UK tests for traffic lights that can keep cars moving

REACHING a traffic light just as it turns green can cheer up the most miserable of drivers.

Now, thanks to new technology to be tested in Britain, sets of lights could help motorists to avoid stopping altogether.

The new lights will be able to communicate with each other and collect data from drivers’ mobile phones. This will allow them to advise motorists what speed they should maintain to ensure they arrive at the next set as they hit green.

California-based engineering firm AECOM, which is also running projects in the US, developed the scheme to cut congestion and reduce vehicle emissions.

Working with the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission, it will run tests using a simulation model of the A59 in York.

AECOM principal consultant Heather Hawkins said: ‘We are eager to get started so we can better understand the potential impact on our local road network in York.

‘We are fortunate to be living and working in a city which has chosen to be an early innovator, deploying and testing these technologies on- street through existing research programmes. We are grateful to be a part of it.’