JOIN USWaiting time at signals set to reflect actual traffic flow
The police are set to introduce Area Traffic Control System (ATCS) in Bengaluru to ensure smoother traffic and lower pollution.
Under the system, all traffic signals in a designated area will be connected to a control room equipped with necessary hardware and software. The signals will send information about actual congestion on a road. The software will analyse the information to finalise timings to be set on each signal. The revised timing will be relayed to the signals and the same will be flashed at the traffic intersection.
The ATCS will enable road users to reach the last signal light in a particular zone at the fastest possible time. It will also evenly distribute congestion on the road, senior IPS officer M A Saleem, who was until recently Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), told Deccan Herald.
“The system will be introduced in a few months in the central business district under the B-Trac project. It will ensure some relief to road users as congestion will be evenly distributed on all roads in the CBD,” he said. He continued, “The timings at each traffic signal will vary depending on the congestion at every junction. More the congestion at a traffic junction longer the waiting time and vice versa.”
According to Saleem, the police in England and Australia have achieved a higher success rate in traffic management with the ATCS and the same model would be followed in Bengaluru. A survey will be conducted before the ATCS is introduced in Bengaluru, he said.
The police have roped in H P Khincha, chairman of Karnataka State Innovation Council and an advisor under B-Trac, to introduce the ATCS.
Prof Khincha said a survey of traffic patterns at a designated area would be conducted to identify difficult points like number of cross roads joining the main road and the continuous flow of traffic on a particular road. Police personnel regulating traffic at a junction would be trained in the new system so that they feel more comfortable, he added.
The ATCS was first introduced in Pune about five years ago, covering 37 signals. The impact study before and after the ATCS showed smoother flow of traffic and lower pollution levels. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing has developed the indigenous software called COSICOFT for the ATCS, Khincha said.