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TRAFFIC: EVERYBODY’S EVERYDAY PROBLEM
Nickolas Holder (njh38@pitt.edu)
INTRODUCTION: SMARTER ROADS
EQUAL BETTER TRAFFIC FLOW
Traffic has been a problem for as long as there have been
roads on which to travel. In Ancient Rome, Julius Caesar
took precautions such as removing wheeled traffic so that
there would be less congestion on his roads [1]. In the early
20th century, Lester Wire created the traffic light to better
control intersections [3]. Nowadays it may seem like we
have not made very much improvement upon the original
traffic light. The truth is we have, and not implementing
these improvements is detrimental to our society. We need
smarter traffic lights to keep up with the modern motorist.
As mentioned in the National Society of Professional
Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics it is an engineer’s
obligation to “work for the well-being of their community”
[7]. Smarter traffic lights would benefit the community in a
rather large way. American motorists spend a ludicrous
amount of time stuck in traffic each year when we could be
doing something much more productive with our time. This
is not the only problem. Poor and aging roads have also cost
Americans hundreds of dollars. In the American Society of
Civil Engineering’s (ASCE) 2009 report card of American
Infrastructure, America received a D-minus in the “Road”
department [5]. This is unacceptable for something that can
be fixed rather easily. Part of the Code of Ethics for an
engineer is to be truthful and honest even when the results
are not favorable [7]. This is exactly what was done in the
report card: facts, such as the hours wasted in traffic that
were hard to swallow were revealed to the uninformed
public.
As a prospective engineer, I believe that we have to be
adamant in finding a solution to this colossal problem. The
ASCE’s Code of Ethics states that engineers must “use their
knowledge and skill for the enhancement of human welfare”
[8]. Engineers have an obligation to improve human life and
by developing better traffic flow, the quality of human life is
enhanced [8]. I consider this paper to be a very useful
resource for expanding my knowledge in engineering. I now
have more knowledge about the problems that can surface in
my future career. With this paper as an example of my
research, I now know that traffic is a bigger problem than I
had anticipated. By implementing smarter traffic lights,
creating smarter roads, and creating ways to relieve traffic
congestion, America can save money and priceless time.
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering 1
October 30, 2012
OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TRAFFIC
I think it is safe to say that everyone hates traffic. In
other words, I do not think anybody likes the idea of traffic,
much less the reality of it. The word has become a
nightmare in that when we hear it, we groan or sigh.
Nobody likes being late to their sporting event or dance
recital, but it is something everybody has to deal with. The
worst part about this is that road congestion is not our fault.
In many cases, clogged roads are a direct result of poor
design as well as outdated equipment. Poor road designs can
lead to accidents which can lead to even more congestion
while also costing the victims of the accident a good sum of
money, injuries, and levels of inconvenience that are hard to
measure. Outdated traffic lights tend to do no good for the
modern motorist; there are all sorts of problems with them,
among them is poor signal timing. In a city, it can take half
an hour to go even a short distance down a street if the
traffic lights are not synched. This not only wastes gas and
time but also angers the motorist.
The Perils of Traffic
According to the ASCE 2009 report card of American
Infrastructure, Americans spend 4.2 billion hours per year
stuck in traffic [5]. That is a massive number. If time is
priceless why are we not trying to fix the fact that we waste
a multitude of hours sitting on a congested roadway? We
can always be doing something productive with our time.
Overall, it ends up costing Americans $78.2 billion a year
[5]. It is quite a large sum of money. This rounds out to be
about $710 per motorist [5]. In this tough economy when
money is tight, it is definitely not ideal for each of us to be
losing that much money sitting in traffic. It is just flat out
unacceptable. According to the ASCE’s Code of Ethics,
engineers should be “committed to enhancing the quality of
life” [8]. By saving a person money through better traffic
flow, the quality of life of that person becomes considerably
better.
Poor Roads Equal Inefficient Driving
Traffic is not the only part of the road that is costing us
money. The roads themselves are doing just as much
damage to our wallets. Deficient roads cost American
motorists $67 billion a year in repairs and operating costs
[5]. That is another huge sum of money and rounds out to
cost the average motorist $333 over the course of one year
[5]. Again, who would not want an extra few hundred
dollars back in their wallet? This loss of money is due to the
Nickolas Holder
mediocre conditions of American roads. According to the
ASCE, 33 percent of major American roadways are in
abysmal condition [5].
This reflects poorly on our
government. Our cars are such a huge investment that it is
without a doubt worth it to go the extra mile, literally, to
invest so that we are as efficient as possible on our roads.
Not to mention poor road conditions are also a health hazard.
