SCOOT Urban Traffic Control

Most traffic signals on Hull City Council’s highway network are connected to our SCOOT Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system, which aims to coordinate and manage traffic flows through corridors of traffic signals.

SCOOT is a real-time adaptive traffic control system for the coordination and control of traffic signals across an urban road network.

Originally developed by the Transport Research Laboratory for the Department of Transport in 1979, research and development of SCOOT has continued to the present day.

SCOOT is used extensively throughout the United Kingdom as well as in other countries.

SCOOT automatically adjusts the traffic signal timings to adapt to current traffic conditions, using flow data from traffic sensors. Sensor data is usually derived from inductive loops in the carriageway, but other forms of detection are increasingly being used.

Adjacent signal-controlled junctions and pedestrian/cycle crossings are collected into groups called ‘regions’.

SCOOT then calculates the most appropriate signal timings for the region.

SCOOT changes the stage lengths, or the splits, to ensure that the delays are balanced as much as possible, changes the cycle time to ensure that delays are minimised and finally changes the offset between the signal installations to ensure that the timings are coordinated as well as possible.

SCOOT has been demonstrated to yield improvements in traffic performance of the order of 15% compared to fixed timing systems.

Access the SCOOT loop data

Some traffic signals that are in more remote locations have different methods of control, as the need for coordination is less important.

The different methods Hull City Council uses include -

Microprocessor-Optimised Vehicle Actuation (MOVA)

Originally designed by TRL during the 1980s, MOVA is now a very well-established strategy for the control of traffic light signals at isolated junctions. It can also be used at a stand-alone pedestrian crossing, i.e. puffin and pelicans.

MOVA is now often deployed as a linked scheme. MOVA is thought to be installed at about half the UK junctions at which it could be installed, with 200 to 300 installations being added annually.

MOVA is particularly well-suited to the following -

• sites with high traffic flow, particularly where these are seasonal or intermittent (for instance, motorway diversion routes and holiday routes)
• sites experiencing capacity difficulties under vehicle-actuated control with congestion on one or more approaches.
• sites with high-speed approaches and/or red compliance problems
• where additional capacity is required to allow pedestrian facilities or a safer staging structure to be introduced
• where more than one junction is situated too close to be considered as isolated, there are ways in which two or more junctions can be linked using MOVA control - partially or even fully signalised roundabouts are a good example of a MOVA linking opportunity
• puffin crossings where the call-cancel demands from kerbside detectors can be dealt with correctly, and the identification of gaps in traffic can be considerably more effective than D-system VA.

MOVA is being used by almost all authorities who have responsibility for traffic signals and is a requirement on new signal installations and major refurbishments on trunk roads.

MOVA can be used in conjunction with any conforming controller, and it is available in one of the following forms -

• add-on unit that connects to the controller via the standard UTC interface
• semi-integral, where MOVA and the controller are separate but have a dedicated communication link
• integral where the MOVA kernel software is incorporated into the controller, although MOVA still effectively remains a separate component.

Vehicle Actuated (VA)

Vehicle actuated control is a traffic management system that uses information from vehicle detectors to adjust traffic signal timing based on real-time traffic demands.

It alters one or more aspects of signal timing on a cycle-by-cycle basis, ensuring efficient traffic flow.

The system can vary cycle lengths and green times in response to vehicle detection, allowing for dynamic adjustments to traffic conditions.

Technologies such as inductive loop sensors, infrared sensors, or radar-based systems are commonly used to detect vehicles and optimise signal timing. This approach helps reduce congestion and improve overall traffic efficiency.

As well as the ability to control all of these different sites, the council can also monitor them with fault reporting to help with maintenance and reliability issues.