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Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Getting rid of traffic lights would get you to work much quicker

But only if motoring technology advances.

A TRAFFIC-LIGHT free world may be the wish of every commuter running late in the morning, but it could also make driving much quicker.

That is, if motoring technology advances to a point where cars can communicate with one another.

A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests that sensor-based crossroads would be twice as quick as traffic lights and would allow twice as much traffic use the roads.

The study uses mathematical modelling to show that a light-free world would run smoother.

The researchers examined a scenario in which high-tech vehicles use sensors to remain at a safe distance from each other as they move through a four-way crossroads.

By removing the waits caused by traffic lights, these so-called Slot-based Intersections (SIs) speed up traffic flow.

“An intersection is a difficult place, because you have two flows competing for the same piece of real estate,” says Carlo Ratti, a professor of the practice and director of the SENSEable City Lab in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and a co-author of the study.

But a system with sophisticated technology and no traffic lights, he adds, “moves control from the [traffic] flow level to the vehicle level.”

Paolo Santi, a researcher in the SENSEable City Lab who is a member of the Italian National Research Council and another co-author of the study, says the greater capacity does not stem from vehicles moving more quickly. Rather, it comes from creating a more consistent flow at an optimal middle speed, at which automobiles can keep moving.

“You want the car to use the intersection for the shortest possible time,” Santi says.

The researchers use the comparison to plane boarding to explain their theory. They call it the “slower is faster approach”. When passengers board an airplane, they tend to move faster if they are in smaller clusters that keep going steadily, as opposed to a scenario in which everyone crowds around the entrance, creating a giant bottleneck.

Ratti thinks the intersection-first theoretical approach to urban traffic will prove beneficial: “Because the intersection is the crucial point, once you solve the intersection, it has a beneficial effect on the whole system.”

Read: Almost 100,000 cars in Ireland don’t get driven at all

Read: Man in his 30s found dead in his car by passing motorist

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35 Comments
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    Mute Ned Kelly Ireland
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 6:28 AM

    Traffic lights on minor junctions should flash Amber when traffic volumes are light and at night time like they do in other European countries

    105
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    Mute P. ENNIS
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 6:53 AM

    Ned Kelly what a great name to have.

    10
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    Mute Alan Lawlor
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:09 AM

    They used to – I remember in the 1970s that lights were off in the middle of the night.

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    Mute Darragh
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:47 AM

    In the 1800s they never bothered with traffic lights.

    30
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    Mute Steve Tracey
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 10:24 AM

    Need
    Another change in Germany at least East following reunification the old East German system of allowing vehicles to turn right at red lights if safe would also speed up traffic. Obviously here it would be turning left. I’m not sure if tge system is still allowed. It worked throughout the DDR period and as said carried on for a number of years after reunification

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    Mute Graham
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 10:55 AM

    They could make left turns through red lights allowed upon yielding to on coming traffic. Works in Canada for there right turns so why not us on the left…http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/handbook/section2.6.3.shtml

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    Mute Rothar Man
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 6:40 AM

    As a cyclist I’d feel pretty lost if there were no red lights to go through.
    What would drivers shout at me then?

    94
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    Mute Al-Right
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 8:13 AM

    Don’t worry @rotharman, Darwin will take care of you one of these days!

    23
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    Mute john Appleseed
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 6:18 AM

    What about the crossroads that turn on the pedestrian lights whether there’s anyone there or not.

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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 6:58 AM

    Cars should be able to go once the pedestrian has crossed or if there clearly isn’t any pedestrian at all.

    42
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    Mute Alan Lawlor
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:11 AM

    This occurs on secondary roads in cities to break up and make gaps in traffic to allow cars out from side roads/housing estate roads elsewhere on the stretch

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    Mute Niall Mullane
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:36 AM

    Have you ever noticed how the traffic mover a lot faster when traffic lights are out of order especially in rush hour.

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    Mute Mark Ryan
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 9:04 AM

    On the main roads… But think of the people trying to get on to them

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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:27 AM

    So the vehicles communicate with each other. How does this work for pedestrians?

    26
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    Mute Brendan Hughes
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:31 AM

    It’s an extermination process.

    32
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    Mute Uncle Denise
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 6:59 AM

    They would shout at you for cycling in pairs and greater whilst blocking the entire lane. Never fear, for motorists are here.

