Several stoplights across Metro Manila have made a shift from countdown timers to a newer system, causing the ire of motorists who were not used to the new system.
Per the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), it explained, on Monday, how certain select locations in the metro have seen an upgrade from countdown stoplights to a more sophisticated system that operates commensurate to the volume of vehicles in an intersection.
MMDA Road Safety Unit Traffic Operations Officer V Francisco Pesino Jr., via CNN Philippines’ Newsroom Ngayon, names the new traffic system as an “advance traffic control system,” citing also how it came embedded with “detectors.”
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Further, Pesino explains how the traffic system functions in three modes—fixed time, semi-actuated, and fully actuated.
Under fixed time mode, the traffic system acts in a countdown fashion, which works seamlessly with detectors; whereas semi-actuated and fully actuated modes rely on, but may be in conflict, with detectors.
Still an ongoing upgrade, the MMDA is looking to phase out all countdown timer stoplights in favor of the new system “within two to three years.”