SMART TRAFFIC MIGHT HELP YOU HIT ALL THE GREEN LIGHTS

Surely you have been driving block to block down a city street and your pace perfectly syncs with the change from green to red?

It is enough to make you feel like you won the lottery. One with a very modest, non-cash payout, anyway. What if you could have that feeling all the time? U.S engineering firm AECOM thinks they've got the solution: smarter traffic lights.

The lights by AECOM will be able to communicate wirelessly with vehicles as they approach the traffic light. That will allow them to pass along timing information and help vehicles determine what speed will allow the driver to cruise along with minimal stoppages.

Hitting multiple green lights in a row has more benefits than just making drivers feel lucky. Cutting down on starts and stops can greatly reduce emissions and cut down on accidents. It also reduces wear and tears on the vehicles themselves.

This system is going to be trialled on a small stretch road in York, England. AECOM's system is one of five that the National Infrastructure Commission selected from entrants in a recent competition to help prepare the country's roads.

AECOM is understandably excited to get the ball rolling. Principal consultant Heather Hawkins told SkyNews that the company believes the project will allow AECOM to "better understand the potential impact of vehicle-to-infrastructure technologies"

The last thing any country needs to do is roll out a network of "smart" traffic signals that have the ability to communicate with its citizens' vehicles and leave it vulnerable to hackers. We already have smart cities coming our way, why do we even need high-tech traffic controls?