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    Mute Sharon Horgan
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:35 AM

    Just move to Leitrim no traffic light problems there!

    16
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    Mute Brian Lenehan
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:57 AM

    In fact they installed a pedestrian traffic light, the first in the county, around ten years ago but have removed it since due to lack of use.

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    Mute Ronan Sexton
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 8:38 AM

    When there is a big match in Thomond park, they turn off all the traffic lights and the traffic flows freely and the crowd clears fairly fast. And they still insist on putting up new lights all over the place, causing build up all over the city. Geniuses in city hall.

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    Mute Mark Ryan
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 9:06 AM

    The reason this MIT lecturer is saying traffic lights could be turned off is cars will be communicating with each other. The reason they can’t at the minute is people are driving them and motorists will make bad decisions

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    Mute Valthebear
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 8:31 AM

    Pedestrian traffic lights just off roundabouts seems to be the fashion in Dublin now. A few walk bridges over roads would help. Anyone ever try navigate the Donaghmede roundabout of a morning?

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    Mute Gerard Heery
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 8:06 AM

    They use the lights in Waterford as an agenda to drive traffic across the new bridge, they slow ed traffic down to fuss striate motorists to use the heavily in debted bridge ,but it’s not working so then they made a country lane out of the quays,from 4 lanes to 2 lanes ,but it still not getting rid of traffic ,so now their going to make a one way system from hell on the cork road to facilitate bikes, they have lost plot ,the town is not suitable for bikes it’s has too many steep hills and this makes bikes a less favoured mode of transport in the wind and rain on the school run when a comfy overtaxed car is sitting outside the door ,

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    Mute Dan
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 8:29 AM

    So basically a roundabout at every junction.

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    Mute ocJBI3Df
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 8:29 AM

    Getting rid of rollbars and airbags would make my car faster but I’m still not going to rip them out

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    Mute Celtic_Horizon
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:11 AM

    That would be too simple.

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    Mute Damocles
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 11:10 AM

    Like Bray Main Street?

    The traffic lights are there, sure, but they might as well not be for all the consideration they get from motorists/

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    Mute Ian McNally
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:32 AM

    Click bait headline

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    Mute Philip O'Beachain
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 7:37 AM

    Agreed, they do this in the states too

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    Mute Ó Muirí Oisín
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 8:01 AM

    I live in Accra, Ghana for the last number of years and when
    I arrived, I was shocked at the (perceived) madness at interchanges due to lack of working traffic lights. This year (election year), there are fancy new solar powered traffic lights everywhere and the city is at a standstill! I learned that it was organised chaos pre traffic lights, but it kept the city moving faster no doubt

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    Mute Gary
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 11:43 AM

    What about the bus corridors like the one past bushy park in Terenure. No bus but the light stays red for ages.

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    Mute eastsmer
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 1:30 PM

    The current method of local councils in Ireland is to remove roundabouts and replace them with traffic lights.
    Expensive and unnecessary in many cases but it is the EU suggested ‘way forward’ so we blindly adopt it.

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    Mute Al-Right
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 11:24 AM

    Traffic light crossings have risen along with the massive rise in car ownership/usage in my area of Dublin, I have a short commute to work but drive past 8 sets of traffic lights in a few KM’s…

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    Mute Shawn Rahoon
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 12:49 PM

    Correct Ned (Des Garreth) Kelly… You should also be allowed to turn left on red at certain junctions, and treat it as a yield sign.

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    Mute Shawn Rahoon
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 1:41 PM

    Yes I remember that. Half of Leitrim attended the opening with Fr O’Flaherty cutting the ribbon.

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    Mute Graham
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 10:49 AM

    Do as they do in Canada. Have left turns through red lights allowed upon yielding to on coming traffic.

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    Mute Patricia O'Reilly
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    Mar 22nd 2016, 12:59 PM

    At smaller junctions, traffic would flow much better with no lights. I lived in sth Africa for a while and their system of four way stops at junctions with the first come first move system worked fantastically. However here in Ireland for some reason most drivers men and women have no manners and no patience, it would be very hard to implement. But how about BANNING right turns completely unless there could be a dedicated right turn lane. There are very few towns where it would cause huge inconvenience to drivers to go a little further and go left to come back or put in a few more roundabouts. More accidents are caused by this one thing…

    1
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