TU Delft PhD student develops smart traffic lights

Many common irritations experienced at traffic lights are easy to remove. This is demonstrated by ir. Ronald van Katwijk with the aid of a computer model, which enables smart traffic lights to communicate with each other and regulate traffic. Van Katwijk will receive his PhD on this subject from TU The Dutch traffic system does not always function perfectly. PhD candidate Ronald van Katwijk demonstrates that there is room for improvement. He has developed a computer model which enables traffic lights to communicate with each other extensively. Together, the traffic lights determine how vehicles can best be led through an area. Van Katwijk: “My traffic lights look beyond the obvious. They take each other into account.” This can translate into an average of 15% less time spent in getting from A to B, according to Van Katwijk. In the current system, traffic lights turn red if they observe a gap after a line of vehicles has passed the junction. The information is received from sensors in the road surface. Another traffic light can subsequently turn green. The sequence in which this occurs is predetermined. There are also maximum time spans for the lights being green, depending on the average amount of traffic. “But if more vehicles suddenly appear, for example due to a diversion, then traffic can become jammed because the amount of time the lights are green is no longer optimum for the situation.”//TU Delft