Reykjavik traffic light priority system provided by Siemens

Siemens has been selected to supply its Sitraffic satellite-based prioritisation system for emergency and urban public transport vehicles to Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. This is a real-time tracking application for managing traffic lights and passenger information. The system ensures that traffic lights automatically turn green for emergency and public transport vehicles at road intersections.
October 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

189 Siemens has been selected to supply its Sitraffic satellite-based prioritisation system for emergency and urban public transport vehicles to Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.

This is a real-time tracking application for managing traffic lights and passenger information. The system ensures that traffic lights automatically turn green for emergency and public transport vehicles at road intersections.

The City of Reykjavik and the Icelandic Road and Coastal administration (Vegagerd rikisins) are sharing the system, which has initially been installed at six intersections in the centre of the capital.

Over the coming months, around 50 fire trucks and ambulances, and about 120 buses are set to be fitted out with on-board units (OBUs).

Using GPS, the OBUs calculate a vehicle’s position to the nearest 5m and transmit this information to the traffic control centre. As OBU fitted vehicles pass signalling points, the control centre switches the lights to green.

Once the vehicle crosses the intersection, the lights revert to normal operation. Sitraffic is completely digital and simply requires installing a small OBU incorporating an integrated GPS/GPRS antenna in the vehicle, eliminating the need for expensive roadside installations.

Position data can also be used to provide up-to-date bus departure times at stops in real time, improving public transport punctuality and reliability. CO2 pollution is also reduced as buses don’t get held up in traffic so much and offer a prioritised alternative to private transport.

For emergency vehicles, safety benefits are that they no longer have to go through red lights at intersections.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Real time passenger information with live transit updates
    October 10, 2012
    Canada’s Regional Municipality of York (YRT/Viva) has partnered with Google and INIT, supplier of ITS and fare collection systems, to offer bus passengers real-time trip plans through Google maps. The service, Google Live Transit Updates, tracks YRT buses using INIT’s GPS-based navigation system and provides passengers with the exact time a bus will depart from their stop. YRT/Viva is the first transit agency in Canada to offer real-time trip planning on Google with up-to-the-minute next bus departure infor
    Read More
  • City of Greenville installs red-light safety camera program
    October 17, 2017
    To tackle fatalities caused by red-light running, the city of Greenville, North Carolina, has implemented a red-light safety camera program that will issue a $100 (£75) fine to offenders, which it hopes will reduce both violations and collisions. A-red light running violation occurs when a motorist enters an intersection after the traffic signal has turned red, but this does not include drivers already in the intersection when the signal changes to red (drivers waiting to turn).
    Read More
  • Nottingham takes to e-ticketing
    November 23, 2012
    England’s least car dependent city, Nottingham, is to further develop its public transport system with integrated ticketing solutions from Germany-headquartered ITS provider INIT, which is to supply systems for the town’s bus and tram network. With more than 40 million customer journeys per year, Nottingham’s independent bus operator Trent Barton was already successfully using INIT’s integrated ticketing solution comprising of Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETM), validators and Mango smartcards. Passengers
    Read More
  • Developing an integrated WIM/ANPR enforcement system
    July 31, 2012
    The weigh in motion market remains especially buoyant and technological development continues to reflect this. Although there are major differences in operating philosophies, particularly between developed and developing countries, both the numbers of countries using Weigh In Motion (WIM) technology and the numbers of systems that they deploy are on the increase.
    Read More

Highlighted Content