Self-regulating traffic lights might just make traffic flow more efficient

Traffic lights are important to make sure traffic flows smoothly at intersections, ensuring everyone gets their fair share of time to make a turn or cross a junction. Well, there are times when you wished that traffic lights were smarter, especially during different hours of the day when flow from one side is much heavier than the rest but the traffic light fails to discern the “weightage”, resulting in even more delays and frustration. Stefan Lämmer at the Dresden University of Technology and Dirk Helbing of ETH Zurich have joined forces to come up with a computer model of Dresden’s roads, where virtual traffic lights are equipped with sensors to calculate the expected number of oncoming vehicles, coming up with the length of time required for the light to remain green before clearing the path for other traffic. The end result? A reduced waiting time of 10 to 30 percent. This would not only help ease traffic jams, but also lower the number of CO2 emissions since cars need not remain idle unnecessarily any more than they should.