I REFER to the letter by FGI, "Use smart traffic lights to ease jams" (NST, June 15) which laments the way our outdated traffic lights are operated.
He mentioned how most European cities have adopted smart traffic lights that detect oncoming traffic and change accordingly to allow for smoother traffic flows at interchanges.
He urged the police and Kuala Lumpur City Hall to improve the way road traffic and traffic jams were managed and that we could learn from other countries on how best to manage traffic jams.
We do not need to learn from other countries as our own scientists have developed a smart traffic light system, in use at the intersection going and out of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia campus in Bangi since 2003.
The system was developed by Prof Ir Dr Riza Atiq Abdullah O.K. Rahmat from the Engineering and Built Environment Faculty of UKM.
The UKM news portal carried the story on Oct 7, 2010 but until today, no local authority in the country seems to be interested in the system despite some senior officers from the Housing and Local Government Ministry, heads of municipal councils and local governments and senior police officers visiting Riza Atiq and his colleagues at their laboratory in UKM some years ago.
The UKM news portal said many of them were interested but they could not commit because of budget constraints (The full story, dated October 2010, can be read at the UKM news portal).
I think it is not so much budget constraints but, perhaps, other considerations that have made local authorities decide to continue with their current contracts of having the antiquated system.
Perhaps if there is enough pressure from motorists complaining about having to continue to put up with such an antiquated system of traffic lights all over the country, local authorities will open their eyes to the availability of a homegrown smart system already in place.
The UKM news portal mentioned that the police were also interested in the smart surveillance cameras used in the system developed by Riza Atiq.
Consequently Riza Atiq had roped in a psychologist to his team to see how they could detect shady or suspicious characters for the police's crime prevention work.
At present, the smart cameras, mounted on poles as high as street lights can zoom in on the registration numbers of vehicles and measure their speeds.
Fabricated at their lab in UKM, these cameras can be used in all weather conditions. They are also equipped with infra-red technology for use in darkness or areas with no street lights.
They can also detect accidents and are programmed to alert the control centre to call for aid.
Such a system could also be used in car parks of shopping malls in the Klang Valley considering the increase in the number of attacks on women in car parks reported in the past few weeks.
Since the police are aware of the availability of such a system developed by our own scientists, I wonder why they are not roping in Riza Atiq for such crime prevention efforts.
Rejal Arbee, Shah Alam, Selangor