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The inportance of traffic lights
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Traffic lights are signaling devices located at road intersections and pedestrian crossings, they are now part of our everyday life. Before traffic lights were invented, policeman would control traffic, but accidents would still occur frequently. This is when J.P Knight took action in 1868 and made the first traffic light. It was installed outside the British Houses Of Parliament but didn’t last long since it exploded in 1869 due to a gas leak. It was only in 1912 that a man named Lester Wire created an electrical traffic light that is still used today. There are three main types of traffic lights: fixed timed, semi actuated and fully actuated. Fixed time traffic light are light where “signals change according to a pre-set timing. The signals will cycle all the time even if there is no vehicle or pedestrian demand.” (a). In semi actuated signals vehicle detectors and push buttons are installed on streets and roads. The traffic signals will remain green until either a group of vehicles is detected or a pedestrian pushes a button. Lastly in fully actuated lights “ signals are programmed to change with minimum green times depending on the traffic and pedestrian demand on all approaches. The signals will change based on the demand from each approach.” (b). Traffic lights were only starting to be used in not only urban regions but also rural regions in only 1975. This graph shows the number of serious accidents from 1980 to 2012. As you can see the number of accidents has decreased. This is due to the fact that traffic lights were used seriously. Before any type of traffic lights were invented, car circulation would be unquestionably crazy. Car accidents would often happen; pedestrians and car drivers would die. City d... ... middle of paper ... ...E] Available at: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/economic_unit/docs/traffic-signals.pdf.html. [Accessed 29 November 13]. In-text references: 11. (a), (b) Halton Region. 2012. How Traffic Signals Work. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.halton.ca/cms/One.aspx?pageId=78249. [Accessed 30 November 13]. 12. (c). Hanks. P. 2000. The Basics of Loop Vehicle Detection. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.marshproducts.com/pdf/Inductive%20Loop%20Write%20up.pdf.html. [Accessed 01 December 13]. 13. (d) Johns. S. 2011. Traffic Signal Information Traffic Signal History. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mctraffic.org/signal.html. [Accessed 01 December 13]. 14. (e) Hopkins. K. 2011. City officials discuss pros and cons of new traffic lights. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.wvec.com/my-city/norfolk/Hampton-Roads-traffic-lights-go-green-130729983.html. [Accessed 01 December 13].
A simple Google search will turn up hundreds of studies based on the effectiveness of emergency lighting on the road. Obviously, this wealth of information is too vast to summarize in one article; however, there is one study that sticks out when discussing whether red or blue emergency vehicle lights are easier to see on the road. In this article, we will go over a study released by Lt. James D. Wells Jr. on behalf of the Florida Highway Patrol. This study was released in 2004 and concentrates mainly on emergency lighting configurations and the effectiveness of these lights in helping to reduce collisions on the road and keeping officers and emergency first responders safer on the road.
The argument that Forestville should reverse a decision it made six months ago to raise its speed limit by 10MPH due to a 15% rise in accidents because accidents in Elmsford, a neighboring region, declined slightly, is inconclusive. A base line study of traffic pattern disruptions and speed variances in Forestville and Elmsford comparing demographic data, location, rate, and type of accidents for more than six months might determine significant risk factors. Federal studies suggest that accidents rise if speed limits are raised on highways by as much as 5% for each 4 MPH but on moderate speed limit roads, no such relationship exists. Other studies show accidents decrease with a rise in speed limit since artificially low limits also cause accidents.
The automobile’s invention revolutionized the American transportation system. It allowed people to move themselves and cargo from city-to-city and state-to-state in a much faster and efficient manner. Its numbers increased as it gained popularity and became affordable. This led to the development of road networks both within and between cities. Problems arose in the areas where roads intersected each other; accidents occurred at these intersections due to the lack in control of vehicular movements. Cities employed people to direct traffic at busy intersections to address this issue, but eventually the intersections became too numerous to control using this method. The development of automated traffic control devices attempted to solve this problem. Initially, these consisted of an alternating sign system that simply read stop and proceed. This system soon evolved into the method utilized today with red, amber, and green lights. However, this system could not force vehicles to stop when the light turned red and intersections still required monitoring by the police to enforce traffic regulations.
