‘Get ready for green.’ New traffic app helps Cary residents get around town more safely.
Drivers know to slow down as they approach a school zone when they see signs, flashing lights or perhaps the school building itself.
Now for drivers in Cary, there’s also an app for that.
The town is testing the Glance TravelSafely mobile app that will tell drivers when they’re approaching an active school zone, a red light at an intersection or a fire truck or police car responding to a call. The app also will alert drivers to pedestrians or cyclists ahead, provided they are also using the app on their phones.
The backbone of the system is a network of “smart devices” Cary installed at all 220 signalized intersections, 90 flashing school zone signs and 25 pedestrian crossings and on 25 emergency vehicles and 5 GoCary buses, said David Spencer, the town’s traffic engineering manager.
“These devices will allow you as a pedestrian, as a motorist, as a user of our transportation system, to stay connected, to get information about what’s going on around you to make your drive safer and more efficient,” Spencer said at a press conference Wednesday.
Visual and verbal warnings
The app, developed by Applied Information of Alpharetta, Georgia, gives both visual and verbal warnings to drivers. At traffic lights in town, it not only lets them know when they’re approaching a red light but also tells them to “get ready for green” a few seconds before the light changes.
“If you have more information, you can make better choices,” said Luana Deans, a transportation planning engineer for the town. “Even if it’s just a little reminder that you’re coming up to a red light or a school zone.”
A couple hundred people have been using the app for several months, and now the town is ready to roll it out to the public. The more people who use it the better, Deans and Spencer say. The system only knows if a pedestrian or cyclist is on the road if those people also have the app turned on.
The app is part of a larger system that helps ensure fire trucks and emergency vehicles get green lights at intersections and allows the town to remotely control signals at school zones as schedules change.
Cary is the first municipality in the Carolinas to use the app on a large scale. Charlotte is testing it at 30 intersections, and Apex, Durham and Morrisville may try it soon, as they upgrade their traffic signals.
Ahead of the trend
These cities and towns are ahead of the trend in the car industry, as manufacturers prepare to adopt similar systems to communicate with traffic signals and other connected devices, said Peter Ashley, Applied Information’s vice president for business development.
“Everybody else is going to have to play catch up, while the city of Cary’s actually ready and waiting for these car manufacturers to start rolling these cars out,” Ashley said.
Ashley and Spencer say they’re not worried drivers will simply become conditioned to rely on an app to do things they should be doing on their own, such as slowing down for school zones. Spencer likened it to a high-tech street sign.
“What we try to do is give them the best information, at the appropriate time, for them to make the right decisions,” Spencer said. “That’s what we do with traffic signs as well.”
For more information about the app or to download it, go to travelsafelyapp.com/.
