Pioneering traffic light scheme set to replace speed cameras (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Pioneering traffic light scheme set to replace speed cameras
6:30am Thursday 19th May 2011 in News
SPEEDING motorists could soon be shown the red light when a brand new initiative is introduced in the town.
The Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership along with the Swindon Council are piloting a scheme which will see traffic lights used to stop drivers speeding.
Two roads in Swindon have been chosen for a pilot study, the first in the entire country, where traffic lights will turn to red if they detect a speeding motorist approaching in a bid to stop them in their tracks.
The hi-tech system will be introduced to Thamesdown Drive at the Callington Road junction and Queens Drive at the Whitbourne Avenue junction in the autumn.
Both these roads have a speed limit of 40mph but are subject to significant numbers of speeding vehicles and have also been the scenes of several accidents in the last five years.
Statistics show that 67 per cent of vehicles exceed the speed limit in Thamesdown Drive and 38 per cent of vehicles go too fast on Queens Drive.
Councillor Peter Greenhalgh, cabinet member for sustainability, strategic planning, property and transport, said: “This is very much a first for Swindon and we will use the data collected at the trial sites and it could well be rolled out across Swindon.
“It has been used in Europe but I do not know anywhere in the UK where they use this scheme.
“This is part of the council’s traffic management and we have identified a couple of key locations on which to trial it.
“Hopefully it will encourage drivers to be aware of their speeds and also to be aware of what is going on ahead of them.
“It will irritate drivers but if you maintain a steady speed at or around the speed limit you will get to where you want to be quicker because you won’t be held up at traffic lights.”
A specialist piece of equipment connected to the traffic signal system, called a Data Logger, will record the speed of all vehicles that pass.
Motorists driving at speed over a specific threshold, which Swindon Council will not reveal, are identified as speeding, triggering the traffic signals at the junction to turn to from green to red.
To ensure that speeding vehicles have enough time to safely stop when the signals change to red, the Data Logger is located well in advance of the junction.
The cameras will recognise emergency service vehicle number plates and ensure that a red signal is not triggered for emergency service vehicles.
The trial will highlight vehicles travelling in excess of the limit in a northbound direction at both locations, vehicles on Callington Road and Whitbourne Avenue will not be subject to the trial.
Speed data for Thamesdown Drive and Queens Drive suggests that the signals are likely to operate to their usual phasing in the morning and evening peak when vehicles are likely to be travelling well within the speed limit to avoid congestion.
The system is therefore likely to be effective at off-peak times when traffic volumes are lower and vehicle speeds are higher.
The council has said that the two trial areas are speeding blackspots and in 2009 a motorcyclist died after a smash on Thamesdown Drive.
The accident happened just past the Tawny Owl pub when two bikers, traveling north along Thamesdown Drive, collided.
In 2008 there was a fatal accident in Queens Drive when a red Honda Accord crashed at the junction of Queens Drive and Whitbourne Avenue.
Comments(28)
A.Baron-Cohen
says...
8:33am Thu 19 May 11
L3mming wrote:The best way moving forward would be to restrict all motorvehicles speed to a maximum of 70mph.
Not a bad idea in principle seeing as lunatics do hurtle down Queen's Drive regulary! However, all speed abiding motorists will suffer because of idiots continuing to speed in these areas forcing everyone to have to come to a stop at the lights targeted at them. Out of town speeders not savy to the new system will cause the same hold up's. This will of course then add to polution as everyone revs their engines to take off again.
Sticking a couple of motor bike cops at these locations, which would probably be paid for from the tickets alone, might dissuade the frequent flyers. Would probably also catch a load of unroadworthy vehicles as well and take them off the roads.
Saying that, do we actually have any patrols catching speeders? Since the removal of the camera's I've never seen a radar cop and only ever seen a ANPR wagon once in all that time.
While they're at it, stick a unit on Gypsy Lane because I saw at least 6 people on mobile phones last night as I drove past them towards Gorse Hill, sorry Pinehust Ward.
It is already in place for many commercial vans so I do not understand why this governement if so incline to combat speeding has not yet pass this into Law?!?
Hmmmf
says...
8:34am Thu 19 May 11
How much will this cost compared to the now-defunct speed cameras?
Where in Europe has it been used and what were the outcomes?
Why has it not been implemented anywhere else in the UK?