Various aspects of traffic congestion in Toronto have been analyzed in detail. It is clear that Toronto is facing a serious problem of traffic congestion since it is the most congested city in North America. Traffic congestion in Toronto costs over $ 2 billion annually and it is caused by a variety of factors. These factors are categorized into non-recurring and recurring factors. However, the paper focused on recurring factors which contribute to the largest proportion of traffic congestion in Canada. These include increased automobile use, poor planning and lapse in implementation of laws which govern traffic systems. This leads to the use of many private cars by employees who commute to work as opposed to use of public transport systems resulting in congestion. Traffic congestion in Toronto has various adverse effects including barriers to emergency services, delays, idle time and opportunity costs as well as pollution.
The central idea of the newsela article, "The clever thing one Dutch town is doing to protect 'smartphone zombies'" written by Amy B. Wang is that the town of Bodegraven-Reeuwijk is outsmarting the common scenario of people texting while walking. In fact, the article states that the town of Bodegraven-Reeuwijk is installing led lights called "+Lichtlijn" (Wang paragraph 3) into the pavement for citizens prior to crossing the street. Furthermore, these light lines, according to officials, change colors "synced up to the traffic lights" (Wang paragraph 4) to help visualize when to cross the street for people looking down at their phones. Moreover, this experiment could also save the lives of many innocent people. The article states that "5,376
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DW Staff. "European Towns Remove Traffic Signs to Make Streets Safer | Europe | DW.DE | 27.08.2006." DW.DE. N.p., 27 Aug. 2006. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Every day citizens of America are bombarded by signs and symbols that tell them how function within their society. Information swirls around them, from billboards to street signs to commercials on TV. Yet the signs which are seemingly regarded as the most important symbols are those associated with so-called “rules of the road”. Americans must conform to traffic rules and regulations in order to keep themselves and those around them safe. But are these rules inherent or imposed upon citizens by the social current of the time? This paper will examine some of these regulations, including traffic lights, crosswalks, and sidewalks, and how their presence is culturally reveling relevant to America.
Violanti, J. M. (1998). Cellular phones and fatal traffic collisions. In: Accident Analysis and Prevention, 30(4), 519-52
By having every stoplight work, it will signal drivers to have the most safe was to drive and avoid damage to a car. If a stop light went out, for example during a natural disaster like a hurricane, wrecks could come to an all time high, but as long as they work, the better life
Traffic Control System was then and is now operating on World War II era technology with most
Traffic engineers and planners need information about traffic. They need information to design and manage road and traffic system. They use the information for planning and designing traffic facilities, selecting geometric standards, economic analysis and determination of priorities. They use this to justify warrant of traffic control devices such as signs, traffic signals, pavement markings, school and pedestrian crossings. The also use this information to study the effectiveness of introduced schemes, diagnosing given situations and finding appropriate solutions, forecasting the effects of projected strategies, calibrating and validating traffic models.
Traffic control establishes a set of rules and regulations that people rely on to help avoid collisions and other hazards. With almost 160 million motorists and 3.8 million miles of public roads in the United States, traffic control on the highways is an important aspect of daily life. Without the control of speed there would be more fatalities than we already have now. Speed limits should be obeyed. A motorist going too slow could cause an accident. When everyone is traveling at the speed limit, a car comes up going 40 mph; if you break everyone will, too, perhaps causing a collision. Motorists depend on traffic control to avoid collisions and travel safely to their destination.
When the planning of putting traffic lights and stop signs, you should look at the subdivision plan and figure out where all the buildings and schools are for the protection of students walking and riding home from school. In our plan that we have made, we will need traffic lights next to the school, so people will look out for the students going home. We will need a stop sign next to the park incase kids run out in the street. This will help the protection of the kids having fun. Will need a traffic light separating the mall and the store. This will be the busiest part of the town with people going to the mall and the store. And finally there will need to be a stop sign at the end of the streets so people don’t drive to fast and get in a big accident. If this is down everyone will be safe driving, walking, or riding their bikes.
The primary point of traffic laws is safety, but also keeping order. Following traffic laws is one of the most essential aspects of driving and can increase your safety as well as of the people around you. Knowing the traffic rules in our region and applying them can prevent us from getting involved in an car accident and save us the pain and costs of a traffic ticket due to a violation. If we didn’t have any traffic laws there would be chaos on the roads and many disasters could happen.