New system to beat red-light blues

Moreton Bay is pioneering new traffic signal technology which could ease motorists’ frustrations over excessively long wait times at red lights.

Council will start this Australia-first pilot, with an AI-powered traffic signal control system analysing vehicle movements to reduce unnecessary wait times and improve traffic flow.

The technology is being tested at the intersection of Moreton Pde and Paper Ave, Petrie where it will be implemented later this year. If successful, the technology will then be tested at a more complex intersection.

The new method of managing traffic signals is a major shift from Australia’s long-standing approach of phase-based control, dating back to the 1980s.

This old method operates on a pre-determined sequence and grouping of traffic lights, prioritised via a ‘first come, first served basis’.

The next generation traffic signal hardware instead runs on a ‘movement-based’ control system and manages individual movements.

It does this without being tied to a pre-determined sequence or fixed grouping of traffic lights and is designed to reduce delays and wait times at signalised intersections.

“We’re excited to be the first in Australia to trial technology that has the very real potential to improve the flow of traffic around our road network,” Mayor Peter Flannery said.

“The technology effectively uses AI and advanced algorithms to inform optimised traffic operations under a new traffic management approach.

“This means higher traffic flows of vehicles including public transport can be prioritised dynamically throughout the day.

“There is the potential to substantially reduce the time motorists spend sitting at red lights, which is often constrained by legacy traffic control methods. This can be extremely frustrating especially when there are no cars in sight.

“This presents the opportunity to reduce emissions as vehicles will idle less at traffic lights.

“Plus, for the first time, traffic signals can be adjusted by individual movements using advanced traffic detection sensors so congestion can be better managed including when vehicles flood our local road network.”

Council is reducing the transition time between conflicting traffic light sequences while maintaining safe margins.

This means drivers will spend less time waiting during the ‘all-red’ interval when an intersection is empty.

Installation of the technology involves replacing existing traffic signal controllers at intersections with next-gen traffic signal hardware.

This hardware instantly makes decisions about the most optimal way to control traffic even with in-ground loop detectors which is the existing method of vehicle detection.

Council will also install advanced vehicle detection sensor technology to collect high-quality traffic data that will support traffic optimisation by classifying road user types (cars, trucks, pedestrians, cyclists) and predict traffic flow.