A couple of weeks ago on the CBC I heard a special on traffic flow, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I know it sounds so boring, but I found it fascinating. A major part of the story talked about the traffic centre in Toronto, where they have about 240 cameras pointed at roads around the city, and a massive computer program constantly monitors the flow for any sign of trouble. The computer program is incredibly complex as it must model flow on a molecular level, as well as attempt to incorporate the clever attempts by human drivers to thwart the system. I really think I may have found my dream job — not in a “co-star in a movie with Ewan McGregor” kind of way, but in a real way, a job I could actually have someday and love. Before I had my kids I had a job, but it was just a 9 to 5 thing — something I enjoyed to pass the time, but nothing I really felt passionate about. This kind of modelling, though, and fluid mechanics science is really exciting to me — I think it’s the “real world” application that is so great. Unfortunately all of the engineers who worked on the system were civils — I have a systems engineering degree. Oh, if only I knew then what I know now!
Another thing that the program talked about was traffic ideas that seem like good ideas at the time, but really lead to more problems. One of these good/bad ideas is the “pause” that occurs after a yellow light turns red — for a moment, all of the lights are red, before traffic is allowed to flow in the opposite direction. Apparently, this is an Ontario invention, and in some other provinces, when your light turns red, the opposing light turns green instantly. You would think that the pause would help prevent accidents, since people running red lights are less likely to hit someone coming the opposite direction. But instead, what has happened is the erosion of respect for the yellow light — since people know they have that extra second or two, they will speed up when they see a yellow, causing more red lights to be run, and left-hand-turners to be stuck in the intersection after the light has turned red.
Since I heard this story I’ve tried really hard to respect the yellow — when I see a yellow, I very conciously try to stop. It’s amazing how quickly I have seen a change in my driving — it’s clear that before, I was definitely in the “speed up when you see yellow” category. Every time I’m tempted to rush through, I chant, “Respect the yellow! Respect the yellow!” in my head, and try to imagine that opposing traffic will be getting their green right away. I like the change, but it’s clear that other drivers are confused by my behaviour — today I was making a left turn, and when my advanced green turned yellow, I stopped, and got lots of angry honks behind me. Respect the yellow, people!
Maybe I’ll have it put on a T-shirt.
TurtleHead 
I’ll bet you love playing Sim City 😉
A few years ago Scientific American Frontiers had an episode on traffic modelling and dynamics. The transcript is only part of the show, maybe the whole episode is on-line, ask google. It was pretty good if you don’t mind Alan Alda as a MASH-out. TheTerminator and I went to our local traffic monitoring center for a Scouts field trip. I probably asked more questions than the kids.
Of course the ultimate goal is to stop people from driving cars, killing each other and polluting the environment. The red-light delay is a killer 😉 to change, you’d need a large scale PR campaign and a gradual re-introduction. The lawyers would have a feast!
Measuring and modeling physical data is a real hoot. I spent 16 years learning about it and doing it. It get’s in your blood. California and Gretina are calling me but I can’t go. Modeling human behavior is more useful but the experimental limitations would be a drag.
JEM thinks that “Repsect the yellow, people!” is really funny. She’s designing layout and colours for it now…
She’s designing layout and colours for the T-shirt now…
Tell her I’ll buy one! I think it’d be so cool.
I’d love to hear about your modelling experience sometime. I actually plan to look into what it would take to become qualified for such a job. In theory my degree qualifies me, I guess, but it’s so different from what I had been doing I’m not sure I could get a job in that area. I’m pretty excited to hear that there’s a traffic centre in town — I’ll look it up and see if they can take one really weirdly excited woman (wearing a “Respect the yellow!” T-shirt) as a tour guest :).
I’ll also check out the episode (probably when we get back from the Easter holiday)…thanks for the link!
Man, I haven’t played that since university…but now I think I might just go out and get myself a copy :).
Uh, did I just read that you think you want a job related to fluid mechanics? Wasn’t that the class you hated in school? There was at least one class that I can remember you hating. Someone would say it, and you’d groan “Ugh… fluids!” (example). Maybe that was something else…
Do you know that I almost did traffic engineering? When I applied to universities, one of my choices was Civil at UW, which had a specialised stream for traffic engineering.
By the way, that was my New Year’s Resolution last year: stop running yellow lights. I don’t slam on my brakes the moment the light turns yellow, but you know what I mean. You’re right, it really makes a difference. I find I’m less stressed when I drive.
Naw, that class I hated was Dynamics. Fluid Mechanics was actually my favourite physics class in university.
And I agree, not running yellow lights has somehow really reduced my stress when I drive. Why is that? Maybe just because you are taking your time in general now? Anyway, I like it.
Oh man don’t get me started!!!!
Every time I see a yellow I try to come to a safe stop. Great thing for me is that my car is fairly new and it has really amazing brakes. So basically I should have no need to run a yellow or a red in 99% of circumstances.
The real problem is that in my daily encounters with drivers, whether I am driving (anywhere) or walking (mostly in the downtown Toronto core), it seems most drivers treat yellow lights as a “hurry-up light” and a red light as a suggestion!
I walk to and from work every day (10-15 minutes one-way, give or take) and one of my crazy habits is to count the cars that run yellow and red lights. Trust me, no matter how jaded you may be, it is astonishing how common this is. Every day, at every light, I see a minimum of three cars run the yellow and at at least one car runs the red. One day I watched seven cars run a red in the middle of downtown rush hour (car and pedestrian) traffic!
So when I’m driving and I see a yellow in front of me, my very first action is to check my rear-view and ask myself:
Is that vehicle following too close to me?
Does that vehicle actually look like they’d be able to stop in time without rear-ending me? (i.e. how old and how large is the vehicle)
Does that driver appear to be paying attention – i.e. cellphone, talking, looking away, etc.?
After that split-second, probably highly subjective decisioning, I ask the really important question “stop or go” and I either stop safely, or continue through at the same speed. I definitely try not to accelerate through a yellow (or red) light. I think that just compounds the problem.
If only I were more confident that other drivers were alert, aware, following at a safe distance, and maybe most important, were more willing to stop that go. All too often I’ve come to a stop and people behind me have gone screaming through the intersection on a yellow or a red. And I haven’t even talked about cars that don’t even slow down on a red, when turning right, thus nearly plowing into pedestrian with the right of way.
I think the only real solution is to put up cameras at intersections and issue traffic tickets to anyone who runs a red. I think the case where it was a “reasonable action” is rare enough that the public safety gains justify any “incorrectly issued tickets.”
I also think that we need to (over time) shorten the amount of time that a yellow light is displayed, and to get rid of the aforementioned “all red” delay period. And maybe I need to move to an all-pedestrian community 🙂
I was just feeling really cynical about how any woman could be interested in hearing about “measuring and modeling” but then I read you’re postn about toastn and my cynicism melted away. Happy Anniversary.