Why would a data logger (which, as the name accurately suggests, records -or logs- data) need cameras and number-plate recognition systems to identify emergency services vehicle number plates? Isn't the truth really that two systems are required, one to log data (speed) and one to identify vehicle number plates?
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And that being the case, wouldn't the combined system give the council exactly the same details as the old cameras did (speed, number plate) but for *all* vehicles, speeding or not? Such a system would certainly make it easy for the council to re-introduce speeding fines in addition to operating red lights. It could also be used by the 'local authorities' to turn a light red against a specific vehicle irrespective of speed, could it not?
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The Adver could also have asked for assurances that the system and the data it collects will be operated in compliance with the Data Protection Act.
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Alas, it didn't. The article raises many more questions than it answers.
I 2 Could B
says...
9:19am Thu 19 May 11
why is so much time and money being devoted to speeding, when illegal speed is only a factor in c.5% of all accidents? in the case of the two accidents referred to on thamesdown drive, neither seem as though they're likely to have been caused by speeding.
two bikers, driving the same direction, 'collide' into each other?? somehow, that doesn't sound like speeding was the issue.
itsamess
says...
9:22am Thu 19 May 11
Grimwald
says...
9:46am Thu 19 May 11
The Artist formally known as Grumpy Old Man
says...
9:57am Thu 19 May 11
Also, most of the dangerous speeders going down this road are motorbikes. I hope this system can cope with them too!
Meldrews Dad
says...
9:58am Thu 19 May 11
Approach them doing 10mph too much and you are stopped. Approach at slightly over the limit and they stay red long enough to slow you down and then go green in time for you to continue at a safe speed.
The whole concept is a smooth unobtrusive method of traffic calming.
I certainly haven't met anyone there who wants the road humps returned and you never see a gendarme monitoring it - they are too busy doing regular vehicle checks.
For once SBC appears to have got it right. Much better than pumping money in to the camera "Safety" partnership that was simply a money raising scam organisation - much like our present police force!
oldbutawake
says...
10:39am Thu 19 May 11
I 2 Could B
says...
11:43am Thu 19 May 11
quite sickeningly, and shamefully, it was revealed that the Department for Transport had previously discouraged green waves as they reduced fuel usage, and thus less revenue was raised from fuel taxes.
trying to make roads safer? don't make me laugh.
adsinibiza
says...
11:44am Thu 19 May 11
Meldrews Dad wrote:I agree - an initiative to do with road safety that for once is not a revenue generation exercise!
These speed sensitive traffic lights are absolutely brilliant. A set was installed in Ernee, France a couple of years ago to replace a "sleeping policeman" and they are really effective in controlling excess speed.
Approach them doing 10mph too much and you are stopped. Approach at slightly over the limit and they stay red long enough to slow you down and then go green in time for you to continue at a safe speed.
The whole concept is a smooth unobtrusive method of traffic calming.
I certainly haven't met anyone there who wants the road humps returned and you never see a gendarme monitoring it - they are too busy doing regular vehicle checks.
For once SBC appears to have got it right. Much better than pumping money in to the camera "Safety" partnership that was simply a money raising scam organisation - much like our present police force!
PJC
says...
12:00pm Thu 19 May 11
Hmmmf
says...
12:31pm Thu 19 May 11
adsinibiza wrote:They may be brilliant at calming traffic entering a sleepy French or Spanish village, but on a dual-carriageway arterial road? The excuse that there were fatal accidents in 2008 and 2009 doesn't hold water; if speeding on the roads was such an issue that accidents and fatalities were happening every few months then 'calming measures' would've been implemented long ago which would've been a lot cheaper to adopt than a new ANPR/Speed-Sensitive system. "Several accidents in the last five years" is probably true of every major road in the country. If the DfT's "Shared Space" project becomes a reality in Swindon too then this new system (as well as the existing lights) will soon be redundant. The costs will be great, the benefits probably unnoticeable. The Adver should've asked many more questions instead of falling for the "Pioneering" PR nonsense.
Meldrews Dad wrote:I agree - an initiative to do with road safety that for once is not a revenue generation exercise!
These speed sensitive traffic lights are absolutely brilliant. A set was installed in Ernee, France a couple of years ago to replace a "sleeping policeman" and they are really effective in controlling excess speed.
Approach them doing 10mph too much and you are stopped. Approach at slightly over the limit and they stay red long enough to slow you down and then go green in time for you to continue at a safe speed.