It is stated in the NSPE’s Code of Ethics that an engineer is
to “work for the health of their community” [7]. This means
we must make our roads as safe as possible. Anything less
would be a violation of the Code of Ethics. Furthermore, as
one article claims, better road conditions can lead to lower
auto insurance rates [6]. So the paycheck for improving the
roads comes in multiple ways.
area, thus reducing the amount of holdup at a light. This has
already had dramatic effects. The wait time at the
intersections in which these lights have been placed has been
reduced by an average of 40 percent [2]. This is a true
example of engineers following their Code of Ethics. The
quality of life was enhanced by cutting the amount of time
spent at a traffic light. Because of the success of this
experiment, Pittsburgh intends to implement these lights
onto its streets over the next five years. If lights like these
are implemented throughout the United States over the next
decade, a huge chunk of that 4.2 billion hours wasted could
be given back to motorists.
This is a remarkable
breakthrough, but it is not the only thing we can do to
decrease the amount of traffic.
OUR RELATIONSHIP CAN IMPROVE
Fixing Parking Problems
The good news about this situation is that, unlike some
other problems in the world, this one can be fixed. There are
numerous things we can do to improve the problem of
traffic, none of them bigger and better than just simply
putting more money into researching new ways to improve
traffic flow as well as also putting more money into the
aging roadways. Of course, this is going to take a large sum
of money. The ASCE estimates that we would “have to
spend $146 billion annually just to keep the status quo of our
roads over the next 50 years” [5]. To substantially improve
them we are going to have to invest double that amount.
Yes, that is a hefty amount of money, but it is for a good
cause. Again, it is an engineer’s obligation to improve the
quality of human life. The more we put it off the more it is
going to cost later on. Plus, the sooner all this gets done, the
sooner all of our hard-earned money is not wasted.
Traffic is always worse in the city; it is just a given fact.
Besides smarter traffic lights, figuring out a smarter way to
help people park their cars is also part of a solution to the
traffic problem. It is estimated that 30 percent of urban
traffic is caused by motorists looking for parking [4]. One
private company, Streetline, has come up with an idea that
will help motorists find parking spots faster. This will not
only keep the roads clear of slow drivers looking for spots,
but will also keep motorists happy in always knowing
exactly where an open spot is located. By following the
ASCE’s Code of Ethics, engineers enhanced human welfare
by improving traffic flow [8]. The system is run by surface
mounted sensors that are located on streets [4]. These
sensors transmit street level data in real time so that they are
able to show where vacant spots are and notify a person
when his or her meter is running out [4]. They are deemed
to be durable in the toughest conditions and very reliable. A
huge upside to them is that they run on two AA batteries and
can last up to a couple of years [4]. More and more cities
are looking to use this type of technology and if used we
could see a sizable decrease in the amount of traffic on urban
streets.
What Can Actually be Done: Traffic Lights
When thinking about what causes traffic one of the first
things that comes to mind is the traffic light. It can make
our day or it can ruin it, just by the color that it shows. The
biggest problem with traffic lights is that they are not smart
enough to keep up with the busy schedules of today’s
society. Too many times there will be a long line on the
“red side” of the light while the “green side” is unoccupied.
There is an easy way to fix this: make a smarter traffic light.
In some respects, this has already been done. Carnegie
Mellon University has already tried and succeeded in a
small-scale experiment with improved lights. Their traffic
light “adjusts and coordinates signal timing to accommodate
carrying traffic volumes and has shown strong promise for
reducing commuting times and vehicle emission” [2].
Stephen Smith, director of the Intelligent Coordination of
Logistics Laboratory in CMU’s Robotics Institute, says of
the light, “It's unique because each intersection controls
itself and then communicates with its neighbors" [2]. In
other words, a smarter traffic light adjusts to the varying
amounts of traffic while coordinating with other lights in the
Viewing Traffic Through the Author’s Eyes
Traffic has always been a problem wherever I go so it
seems pretty normal when I get stuck on a congested road
and have to wait an hour to get to my destination when it
should only take half that hour. Traffic is an everyday
problem that real people have to face and with increasing
number of cars on the road each year, it is only going to get
worse. It is a huge problem and I would love to be able to
contribute to at least part of the solution. Through my
research, I have learned the absurd amount of time and
money wasted because of America’s poor traffic flow. If the
both the NSPE and ASCE Code of Ethics are followed fully
in the future, we most likely will be more efficient on the
road. The road designs as well as the technology applied to
the road will hopefully be much improved in the future.
