How Do Traffic Lights See You?? A Detailed Look At Traffic Light Sensors!

[@jeffwilliams7669]

Prior to finding Your Channel. I never had any need to know about traffic lights. Now. THIS IS SOME SERIOUSLY FASCINATING TECHNOLOGY!

[@howlingwolven]

Two things - One, to reassure everyone - the bluetooth antenna doesn’t actually *connect* to anyone’s phones - it just listens for them and keeps track of how many different ones it hears. It can’t actually download any data. It works the same as all the contact tracing stuff did on your phone during the pandemic, except it doesn’t even save that data. Two, I’d love if you got a chance to poke at the opticom box and explain a bit more about preemption and transit priority from the standpoint of the controller.

[@jovetj]

...yet.

[@EngMadison]

If you're doing priority and pre-emption, show the decentralized and centralized operations. Seems like more agencies are moving towards the centralized options out there.

[@timsmith9553]

Hey there, just wanted to post a message, that I love the content and please keep doing it. I love to see videos on the actual construction projects you are working on. I have one suggestion with your videos, you often use acronyms for different equipment etc. Those of us lay people dont know what those mean. Could you please use the full name of what you are describing instead of an acronym, it will improve the quality of your videos. Keep up the great work! Thanks Tim

[@billcouch9850]

I enjoy and learn from your content. I wish you could come where I live and work on some traffic lights. We call them “stupid” lights.

[@mrjoeljf]

I also enjoy your videos. As a layman, I am very fascinated how things work. Even though you explained it, I would have loved to have seen the camera in svyion with the calls into the controller when a pedestrian passes by. Thanks again for your exemplary explanations!

[@jovetj]

Svyion?

[@mrjoeljf]

@@jovetj sorry, in connection

[@hairrywolf9242]

love the vidoes, would be nice to know what a ccu stands for, i get that you have your own jargon in traffic signals, but would be nice for a explanation

[@Trafficlightdoctor]

CCU is just short for Central Control Unit! Thanks for the feedback! 😁

[@jspafford]

It’s great that you use shorts correctly. Tease to the full video and link to the video in the short. 90% of KZbin people don’t get this concept.

[@b.williams4396]

Fantastic video. Lol. Shout out CSX.

[@ptaszek1983]

I enjoy these videos! Cheers from Illinois!

[@pileofstuff]

That's interesting to see. Most of the signal controllers in my area use inductive pickups. I assume they're less costly that a full deployment of cameras in all directions?

[@traffic.engineer]

Inductive tend to be more reliable. The pavement protects them and they are much easier to configure. The downside is that they are not flexible to lengthen like camera zones. And they require lane closures to repair.

[@kBasarab]

How do the cameras work with inclement weather? Like in heavy rain/precipitation or even ice/snow. I can see how the radars would work but not these visual cameras.

[@dustin5925]

WV uses cameras (they don't seem to upkeep because a majority of them don't do anything to help change a signal) but also uses a whiteish box on traffic lights that I think is the SmartSensor from Wavetronix. If you use those, can you do a video on how those work as well? Always interested how those work.

[@45barber1]

How do you guys make special event timing sequences? For example just a one time event I.e a parade or large event that doesn’t happen often but creates different traffic flows (maybe mass exit of a location/direction)

[@fhdogs]

I’m no expert in the matter, but I worked at a new arena that had all the surrounding signals in the area upgraded before we opened. At the intersection closest to the building, there was a momentary switch installed in the manual control box. When it’s activated (either by the PD or traffic control company) all of the nearby signals switch to an alternate programming which has significantly longer max time for all phases heading away from the arena. The momentary switch actually engaged a 60 minute relay so the signal couldn’t be left in the alternate mode. Unfortunately it’s not a perfect configuration because the intersections are not linked to prevent drivers from catching a red while trying to depart, although there are plans to rebuild the nearby highway interchange, and I believe they will be syncing all the lights then. Hope this helps understand one option of event timing. I’m sure the Dr. can explain more.

[@kathyhathaway8823]

Here in NC where I live we just have the Magnet strips in the road . There are towns around that has setup kind of what you have there but not everywhere. There is a lot of money tied up there at your one intersection just for traffic.

