Governments all over the world have tried everything to try and get motorists to switch off their engines at traffic signals, lets take it from the start; about 10 years ago, India’s best run Government Organization, “Bharat Electronics Limited” came up with a small addition to the traffic lights in India, adding a small timer to the red light letting motorists know how long the signal would stay red. Powered by Solar this new technology was a sort of a marvel in the Indian city. Starting from one experimental signal (BEL Main Road Junction) to spreading all over the city of Bangalore and then the state, now also being rolled out through out the country. The traffic timer was one of the first attempts known to make motorists responsible and try to persuade them to switch off their engines at traffic signals.

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Furthermore, over the years I have seen, more than just this implementation to try and get motorists to switch off their engines. Apart from the timer in the signal people have started coming up with a whole host of inventions for the traffic signals. But the most interesting one of the lot is yet to come, IBM recently patented traffic lights that can send a signal to your car engine so that it can switch off the engine. Car manufacturers say that if your car is left idling for more than one minute, you’re using more fuel than you would simply turning the engine off and then restarting it when you’re ready to continue driving.

The patent says that it for “a method for managing engines in response to a traffic signal,” meaning that if a traffic signal has a certain amount of time before changing to green, it will send out a signal to waiting cars that will shut off their engines. Doing so will cut down on vehicle emissions while saving motorists fuel. The patent also suggests that the method could be useful at railroad crossings where cars often sit idling for several minutes.

Besides the obvious Big Brother concerns, car enthusiasts are in an uproar about the mechanical demands that constant restarting would have on car engines. Based on the extensive infrastructure changes that would have to take place – not to mention the changes to the way cars are manufactured – this doesn’t seem like a change that will happen anytime soon. The fact that IBM is patenting the system means only that they’re claiming the idea, not that they have any definite plans to make the system into a reality. However, it can be said that the idea is interesting and additionally will also provide some relief to the motorists along with the environment.