Cameras help control traffic
By Heather Mangold
City
Editor
Hoosier drivers might want to think again before
running a red light.
A bill was proposed this week to Indiana legislature
that would allow cities to install traffic cameras that take photos
of license plates when drivers ignore red lights. If drivers do pass
through lights after they've turned red, tickets will be mailed directly
to them.
Maj. William Anderson from the Tippecanoe County
Sheriff's Department said, "There are currently no cameras in place
for that purpose."
Bill Smith, of the Indiana Department of Transportation,
said that his department couldn't speculate at this time what the legislation
will do regarding the bill but if the new bill gains speed, maybe drivers
would pay more attention.
Smith said the bill seems to be taking Indiana
in a direction that would allow different communities to have the authority
to take action in community areas.
One of those actions in the Purdue community took
place when Purdue's civil engineering department installed a camera
in a local intersection light that was designed to help the program
study traffic flow.
Purdue's civil engineering program is supporting
a program that studies traffic. The traffic light at the intersection
of Northwestern and Stadium avenues has a camera that was installed
by the Intelligent Transportation System, which was created by the civil
engineering department. The camera collects traffic data and was designed
to change intersection designs for better traffic flow.
According to information provided by Darcy Bullock,
a professor of civil engineering, the camera installed at the intersection
provides an opportunity to introduce students to non-human communications
between devices such as roadways and weather stations.
Traffic light cameras serve other purposes in the
Lafayette area as well.
Another camera is installed in a traffic light
at the intersection of State Road 26 East and County Road 500 East,
according to Smith.
The camera has no recording purpose but is used
as a censor device that will replace the current loops in the road that
are used to detect cars.
When cars drive over a loop, it sends signals to
the traffic light, indicating when the light should turn, said Smith.
"If there is no car in a lane, the light will skip
the phase needed for that lane helping the signal run more efficiently,"
said Smith.
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