with all the sensors in the world the traffic light can‘t change that.
- jakecopp 9y agoI believe the induction loops only sense if the first car is present. This is helpful, but can't detect the number of cars which I think is the next most important metric.
- niftich 9y agoThere's also an amusing "failure mode" of induction loops: impatient people pulling up further into an intersection -- for example, aiming for an opportunistic left turn -- and they move off of the loop. The lights cycle; the left turn green arrow which would give them an exclusive phase never materializes.
- nordsieck 9y agoAt busy intersections, there will typically be a loop at the 1st spot and a second loop further back - say, at the 5th spot. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.