A plan to keep traffic away from cities when pollution is high is to be trailed in Leicester.
The move, which involves using traffic lights to hold drivers back from built-up areas, could revolutionise the way vehicles are dealt with to minimise their impact on people's health.
Under the scheme, sensors on traffic lights and lampposts across the city will tell Leicester's traffic control centre where queues of traffic are causing dangerously high levels of pollution.
Traffic lights will then be timed to slow down vehicles coming into the city, or speed up vehicles leaving the city, so congestion is moved to areas where people do not live.
The £4.1 million project is funded by the Department for Transport and Engineering, and the Physical Sciences Research Council.
Nick Hodges, special projects officer for Leicester City Council, is leading the city's role in the research.
He said: "Live data from small sensors will feed into a computer and we can use this data to determine how we control traffic flow."
Pollutants from car exhaust fumes include carbon monoxide, but the main problem in Leicester is nitrogen dioxide.
Levels of the gas in Leicester are higher than the European Union's recommended maximum amount.
Under UK law, nitrogen dioxide levels should not reach more than 40 micrograms per cubic metre as an annual average, but in parts of Leicester, such as Melton Road, the levels reach above 50.
Under the initiative, if the level of nitrogen dioxide in densely populated areas such as Narborough Road, traffic lights at Fosse Park will be timed to turn to red for longer so traffic queues build up there, further away from where people live.
This would also allow traffic that has built up in Narborough Road to disperse.
Locations for the sensors or the date the scheme will launch have yet to be confirmed.
Mr Hodges said the system would mean better traffic flow in Leicester, which would improve the city's health in the long term.
Nitrogen dioxide makes breathing problems worse and can even shorten life for people with respiratory disease.
Mr Hodges said: "If you are not well it will make existing illnesses a lot worse and can be the final straw for some people and bring forward mortality."
The £4.1 million will go to the scientists working around the country on the project.
Leicester's reward for taking part will be to keep all the equipment and software.
Drivers today gave the plan a cautious welcome.
Martin Myles, 23, from Oadby, who commutes to work in the city every day, said: "I know it's not nice for people who live next to constant traffic queues, but it's going to be frustrating queuing at red lights and knowing you could be stuck for a long time because this is happening."
Arthur Watson, 64, a private hire driver, said: "It's one solution, I suppose, but the whole city seems to be designed to slow traffic down, so the problem you get is cars standing still and pumping out pollution."作者: lemonbunny 时间: 2008-1-29 12:20