Morning Buzz: Traffic lights that help you save gas
This story comes to us from CBS affiliate KHOU in Houston. New technology created by Houston Transtar may help drivers save gas by not waiting long at red lights when there’s no traffic. It’s called the ACS Lite and it goes far beyond the manual timing of traffic lights. This is how it works: a computer linked to a series of lights constantly gets readings from underground censors. If the censor knows ten cars are half a mile away, it will turn the lights green just in time and turn them back to red as soon as everyone has gone through.
There are six of the connected signals being tested on Houston’s Memorial Drive. A Transtar official says not every light will turn green when you want it to, but the goal is to minimize your wait time and save you gas money. Transtar says using these signals travel time dropped by 11% and drivers used 7% less gas, because they didn’t hit as many lights. That could save more than $200 a year in fuel costs.
Transtar officials say it doesn’t cost much to change the signals – you basically just have to swap out the computer.
Would you like to see something like this in the Eastern Carolinas?
Posted by
on 07/14 at 02:58 AM
Put one at Cheves & Coit Streets. Currently, I think its sensors say “Hey, here comes a car… make them stop for a really long redlight.“
I’ve never gotten a green light there.
I like the idea of being able to save gas by looking at these alternatives. With today’s technology, there’s really so much we can do.