The whole concept is a smooth unobtrusive method of traffic calming.
I certainly haven't met anyone there who wants the road humps returned and you never see a gendarme monitoring it - they are too busy doing regular vehicle checks.
For once SBC appears to have got it right. Much better than pumping money in to the camera "Safety" partnership that was simply a money raising scam organisation - much like our present police force!
Tadpoler
says...
12:44pm Thu 19 May 11
jmostfc
says...
1:13pm Thu 19 May 11
A.Baron-Cohen wrote:what a good idea, the roads in question are 40mph so this would have no effect at all.
L3mming wrote: Not a bad idea in principle seeing as lunatics do hurtle down Queen's Drive regulary! However, all speed abiding motorists will suffer because of idiots continuing to speed in these areas forcing everyone to have to come to a stop at the lights targeted at them. Out of town speeders not savy to the new system will cause the same hold up's. This will of course then add to polution as everyone revs their engines to take off again. Sticking a couple of motor bike cops at these locations, which would probably be paid for from the tickets alone, might dissuade the frequent flyers. Would probably also catch a load of unroadworthy vehicles as well and take them off the roads. Saying that, do we actually have any patrols catching speeders? Since the removal of the camera's I've never seen a radar cop and only ever seen a ANPR wagon once in all that time. While they're at it, stick a unit on Gypsy Lane because I saw at least 6 people on mobile phones last night as I drove past them towards Gorse Hill, sorry Pinehust Ward.The best way moving forward would be to restrict all motorvehicles speed to a maximum of 70mph. It is already in place for many commercial vans so I do not understand why this governement if so incline to combat speeding has not yet pass this into Law?!?
Gooey
says...
1:28pm Thu 19 May 11
Robfm
says...
1:40pm Thu 19 May 11
itsamess
says...
1:57pm Thu 19 May 11
GalaxyMan
says...
2:56pm Thu 19 May 11
Just like speedbumps- we are all going to end up being inconvenienced because of those that play fast and loose with the law to suit their own convenience.
GalaxyMan
says...
2:58pm Thu 19 May 11
We need more rozzers on the streets.
I 2 Could B
says...
3:07pm Thu 19 May 11
Home Boy
says...
4:07pm Thu 19 May 11
The accident happened just past the Tawny Owl pub when two bikers, traveling north along Thamesdown Drive, collided."
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I hope the boy who died's family have not seen this article. Why has this been included? The accident was caused when one motorcyclist skidded on a white line in the wet and was hit by the other. There was no suggestion that either was speeding or racing, just a terrible accident.
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I would suggest the Adver remove that part of the article ASAP to avoid any further distress to the family.
Home Boy
says...
4:14pm Thu 19 May 11
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Lets just set limits sensibly and then enforce them. Thamesdown Drive is a dual carriageway with a design speed of 60mph. For some reason a 40mph limit was enforced right from the start. Almost all traffic exceeds this limit when conditions allow and yet there have been no speed related fatalities.
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I fear that introducng this system with the existing 40mph limit will just encourage people to race away from the lights or even jump red lights all together.
PeeGee
says...
4:42pm Thu 19 May 11
I 2 Could B
says...
4:59pm Thu 19 May 11
Robfm
says...
7:16pm Thu 19 May 11
Traffic lights could also be programmed only to turn red on the main carriageway when a vehicle goes across an activation pad from a side road. You use to see these all the time.
Home Boy
says...
9:50am Fri 20 May 11
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How many times have you been sat at a red light on a signal controlled roundabout when there's no traffic? Why did they change all of the part-time signals to full time? What happened to the flashing amber on pedestrian crossings, why is it now just a longer hold on red? And why can't Gerrard and Lampard play together in midfield? All mysteries.
Robfm
says...
10:02am Fri 20 May 11
L3mming says...
8:13am Thu 19 May 11
Sticking a couple of motor bike cops at these locations, which would probably be paid for from the tickets alone, might dissuade the frequent flyers. Would probably also catch a load of unroadworthy vehicles as well and take them off the roads.
Saying that, do we actually have any patrols catching speeders? Since the removal of the camera's I've never seen a radar cop and only ever seen a ANPR wagon once in all that time.
While they're at it, stick a unit on Gypsy Lane because I saw at least 6 people on mobile phones last night as I drove past them towards Gorse Hill, sorry Pinehust Ward.