Two years ago, the Flemish Roads Agency (AWV) announced the introduction of the new system: via an app on your smartphone, you can get a traffic light to turn green more quickly. Over the past 2 years, 250 intersections were to be equipped with so-called “intelligent traffic lights”, which would receive a signal as soon as a road user with the app approaches. In that way, motorists - but also cyclists and motorcyclists- will not have to wait unnecessarily at red lights when less traffic is approaching from the other direction. A simple example: at night, a main road mainly displays green, the side streets only get green for a very short time. If you arrive with the app from a side street, you can get green immediately, provided there is no traffic on the main road. The lights are waiting... 230 Flemish intersections have meanwhile been equipped with the technology, slightly less than the 250 planned, but still pretty much on schedule. "This summer we made good progress," explains Katrien Kiekens of the Roads Agency. "About 1 in 8 traffic lights along regional roads now have the technology. These are lights that are connected to the internet and communicate with road users via traffic apps, and in the future even with on-board car computers." "We are the second country in Europe to work with this technology on traffic lights. The first country was the Netherlands. Some other European countries are trying out projects on a smaller scale. But we are among the frontrunners." Popular traffic apps aren't following The technology is there but needs connected users. And that is where there is an issue. Until now, only smaller players like Karta GPS, Flitsmeister and Sway are offering the ability to influence traffic lights via your phone. "About 200,000 Flemish people currently use these apps and can communicate with traffic lights," says Ms Kiekens. "And we are already seeing the effect of that. Samples show that cars as well as bikes are crossing intersections more smoothly. But it would be better if many more people joined the system, and for that we need the big players involved." And those big players, in Flanders, are still Waze and Google Maps. Users are not easily inclined to install an extra app, Katrien Kiekens too realises: "We want to be present on the apps that people already use. That is why we are still holding talks with the big players, to be able to make the connection with their apps." "And not just with those traffic apps, but for example also with TomTom and with major car manufacturers to get the technology into the on-board computers of the cars themselves." But for now, those talks have not yielded any results, so you have to turn to the smaller apps. Emergency services The intelligent traffic light system appears already to be proving its worth especially for the emergency services. In Ghent, for example, the system is already being used in ambulances and fire trucks. Katrien Kiekens: "These vehicles already interact with smart traffic lights, giving them a green light. They no longer have to cross intersections and make a dangerous manoeuvre when they are attending an emergency situation. In tests we also see that they arrive at emergencies more quickly."