Defective Underground Traffic Sensors

Don’t be surprised if you see traffic signal lights that give the go-signal to an empty street while signaling a street crowded with vehicles to stop.

Rafael Christopher Yap, executive officer of the City Traffic Operations Management, said about 60 of the 78 computerized traffic sensors installed underground in various intersections in the city are already defective.

These sensors are part of the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) that were installed in the city sometime in 1990 and during the term of former mayor Alvin Garcia, but after several years these sophisticated gadgets have ceased to function.

Yap believed these were destroyed by the constant vibration or the asphalt laying in roads.

These sensors transmit signals to the main traffic control which operates based on traffic demands.

The system has an ability to switch between the pre-timed switches between stop and go signals to choosing stop and go signals depending on the traffic volume the sensors pick up on an intersection.

Yap failed to give an estimate of how much is needed to repair the sensors, but he said they are still working for it by coordinating with certain government agencies, including private companies that are willing to assist the city in solving the problem.

“Motrabaho gihapon ang atong mga traffic lights pero dili na basi sa traffic volume,” Yap said.

Yap also added that he is working for the improvement of CITOM’s performance and assured the public of they will have disciplined enforcers to serve them.

Yap said that his office had already created its official Facebook account so that the public can easily give their comments and reports related to traffic.