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“Game changing” device allows cyclists to control traffic lights so children stay safe“Game changing” device allows cyclists to control traffic lights (Twitter, Shawlands Bike Bus)

“Game changing” device allows cyclists to control traffic lights so children stay safe

“We still want safe segregated infrastructure but until then this will help so much,” says Shawlands Bike Bus, the system’s first users
by Ryan Mallon
Wed, Aug 31, 2022 16:05
10

A school bike bus in Glasgow is believed to be the first in the UK to trial a new smart device which allows cyclists to control traffic lights so every member of the group can safely pass through a busy junction.

The device uses a military-encrypted signal to pause traffic lights for a period of up to 45 seconds and is designed to work at a specific junction during a limited weekly time frame, reports GlasgowLive.

It was developed in conjunction with Glasgow City Council by the Preston-based company Sm@rt Technology, which specialises in innovative solutions for visually impaired people and other disability groups.

> Glasgow City Council orders an “unacceptable” bike shed to be dismantled

The Shawlands Primary School bike bus, which was launched last year and operates in the south-east of the city, is the first group to take advantage of the ground-breaking new technology.

Using the device’s time-restricted capabilities, the leaders of the Shawlands Bike Bus can control the traffic at the junction between Kilmarnock Road and Moss-side Road between 8.30am and 9am on Fridays.

> School bike bus being used for “political ends”, claims MSP

So far, the trial has proved a resounding success, with Shawlands Bike Bus taking to Twitter last week to praise the roads team at Glasgow City Council for their work in developing the pioneering tech.

However, the bike bus leaders pointed out that the “game-changing” device – as useful as it is – can’t simply be viewed as a substitute for safe, segregated infrastructure:

Sm@rt Technology has described the new system as a “huge success”, allowing “all children and adults to safely cross junctions without the signals changing halfway through.”

The tweet by Shawlands Bike Bus has prompted a number of similar school schemes and cycling advocates across Scotland and the rest of the UK, including the Scottish Greens’ Edinburgh councillor Claire Miller, to call on their own local authorities to invest in the “game-changing” technology, suggesting that Glasgow soon won’t be the only city where cyclists can control the traffic…

Glasgow
Glasgow City Council
Sm@rt Technology
bike bus
Traffic lights
Ryan Mallon

After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.

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10 comments

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Steve K | 2 years ago
2 likes

When I was a child, my great uncle Albert used to tell me he had a button in his car that changed the traffic lights.  And now, 45 years later, he actually could have.  If he was still alive.

Avatar
Jenova20 replied to Steve K | 2 years ago
3 likes
Steve K wrote:

When I was a child, my great uncle Albert used to tell me he had a button in his car that changed the traffic lights.  And now, 45 years later, he actually could have.  If he was still alive.

All i ever got from Uncle Albert was absurd war stories to the repetitive opening of "during the war".

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to Jenova20 | 2 years ago
2 likes
Jenova20 wrote:
Steve K wrote:

When I was a child, my great uncle Albert used to tell me he had a button in his car that changed the traffic lights.  And now, 45 years later, he actually could have.  If he was still alive.

All i ever got from Uncle Albert was absurd war stories to the repetitive opening of "during the war".

My dad was in the Royal Navy in WWII. He never told any stories about his time. Only shortly before he died did he mention his ship had been moored off the coast of Sri Lanka with the rest of the British and American ships when they were attacked by Japanese kamikaze aircraft. He described them being shot out of the sky like it was a pigeon shoot. 

I've met a few WWII veterans. Not one of them has been eager to mention their experiences. 

Avatar
IanMSpencer replied to OldRidgeback | 2 years ago
0 likes

My dad was in Burmah. He spent about 2 years directing traffic and painting rocks in India before Japanese supply lines were deemed sufficiently disrupted to allow a counter-attack. He was in the artillery. He got flown back out on the day they went in due to Malaria.

His most telling comment was about invading Malaya. They were due go in when the USA dropped their bombs causing Japan to surrender. He arrived as an occupying force rather than invaders. When they saw the beaches they were supposed to land on, he was convinced they would have been slaughtered with Japanese sheltering in the jungle by the shore. He believed the Bomb saved his life.

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mark1a replied to IanMSpencer | 2 years ago
0 likes
IanMSpencer wrote:

My dad was in Burmah.

The oil company?

Avatar
mark1a replied to Jenova20 | 2 years ago
1 like
Jenova20 wrote:
Steve K wrote:

When I was a child, my great uncle Albert used to tell me he had a button in his car that changed the traffic lights.  And now, 45 years later, he actually could have.  If he was still alive.

All i ever got from Uncle Albert was absurd war stories to the repetitive opening of "during the war".

The exception being when Del Boy threatened to pour tea over him if he mentioned "during the war", he started with "during the 1939-1945 conflict with Germany"

Avatar
AllegedlyAnthony | 2 years ago
1 like

Flippin' genius!

Avatar
Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
8 likes

Sounds great, basically simply a technological version of a lollipop person really. Absolutely guarantee that this will generate spewing vitriol claiming that it is a further part of the war on motorists, reducing the poor darlings to second-class citizens.

Avatar
lonpfrb replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
1 like
Rendel Harris wrote:

Sounds great, basically simply a technological version of a lollipop person really. Absolutely guarantee that this will generate spewing vitriol claiming that it is a further part of the war on motorists, reducing the poor darlings to second-class citizens.

A war on driving without due care and attention, as required by law and contract (insurance), surely?

Avatar
stuartdbuchanan | 2 years ago
9 likes

Great idea.  For our bike bus in Edinburgh (http://blackfordsaferoutes.co.uk/), the City of Edinburgh Council have one of their staff at a key traffic light to manually set it for us.  Which is very much appreciated but is a bit inefficient.  This would be a good alternative.

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