From the rod to ITS

Well—organized traffic is not only a comfort and convenience for its participants, but also a guarantee of their safety. Izvestia found out how the methods of traffic management have developed and how they will be improved in the future.

A bit of history

The first attempts to organize traffic were made long before the advent of cars. Back in 45 BC, Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar issued a decree prohibiting the movement of wagons in Rome during the day. At about the same time, prototypes of traffic police inspectors appeared on the streets of the ancient city, who monitored the movement of "horse-drawn vehicles." Among other things, attempts by cart drivers to "drive into the oncoming lane" were stopped — one-way traffic was already organized on some narrow streets of Rome.

In Russia, the first traffic controllers appeared in St. Petersburg and Moscow at the beginning of the last century. They were armed with a white cane, which became the prototype of the baton of the guard, which appeared in 1922 and was originally red and yellow. The now familiar black-and-white coloring of this means of road regulation appeared only in 1939.

The most famous and widespread technical means of regulating traffic is, of course, the traffic light. It first appeared in 1868 in London and was two-color (red and green signals). The yellow light on this device appeared half a century later — in 1918. Such a traffic light was installed at one of the intersections of New York.

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In our country, traffic light regulation began in early 1930 in Leningrad, at the intersection of present—day Nevsky and Liteyny Avenues. In Moscow, the first traffic light was installed at the end of the same year at the intersection of Petrovka and Kuznetsky Bridge.

Traffic lights in our country have been repeatedly modified: The red and green signals were reversed, and blue was used instead of yellow for a while. The current location of the signals and their colors became uniform in 1959, when the USSR joined the International Convention on Road Traffic and the Protocol on Road Signs and Signals.

Road markings, another unchangeable and primary attribute of traffic management, according to legend appeared by accident. A member of the Wayne County Highway Commission, Edward Norris Hines, saw milk dripping onto the road from a leaky can in the back of a car, leaving a clearly visible flat strip on the asphalt. Thanks to this case, the first marking separating the traffic flows appeared. In the USSR, the first road markings were applied in Moscow in 1933, when they appeared on Teatralnaya Square.

Safety at the forefront

According to Sultan Zhankaziev, Head of the Department of "Traffic Management and Safety, Intelligent Transport Systems" at MADI, the evolution of traffic management can be divided into three stages. The first one had no markings, no technical means, no established requirements and rules - traffic was regulated to a greater extent by traditions and established norms. At the second stage, their systematization and generalization began, technical means of organization and elements of road infrastructure management aimed at organizing traffic appeared, standards and regulations were created that are mandatory in this area. The third stage of the ODD is inextricably linked with automated traffic management systems (ASMDS) and intelligent transport systems (ITS), he noted.

— It is important to understand that safety issues are a priority task in the organization of traffic for all its participants, — Sultan Zhankaziev emphasized.

He noted that we are now at the junction of the second and third stages of the evolution of the ODD. Any highway must comply with the requirements of GOST standards concerning the organization of traffic flows, their separation, and in some cases their "calming down". For this purpose, technical means such as dividing barriers, fences, and side stones are used to delimit the flow of traffic and pedestrians. Artificial bumps are used to "calm" traffic where it is necessary to forcibly reduce the flow rate, for example, in front of a pedestrian crossing. And to attract additional attention from drivers, special noise strips are applied to the roadway before narrowing the route, crossing, or making a sharp turn.

All these technical, methodological and organizational methods of flow management are prescribed in the integrated traffic management schemes for each locality, municipality, their individual parts and districts.

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At the same time, ASUDD and ITS are already becoming an integral part of traffic management, emphasizes the head of the Department "Organization and Safety of traffic, intelligent transport systems" MADI.

Variable information signs, signs and auxiliary displays, controllers for collecting road data and other modern technical means have become firmly embedded in our lives and have become a familiar phenomenon on the roads. Thus, ODD is gradually moving from the second to the third stage of its evolution.

Such elements of traffic management already exist on all high-speed highways in Russia, and they are actively used on other roads, especially in large cities, said Igor Morzharetto, a member of the presidium of the Public Council under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

— The future in traffic management is obvious for such systems. The main task for the near future is to implement them on the backbone network of Russian highways," he told Izvestia.

Modern challenges

The rapid development of transport and the emergence of new types of vehicles require changes in approaches to ODD. The main recent challenge in this area has been the active emergence of personal mobility devices.

— We see that SIM ceases to be exclusively seasonal transport. In addition, if a few years ago they were used, as a rule, by fairly young people, now it is increasingly possible to see representatives of the older generation on them. All this requires separate new methods and ways of organizing traffic," Sultan Zhankaziev told Izvestia.

The main task in this direction is to create an appropriate infrastructure for SIM, eliminating the conflict of interests of users of this technology with both motorists and pedestrians, he stressed. At the same time, the head of the MADI department noted, the simple admission of SIM to bike paths and bike lanes, in turn, can potentially generate conflicts of interest between SIM and bicycles.

— It is obvious that the dynamics of an electric scooter, segway, monowheel differs from the dynamics of a bicycle or a conventional scooter. There are serious differences in the principles of their management. Therefore, ideally, when creating a CSODD, it is necessary to provide for its own infrastructure, including separate lanes for both SIM and cycling," Sultan Zhankaziev believes.

Navigation with hints

According to experts, new functions of domestic navigation systems that have appeared relatively recently can be considered part of the modern traffic management system, which warn drivers about approaching a school or railway crossing and inform them about how soon an enabling or prohibiting signal will light up at the nearest traffic light.

These are useful features that allow motorists to predict their behavior on the road, Sultan Zhankaziev notes. At the same time, such tips should not distract motorists, he emphasizes. Their further development should be connected not just with informing motorists, but with offering a certain model of behavior, the expert believes.

— For example, the navigator can not only tell you how many seconds are left before the green light turns on at the nearest traffic light, but also give you the recommended speed within the limits of the current restrictions on this section of the road, so that the driver gets into the so-called green wave and ideally drives the entire route without stopping. This will not only make the flow of traffic smoother and more uniform, but will also improve the environment: when the car starts, when the engine is running at high revs, emissions of harmful substances are higher, Sultan Zhankaziev noted.

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With an eye to the future

In the foreseeable future, other new types of transport will appear on Russian roads, primarily cars with a high degree of autonomy, says the head of the MADI department. Work on traffic management, taking into account cars with autopilot, is already actively underway, he noted.

— The emergence of such transport will require completely different principles of traffic management, including the introduction of regulatory methods and additional restrictions and limits on specific traffic lanes, and not just on a particular section of the road. Without automatic traffic management systems and intelligent transportation systems, this is almost impossible. Therefore, the future in traffic management belongs to them," Sultan Zhankaziev said.

An integrated approach

The organization of traffic is the most important element in ensuring safety on highways, according to the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. It requires an integrated and comprehensive approach and the participation of all ministries and departments, as well as the scientific and expert community. Only in this case will it be possible to create a network of safe and comfortable roads in our country and achieve the goals set by the President of Russia to reduce deaths from road accidents by one and a half times by 2030 and twice by 2036 compared to 2023, the Russian State Traffic Inspectorate emphasizes.

The material was created as part of the implementation of the federal project "Road Safety" of the national project "Infrastructure for Life"