A technology for smart traffic signals has been developed at Carnegie Mellon University and is being used in a pilot project in Pittsburgh in an effort to reduce vehicle emissions in the city.
Using fiber optic video receivers similar to those already employed in dynamic control systems, the new technology monitors vehicle numbers and makes changes in real time to avoid congestion wherever possible.
By anticipating the needs of the approaching vehicles, as opposed to reacting to them after they arrive and stop, this system has the potential to save motorist time while cutting down harmful emissions.
[5][6][7] In the United Kingdom, lights that changed to red when sensing that an approaching motorist was traveling too fast were being trialled in Swindon in 2011,[8] to see if they are more effective at reducing the number of accidents on the road than the speed cameras that preceded them and which were removed following a council decision in 2008.
These lights are more focused on encouraging motorists to obey the law but if they prove to be a success then they could pave the way for more sophisticated systems to be introduced in the UK.