How do traffic lights organize our lives?

Do you ever think where traffic lights are used first, how they work, what kind of benefits they have?

How do traffic lights organize our lives?

In big cities, millions of vehicles and pedestrians are moving in traffic every day. Where are traffic lights which are working non-stop, controlling traffic and regulating traffic are used for the first time, how are they working, what do they have for the disabled? Let's see how traffic lights organize our lives...

The inspiration of the signaling system in traffic was due to the lights that controlled the train movements on the railways and the colors were taken from here. The patent belongs to Garrett Augustus Morgan, who was the first car owner among black people in America. The effects of the industrial revolution that emerged in England in the 18th century and the increasing number of cars with the automobile's invention brought about traffic chaos. While the first traffic lights were used in London in 1868, 1929 was the year when they were first used in İstanbul, Turkey.

Traffic lights in big cities

Capacity utilization is high due to excessive intensity, since traffic affects daily life, solutions-centered units work together, and immediate intervention is applied.

Traffic lights in other cities

Capacity utilization is low because density is not high. For this reason, the traffic concept is often ignored, and the solutions are not considered.

Working principle

With the central traffic control system, junctions and traffic flow are monitored and controlled non-stop for 24 hours thanks to hundreds of cameras installed. With this system that works continuously, city traffic is completely under control. Faults and alarms are detected quickly, and intervention is done from the center.

Thanks to the traffic control booths located in the city junctions, the traffic flow in the area is monitored. Sensors located under the pavements in the intersection pass, intermit the data to the control box as the cars pass. The timing of the lights is verified according to the number of vehicles passing through a program, then all collected information is directed to the "Traffic Control Center". Traffic lights all over the city are scheduled from one place: "Traffic Control Center". This data management center adjusts the light timing according to the position of pavement sensors, traffic cameras, 112 emergency ambulances, road crews, traffic controllers and police teams. If there is any confusion in the data transmitted from the traffic control booths, the lights in the box junction are fixed in one color to prevent any accident. Thanks to this system, visible progress and pace are achieved in transportation.

Fixed-time control

· Signal cycle time and green light time are determined according to recorded current.

· Separate values can be assigned at specific times of day, or a single value can be assigned.

Traffic alert control

· Light times at junctions are transiently changed by calculating delays.

· This method is used at junctions where the traffic is quite dense and variable.

Lamp system used in traffic signaling

In the old system, classical incandescent lamps were lightening the traffic lights. Now the LED light system have substituted for the halogens. LED lamps, brighter than conventional lamps are long-lasting. They can serve more than 10 years and they are economical. You can also find solar energy lights. They are resistant to vibrations, impacts, weather conditions showing resistance to high and low temperatures. They are small and easy to insulate. They do not get dirty and require maintenance. Since LED lights can be flashing in very short time intervals, they provide not only warning light, but also offers safer traffic conditions by expressing figure and number.

Minimum durations in traffic lights

· No signalization is needed at junctions requiring more than 30 seconds of cycle time. However, it can be reduced to 25 seconds in order to prevent accidents.

· At least 6 seconds are scheduled for pedestrians.

· Green period for vehicles is at least 8 seconds.

Maximum times

· The maximum duration of the cycle is 120 seconds.

· In case of necessity, the cycle time can be increased up to 150 seconds.

· There is no restriction for green periods.

Audible signaling for the disabled

One of the problems that visually impaired passengers face in traffic is that y-they are not able to understand the traffic lights when they go across the road. The audible signaling system is a very successful application for the visually-impaired people to walk comfortably on the roads and to be able to pass easily across the roads. In big cities, "audible signaling system" is applied in central places, but their numbers are very inadequate. In the audible signaling system that started to be implemented in the city center in Isparta in 2009, unlike the others, the color of the light is told to the visually-impaired passengers. Also, the seconds passing between yellow and green light are counted one by one. The slow progress of the audible signaling system around the world motivated a Russian company to take an alternative initiative in this regard. SeeLight, a mass-traffic traffic data application, offers voiced information for visually impaired people to cross the road.