RADIO CONTROL

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 117, 20 May 1939, Page 26

RADIO CONTROL

THE AUDIBLE POLICE

DRIVERS CAN WATCH TRAFFIC

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

NEW YORK, April 20

Traffic control in the world of tomorrow— with robot "policemen" directing automobiles by radio and talking traffic lights to warn pedestrians of impending signal changeswas depicted at the Greater New York Safety Council.

These refinements in traffic safety, designed to make real the theme of the convention—"Safety today for a

safer world of tomorrow" —have been developed and were, demonstrated at a meeting of traffi and safety engineers.

The "radio policeman" employs a small robot transmitting unit which may be mounted on telephone poles or traffic stanchions. By the use of a tiny low-powered radio broadcasting transmitter, operating on a specific unoccupied frequency at the lowest point of the broadcast band, messages concerning traffic safety, speeds, and intersections may be broadcast automatically to motorists as they are driving through a radio-equipped zone. A sign placed before the radio zone would call the attention of the motorists and give the transmitter frequency. This has been used experimentally in the suburb of Astoria.

The unit makes use of a magnetic steel tape for sound recording, which can give a continuous repetition of a traffic bulletin or safety message. The new units are extraordinarily flexible Messages can be instantly erased and new ones substituted by remote control from a central point over an ordinary telephone line.

With the same apparatus and the use of a directional loud-speaker, mounted on a traffic light stanchion, pedestrians can get audible warnings of impending light-changes. Thus at a busy street intersection pedestrians would be saved being caught in the middle of the street by cars through a voice saying: "Do not cross,now; the light is about to change."

Besides the safety offered, the device promises much to drivers, for in addition to safety messages it would give audible road "signs" which would not take the driver's eyes from the road A unit can be installed on a highway for 500 dollars, and its small upkeep would soon make it a saving over policemen's salaries.