Smart streets are Shaun Conlin LAST week we dis- cussed Mercedes’ con- cept of the “Smart Caz” which hints of things to come when many aspects of driving will become automated signals and bonehead driving {| VJABYLORMOTIVE COLLISION SPECIALISTS for foreign & Domestic NORTH SHORE’S HIGHEST VOLUME ALL ABAKE | 1.€.B.¢. VENDOR «fan Soveeet B.C. Vendor Beka tees 1 a The F Home of the Lifetime ~~ @®uarantee ~ ent? Meck: an . . cis bl makes Cor and TALKING i rucks (Foreign & Domestic). veto eee o& ESTIMATES 4 TAVLORMOTIVE SERVICE LTD. Fae CONDRTATION \ 176 Peraberton Ave., North Van Pree manoeuvres will, bv default, be inexe- cutabie. Bat do you realize that during the past decade or two our city streets have becore smarter tov? Most of the traffic lights on the North Shore work in conjunction with “sensors” consisting of wires buried in the ground and a nearby traf- fic-lignt control box. These sensors detect changes in the magnetic field in the road. A metal object such as a motor yehicte caus- es a detectable change in this magnetic field. Ergo, traffic lights know when you and your car are waiting at and when you've left an intersee- tion. More importantly, they know what to do about it. Strangely, many people are oblivious or simply deny the existence of this fairly simple technology — a little too Big Brother-ish tor them, I sus- pect, but it’s inherent in our road system just the same, cleverly hidden within the asphalt. Sometimes, however, these sensors are an obvious addition to an older road, with tell-tale circular and rec- tangular patch-work just before the stop bar; purpose- mina JEEP OWNERS *Coraplete mechanical & electrical repairs by factory trained technician IMPEX AUTO 4186A West i4th Sireot Toi: 985-6227 {off Pemberton Ave., entrance ai rear) Visit our web site: wernadmngexmta.cem a OO eA ce Te OP TRANSMISSION SERVICE . Trouble? Brame cee We sorvica ail automatics & standards, domestic & imparts, clutchas, 4x4’, axles & dliierentiais. Ask about our FREE TOWING » We honour Most > SPECI Warranties TRANSMISSION SS ernie PLUS? Service boa Mette SS Hs be prone cl of a, i Hpee rege ea | 860 WEST 15TH ST.- - 987-8687 | North Vancouver (Beside Broco Aute Glass) he Independent Guned & & Operated + Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8-6, Sat. 8-1 8-1 | | Names complete Automotive Resuirs, Mcintonance & Services | 296 PEMBERTON, NORTH VAN {Ho cash 2) Ee ee eS ee «ee ED _Phone Draw: Jon. 31, 2600 nen $175 Towarps ANY INTERNAL | TRANSMISSION REPAIR ue. Cannot be combined with cay other offers or promotions.) Enter at North Shore News if 1139 Lonsdale, 4.Y. oki ly-cut greoves into which sensor wires are placed, then buried under road-tar goop (a very technical term}. Often umes a traffic tight will not “cycle” if there it does not perceive a demand. Other times lights will cycle back and forth quite quickly, servicing low volunit streets as prompdy as possible. Still other times lights will hold their cycle pattern in seeming contradiction to the demand as read by the sensors, but that is usually due to the fact that a pedestrian has activated the crossing light thereby allotting more time to one light’s duration. OF course, all this smooth and efficient flow of traffic is easily confounded by those folk unaware or unmoved by sensor technology. Look, if you want that light to go green someone must be on the sensor! Most traffic lights are oblivious to your presence if you are a car- length back from the stop line. Too often do I find myself patiently and politely screaming “Move forward!” to a driver stopped in freat of me. Also, you folk whe make the deciston to stop cn an amber much too late — or stop on a red then creep for- ward eagerly only to end up waiting on the crosswalk rather than on the sensor — the traffic lights think you've gone! Since it is illegal to back up (it’s illegal to squat on the crosswalk, toe), you are stuck there until a car comes to tigger the sensor behind you. mestetetestestetaete Il electanlenstentectantnlantantes | ——h Tramsinissions | SINCE 1952 Oe ES 24Gb SEG PE MW ED Vee mii NEWS photo Cindy Goodman IF your car doesn't hit the sensors, some traffic lights won't know you are waiting at the intersection. Show a fittic foresight next time. Traffic lights, after ali, are designed to help traf- fic flow smoothly, but you have to make your presence known. If you accept it, if you embrace this technology, dri- ving can be a much more pleasant affair than typical go-stop driving so common in today's traffic. You can approach an intersection with the fore- knowledge of an impending change simply by observing, how many, if any, cars are waiting on the relevani sen- sors (triggering a change), or who might have pushed the crosswalk button. It’s an added dimension to the “stale green light” concepi most good drivers employ when anticipated changes in traffic. It’s cool. So like it or not, traffic lights know if, when and for how long a car has yraited at an intersection. And wi Global Positioning Systems (GPS) slowly becoming stan- dard equipment in iate-model vehicles, plus the fact that Satellite photograph technol- ° can pinpeint the fleas on log, the big brother analo- gy is not too far off the mark. Big Brother is sensing you: Be safe. ES YOUR CAR EAC A STAN} ARD TRANSMISSION? Bt chadders when you shiit, i ymave realy gotta work to change gears, ar 4 you heer neat, {Ys tune to visit us. Grery new citoch we install ss ovallebie with ° a full ten-year 40,000 Kdaretre Citch - ss, ‘Yesroety. 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