The phrase,'Unsound Transit', was coined by the Wall Street Journal to describe Seattle where,"Light Rail Madness eats billions that could otherwise be devoted to truly efficient transportation technologies." The Puget Sound's traffic congestion is a growing cancer on the region's prosperity. This website, captures news and expert opinion about ways to address the crisis. This is not a blog, but a knowledge base, which collects the best articles and presents them in a searchable format. My goal is to arm residents with knowledge so they can champion fact-based, rather than emotional, solutions.

Transportation

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

British AA believes changing traffic signals can reduce Greenhouse emissions

Traffic light changes 'would cut emissions'

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/04/2008

Carbon dioxide emissions could be cut dramatically by changing traffic light sequences, says the AA.

The AA says that tailbacks could be reduced by re-phasing traffic lights leading into cities

The motoring organisation believes that more than 645 tonnes of environmentally harmful CO2 could be saved by cutting traffic queues by just one minute a day on three major roads leading into any city.

It says that tailbacks could be reduced by re-phasing traffic lights and improving co-ordination of roadworks carried out by different utility firms.

This would mean that car engines would not spend as much time idling and so pump out fewer emissions. The cut in CO2 would top that saved by switching off 2,000 street lights, calculated by one local authority to be 590 tonnes.

Edmund King, of the AA, said: "Councils should be accountable for CO2 reduction, by upgrading gridlocked junctions, co-ordinating roadworks and reducing waiting times at traffic lights."
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The AA believes that 1,000 cars held up for 10 seconds every working day while heading to and from work produce enough extra carbon dioxide to fill three and a half squash courts.

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