CONTROL OF TRAFFIC

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30939, 21 December 1965, Page 26

CONTROL OF TRAFFIC

New Electronic Device An electronic “bird’s eye view” of traffic, enabling its supervision in towns, tunnels, and on motorways, can be provided by new computer-fed British equipment.

“I shouldn’t wonder if it’s not one day being used in Colombo street," said Mr S. E. Boanas, when the Christchurch Transport Board met yesterday. Under the new device, the traffic flow could be supervised by an electronic map, said Mr Boanas, chairman of the board's works and traffic committee. Arrow-shaped indicator lights pointed in the direction of vehicle flow, and changed colour as traffic conditions at each point varied. The equipment, said Mr Boaoas, could be housed at police headquarters or a trafficcontrol centre. It was fully automatic, being run by a small computer fed with data transmitted from roadside detectors. “The map need not be watched continuously, for a bell rings when a traffic queue forms at some point on the map, and a buzzer warns of persistent traffic hold-ups,” Mr Boanas said. The number of vehicles on a road could be estimated by comparing the lights at two points on the road, he said. The information was “received” by the board.