[@kevinhamilton9071]

Why would a new cabinet be installed (pad, cabinet, lines run) at an existing light with no road upgrades happening. Just seen this going on at a local intersection at home. It's practically right next to the old one, not back further from either side of the intersection for a possible intersection upgrade at a later date.

[@theamaturepro]

Most likely it's to upgrade the equipment. There are new cars that communicate with the traffic lights and tell you on the dash when it'll turn green. I'm sure there's many other things that have been developed. Just like our phones and computers, they need to be replaced from time to time to keep working as tech progresses.

[@EpicATrain]

Are you doing train signals next? lol

[@mobile_vic]

The Vantage Velocity (now superseded and replaced with BlueTOAD) systems do not connect to a bluetooth or wifi radio, they're just listening looking for the unique ID (MAC address) that is being broadcast by those devices, storing them, and then using them to calculate the travel time. Here in Central Florida, most agencies don't use a system like this, it being easier and cheaper to use our toll transponder tags to calculate travel time (you'll see some intersections and ITS message signs with a panel antenna to read the toll tags, with a calculation being used to figure out travel time). At least in Florida, per FDOT, the spec calls for the transponder IDs to be hashed or anonymized at the reader in response to a lawsuit.

[@russrockino-rr0864]

Great explanations of the cameras. Are there still areas with under pavement sensors for Traffic light systems that have not been updated to the new camera systems, and if so , could you please explain those systems in a future video? Great video, thanks for sharing!

[@jovetj]

Yes, inductive loops still exist, but are slowly on their way out. They work by detecting changes in inductance in a length of wire. Executive summary: When electricity flows through a wire, it encounters resistance which generates heat, and it also generates a magnetic field around the wire. Generating that magnetic field steals some of the initial electric power when the electricity first starts to flow. When a wire is circled into a coil, the magnetic fields of all the length of wire are added together and amplified within the coil. When the electricity stops flowing in a wire, the magnetic field collapses, imparting a small charge back into the wire. This is the basis of inductance: energy interchanged between electric and magnetic forms. Adding a ferrous (or any magnetic) metal near the wire amplifies the inductance effect. If you put a big loop of wire near (under) the cars, a device can put a short charge on that wire and then detect the energy generated by the collapse of that magnetic field. When a car drives over the coil, the ferrous metal of the vehicle enhances the inductance effect and that device will then detect the greater current coming back from the collapse of the magnetic field. It's pretty clever, really.

[@jovetj]

Steven... do you ever have any curiosity about traffic signals on the railroad? Not the ones at crossings, the ones that control the trains.

[@UnknownGuest220]

video literally starts in 3:00

[@Burnt_Cheese]

Round n Round by Clarx 😂😂😂

[@Trafficlightdoctor]

I can only use copyright free music from KZbin! 😂

[@jovetj]

@@Trafficlightdoctor Just make sure it isn't made by AI. Watched an eye-rolling video about that the other day.

[@FxsX24]

Can we get a video about motorcycles and loop detection, we don't have much for camera detection in my area

[@itsjellyjamjam1159]

how do the placeable construction traffic lights know which one to turn green and which one to turn red

[@jovetj]

Radio frequency remote control and coordination from the controller equipment on one of them.

[@starlite528]

are the controllers or camera control unit smart enough to tell the signal controller to hold the yellow a bit longer for someone that's already going too fast to stop (or had no intention of stopping) ?

[@EngMadison]

You can't change the yellow interval per the MUTCD. But you can lengthen the red interval.

[@starlite528]

@EngMadison question not specific to state or municipality ( I'm in texas)

[@aperson9495]

Sometimes the cameras have 'issues' and don't work as intended... There have been two or three times that I've been at a specific intersection, NEVER getting a green turn in six or more cycles of everything else... While sitting there, I called MODOT's signal division, and right after talking to someone, I FINALLY got a green... So it seems MODOT has pretty extensive remote control over signals. Another related question would be at what point could you consider a signal to be malfunctioning and legally proceed through a red, treating it like a stop sign? There are two cases that I can think of where I experienced what I'd consider a malfunctioning signal - one was in Minnesota, while it was snowing (heavily), and I sat at a red signal for a solid 15 minutes. Everything else cycled, but my signal never left red. I finally said screw it, there's no one anywhere around, there's 4" of snow on the road, so I'm going... Another example was more local to my home area, where I was sitting in a left turn for a solid 10 minutes of red signal, with at least one person blowing around me and blowing the red.. And of course right after I called into the local PD on the non emergency line, it finally changed.. but it was another case of every other phase getting multiples cycles, but the phase I was on getting zero with an absurd red time. Edit: your drone footage is really cool. It's pretty neat what you can see from a drone. I assume you've gotten your part 107 license?

