So… they finally started using Induction Loops in the US?
Those have been around in Germany for decades. Especially in town and in “traffic calmed” zones. Your Vehicle passes over the induction loop, the traffic light switches to red and has a calculated timer that goes like “distance from loop to intersection, travelled at correct speed equals 17 seconds” so when you drive faster than the correct speed, the lights will not have reached the end of the timer and will not have switched.
Combine that with a red light camera and geez look at that, people know how to drive slowly in Areas with playing children!
We’ve had induction loops in most signaled intersections here for decades, it’s just that we tend to only use them for measuring how many vehicles are waiting at a red. Some lights won’t even go green unless they detect a vehicle stopped over the loops.
Making the sensing (whether loop- or camera-based) speed-aware seems to be the headline here. Which, does exist here plenty already, but I would love to see it even more often. Signage expaining that the lights are timed to X MPH would be helpful too, for the people that wouldn’t pick up on that naturally (quite possibly the majority here, sadly).
So… they finally started using Induction Loops in the US?
Those have been around in Germany for decades. Especially in town and in “traffic calmed” zones. Your Vehicle passes over the induction loop, the traffic light switches to red and has a calculated timer that goes like “distance from loop to intersection, travelled at correct speed equals 17 seconds” so when you drive faster than the correct speed, the lights will not have reached the end of the timer and will not have switched. Combine that with a red light camera and geez look at that, people know how to drive slowly in Areas with playing children!
…and pedestrians, people in chairs, on bicycles, scooters etc
We’ve had induction loops in most signaled intersections here for decades, it’s just that we tend to only use them for measuring how many vehicles are waiting at a red. Some lights won’t even go green unless they detect a vehicle stopped over the loops.
Making the sensing (whether loop- or camera-based) speed-aware seems to be the headline here. Which, does exist here plenty already, but I would love to see it even more often. Signage expaining that the lights are timed to X MPH would be helpful too, for the people that wouldn’t pick up on that naturally (quite possibly the majority here, sadly).