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This past year, I was involved in an accident in which part of
the cause was the poorly designed road. Therefore, I think
that with better road designs comes less accidents, not to
mention freer flowing vehicle volume as well. If more
engineers bring the traffic issue to light, we will see more
funding put into better traffic flow. With more funding,
America can be a pioneer for smarter roads and smarter
traffic flow. The amount of time we can save because of
better traffic flow is astounding. Time is priceless, so why
wouldn’t we try to save it?
are endless. Who knows, maybe we can fix some of the
government’s other problems?
REFERENCES
[1] Unnamed Author. (2012). “Historical Background.”
Humanstransport.org.
(Online
Article).
http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/sciencepoliti
cs1/page2.html p.2
[2] D.Hopey. (2012). “CMU develops high technology
traffic signal timing system.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
(Online
Article).
http://www.postgazette.com/stories/news/transportation/cmu-develops-hightechnology-traffic-signal-timing-system-654781/
[3] M. Badon. (2010). “Red Light, Green Light: The
Invention of the Traffic Signal.” Designer Observer. (Online
Article).
http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=862
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[4] Unnamed Author. (2012). “Reducing Traffic and
Pollution, Making Happier Citizens and More Cost Efficient
Cities.”
Dust
Networks.
(Online
Article).
http://cds.linear.com/docs/Case%20Study/DustNetworks_Str
eetline_Case_Study.pdf
[5] Various Authors. (2009). “Roads.” Report Card for
America’s
Infrastructure.
(Online
Article).
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/fact-sheet/roads
[6] Unnamed Author. (2009). “Better road design can reduce
accidents and lead to fewer auto insurance claims, report
says”.
Netquote.com.
(Online
Article).
http://www.netquote.com/auto-insurance/news/better-roaddesign-914.aspx
[7] Unnamed Author. (2012). “NSPE Code of Ethics for
Engineers.”
NSPE.
(Online
Article).
http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.html
[8] Unnamed Author. (2012). “Code of Ethics.” ASCE.
(Online
Article).
http://www.asce.org/Leadership-andManagement/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/
[9] H. M. Matusovch, R. A. Streveler, R. L. Miller. (2010).
“Why do Students Choose Engineering? A Qualatative,
Longitudinal Investigation of Students’ Motivational
Values.” Journal of Engineering Education. (Online
Article).
http://jee.org/2010/october/3.pdf
Educational Value of This Paper
By researching a current, important topic in the field of
engineering, I have gained invaluable knowledge into my
future career. I believe that the objectives of the paper are in
line with the path to making me a successful engineer. I
would definitely recommend a future freshman engineer at
the Swanson School of Engineering to write this type of
paper. Why? As mentioned in “Why Do Students Choose
Engineering? A Qualitative, Longitudinal Investigation of
Students’ Motivational Values”, most people do not know
what they are getting themselves into when they “sign-up” to
become an engineer [9]. Most people know the general facts
about what a certain field does but not many people know
what types of jobs are actually performed live in the field. I
believe that this essay helps a student to gain an eye into the
daily problems encountered in everyday engineering. It is
somewhat of an introduction to the things that you will be
doing the rest of your life. I know that I am more excited
now that I am more informed about the projects that come
across in my field. Any future engineer should be excited
because of this paper. The paper is also valuable in another
way. A person could conclude that he or she does not want
to continue to pursue engineering. The pains of this paper
are, without a doubt, worth going through in order to achieve
the objectives of it. I recommend to any freshman engineer
anywhere in the world to write this type of paper for their
own benefit.
Conclusion: There is Light at the End of the
Tunnel
As a result of better traffic flow we can become a smarter
and more efficient country as a whole. Our roads will be
safer and less congested with useless traffic.
More
investment now will result in better years on the road later.
Also, if engineers perform this work while keeping in mind
the NSPE and ASCE Code of Ethics, America’s roads could
become quite a phenomenon. I believe that this paper was
very valuable in informing me of the activities of my field.
It is exciting to possibly be a part of a solution to such a
large problem in this great country of ours. The possibilities
of what we can do with the amount of time and money saved
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my parents who helped me stay on
track with this essay and helped me to figure out what topic I
wanted to write about. Thank you, as well, for providing me
with an outstanding education, one that allowed me to
follow my dream. I would also like to thank my friend,
Chris, who kept me focused during the duration of this
assignment. I would like to extend a thank you to the
Writing Center consultants who helped me to be able to
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Nickolas Holder
format this paper correctly. I would also like to thank my
grade school teacher, Ms. Lional, who taught me how to
correctly write and organize an important essay. I do not
know what I would have done without her expertise. Last,
but not least, I would like to extend a thank you to the
librarian who taught me how to use the University’s library
database. All this help was highly appreciated.
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