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Traffic Engineer
Designs road systems, intersections, and traffic flow patterns to reduce congestion and accidents.
Did you know?
The first traffic light was installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London in December 1868; it was gas-lit and exploded on 2 January 1869.
How subjects help
- Mathematics: Count cars at a junction and set traffic light timings so queues stay short.
- Physics: Work out stopping distances to decide safe speed limits near schools and sharp bends.
- Engineering: Design roundabouts, crossings and cycle lanes that keep drivers and walkers safe.
- Computer Science: Run computer models that show how a new road will change traffic across a whole city.
A famous name
William Phelps Eno: Called the father of traffic safety; wrote New York's first traffic code in 1903 and promoted stop signs.
Try it yourself: Design a bus route for your town
- Draw a simple map of a made-up town, or your own area from memory, with homes, a school, shops, a park and a doctor's surgery. Put a star where lots of people live.
- Draw one bus route that starts and ends at the bus depot and passes near the busiest places. Mark the stops with dots.
- Measure the route with the ruler. Could you make it shorter and still reach the starred areas?
- Draw a second, improved route in another colour and write down what you gave up to make it faster.
Transport planners balance short, fast routes against reaching the places where most people live, work and study, because shorter routes also save fuel.
Adapted from California Academy of Sciences: Building Better Buses: Transportation Design Challenges.
Also try: Keep two trains safely apart.
Known for it in
Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, Japan, USA