[@jovetj]

In a smaller city near mine, they always have phone numbers posted on the cabinet boxes to call in case of malfunction. I've always found the fascinating.

[@marksmadhousemetaphysicalm2938]

Can you explain the ultrasonic sensors they used to use? I remember as a kid hearing something at this one intersection that had a ton of sensors outside Philadelphia, my dad said I was imagining it, I said his ears were too old…I think it was very high frequency…

[@MyTeslaTrek]

1:46 why are there two lights for the left turn off the ramp for only one lane of traffic?

[@PullTab]

Under part 107 you can fly over vehicles but not hover over vehicles.

[@traffic.engineer]

Did that left turn signal have a circular yellow? That was prohibitted in the 1990 MUTCD, and circular reds were prohibited in 2009.

[@JustAnOldMan56]

Steven, kudos on the basic explanation of the inductive loop. Also, please reinforce that vehicle detection is done in the CCU and not in the camera. Some people confuse consumer grade cameras with the quality cameras you use.

[@jovetj]

Or confuse cameras between passive sensor devices and thinking devices.

[@bradhazen3897]

we have them in phoenix az

[@beaker15tyler39]

Pro security tip, don’t show any keys not even for a second… super easy to recreate.

[@jovetj]

5:57 Why is someone reversing on the shoulder? haha

[@jovetj]

What are the 77 signs?

[@marksmadhousemetaphysicalm2938]

What the opticon should do is give everyone red…fire and EMS can go through red…some folks have stolen optcons and used them to give themselves green…giving everyone red would make stealing them useless…or at least less useful…as a former paramedic and now EMS nurse and emergency nurse…a four way red would be way better…

[@romanmaimo1468]

I saw the other day some guy shooting the camera at a traffic light I guess he got a ticket

[@jovetj]

It's funny to me how this interaction seems to mirror a railroad wye right across from the perpendicular roadway (which goes on to form a trumpet). Can't really see that from the ground, have to look at satellite view.

[@Brandon-ic6gg]

❤❤

[@alexchastang7258]

What is the cost of these components? I understand that prices will very. Just an average cost for the components.

[@PullTab]

They never work in the fog

[@PullTab]

The drone shots were way too long

[@BlakeLeader]

W

[@ironcross420]

Do you and your employer have a agreement / memorandum of understanding with you about KZbin / Videos ownership? I don't know what your state laws are but here in Kommiefornia, if no agreement exists, videos, revenue, channel, intellectual property done while on the clock, Use of their equipment, in their uniform, as an agent are now property of the employer and not you and can require you to give them everything, videos, login, any gross revenue made, and demand momentary damage for each day after so ordered.

[@jaysmith1408]

That’s interesting, many truck drivers do blogs about their travels, and never mention their company getting a cut. The pilots all report to have agreements.

[@stephan8832]

​@@jaysmith1408 The pilot situation is different. Some of the truck drivers, etc have their own companies or are contractors rather than employees. When it comes to pilots, the FAA and airlines/private companies follow us a little closer than others. I don't believe there's anything against recording on its own in 14 CFR, but some airlines may not want the public to have full transparency of what's happening inside the cockpit during flights for various security/safety reasons. Also @Trafficlightdoctor please tell me you got your part 107 certificate. Realistically you're using a DJI drone so it wouldn't really let you do anything stupid, but considering you're also posting these videos on youtube there's a lot more potential for someone to show up and ask for proof that you have a part 107 remote pilot cert. I'm not 100% on what's on the exam for it, as I instead took the private pilot written and am working towards my instrument rating (getting a pilot certificate lets you apply for a remote pilot without taking the exam, for free), but it should cover a large chunk of what the private pilot exam includes - primarily airspace and regulations. There's a variety of free online courses for this that you can take as prep for the exam Also, I see you're screenrecording for audio? you can record the video on the drone and in the DJI app you can enable caching with audio - it will record a low-res video copy with audio from your mic so you don't have to screenrecord everything.