Futuristic traffic light system for Jozi
The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) is running a pilot study project that, in part, aims to reduce electricity consumption and the cost of maintaining the conventional type of traffic lights.
The new, innovative lights – known as Modular Traffic Light Systems (MTLS) – use state-of-the-art LED modules (lights that last up to 70 000 hours).
They can also be adapted to accommodate other electronic technologies such as digital cameras and other traffic monitoring and related equipment, which can then be used by law enforcers to pin down law-breakers.
Easy to repair, these traffic lights require little maintenance and are cheaper than the current system. “Bearing in mind the huge constraints placed on local agencies, the MTLS will solve many of these problems,” says designer Barry Geer, a director of MTLS at JRA.
Geer worked with XYZ Design and Aeroservices to design these ultramodern traffic lights.
The first set of the new traffic lights can be seen on the corners of Sandton and Grayston Drives, in Sandton. “The MTLS can be easily fitted to current intersections with minimal effort and expense,” Geer says.
Safety
He notes that the lights are not harmful on roadsides. “In unfortunate circumstances”, where, for example, a motorist might collide with a pole, the MTLS system is the “world’s first truly safe traffic or street light pole”, and withstands such impacts with little damage. With all its safety features and benefits, it represents the next generation of traffic light systems.
“The main design focus of the MTLS is one of safety to motorists; while the system can accommodate all present and future energy saving and traffic control equipment,” he adds.
“There is a trend overseas to legislate the use of unsafe roadside obstacles, traffic and street lights being the main ones.” According to Geer, the University of Adelaide in Australia had conducted an international study, which found that 30 percent of global road accidents involved impacts with traffic or streetlights.
In the test lights, the entire system is composed of polymer or plastic, with no steel or metal components.
Another benefit of the MTLS, Geer says, is that it requires less labour to install and repair. “[These lights are] extremely flexible and can be used in traffic light and street configurations.”
Since the new system is cheap to install, in the event of a collision, only broken segments of the light will need replacement, making the repairs up to 80 percent cheaper than the current system.
“Simplicity is its main feature,” he says, adding that the unique design model is only available in Joburg. “The system itself uses basic principles of physics and has never been used anywhere else in the world.”
What is outstanding about MTLS, Geer points out, is that they are integrated with the pole and the signal head design. The pole is created from individual plastic segments that stack on top of each other and are then held together in compression by a lightweight new rope, he explains.
The JRA, he adds, was proud that a solution to this global problem had been “born and bred” in Joburg. “The progressive and forward-thinking management of the JRA has been instrumental in the success of this exciting product.”
The question of whether the system will be rolled out to the rest of the city in due course will be “dependent on the outcome and acceptance” of the system by the JRA. However, Geer says that the price tag of the entire project will only be determined by the extent of the possible rollout.
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