HOURGLASSTRAFFICLIGHTS

HourglassTrafficLights
ScarlettMolina
ViridianaRobles
JoseMendoza
IrvingZamora
DonaAnaCommunityCollege
April21,2016

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Abstract
OurcompanySandGlassproduceshourglasstrafficlightsthatwillmakethe
intersectionssafer.Themotivetomanufacturethehourglasstrafficlightisbecausewecare
aboutthesafetyofthecommunities.Manypeoplehavecausedaccidentsduemistakenlypassing
ayellowlightshiftingtoaredlight,andaswellaspassingaredlight.Sinceitisnotknownhow
longisthetimeremainingforthelightstochangeourcompanyisgoingtobecometheleading
innovationofintersectionsafety,andtrafficlighttechnology.

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In the efforts of innovation at Sand Glass, our team have been in development of a
product that we believe will impact the serious conditions of traffic intersections. The group of
individuals behind this small industry formed in 2016 through simple production concepts for
improving social interactions on modes of transportation. Our limited industry is broken down
into three departments: research and development is operated by Viridiana Robles, product
testing is conducted by Jose Mendoza, corporate relations is initiated by Irving Zamora and
Scarlett Molina. Together we pursue the goal of developing and improving transportation
devicestopositivelyinfluenceourgrowingsocietyinsafetyandinteraction.

The problem thatisoccurringtodayattrafficintersectionsisintervalcountdownbetween

stages of light indications. About 1.25 million people die each year as a result of road traffic
crashes due to wrongly passing the yellowlight,orredlight (WorldHealthOrganization,2016).
Most commonly known to be a challenge is the yellow light indicator shifting to the complete
stop red indication in this unknown time delay the chances of injury or deathmayincreasedue
to the probability of incorrectly passing the intersection. These chances and probability are the
main cause of our product efforts, to decrease serious injuries, fatalities, and traffic violations
punishable by citations. As well for thered light,manyseemtopasstheredlightduetobeingin
a hurry, or any other reason, when in reality they onlysaveseconds(RedLightSafety Program,
1997). According totheRedLightSafetyProgram,in2005,165,000injuriesandover800inthe
U.S. were attributed to redlight running. There were over 1.8 millionaccidentsatintersections,
and the financialcostforthisissueisprettycostlycomingupto$14billioneachyear(RedLight
SafetyProgram).

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Our solution to this particular obstacle is a traffic light indication system containing

colorcoded stages alongside is chronological countdown in presentation of an hourglass and

numbers. This stage we begin with the color code of red indicating full stop of the vehicle for
twenty seconds in this current stage theredlightisactivehoweverwithadigitalpresentationof
sand filling the bottom half of the hourglass. The next stage is a yellowcodedindicatorwith10
seconds counting down within the hourglass sand filling preparing the drivers to proceed in
crossing theintersection oncethelightshiftstogreencolorcode.Inthestageofgreencolorcode
indication, the drivers safely cross the interaction with the twenty second duration utilizing the
digital sand filling. The yellow color code indicator appears for drivers to prepare to come to a
full stop counting down for 10 secondswhilealsousingthedigitalsand fillingpresentation.The
stages provide an incentive and highly influential indication to positivelyimprovedriversvisual
understanding of traffic light durations. The presentation techniques used greatly improve
visibility andabilitytocomprehendthestagesthatoccuratthetrafficlightintersectionaswellas
solar powered traffic lights. Our team has also provided in these trafficlightsenergysavingsby
being completely solar powered and are self sufficient as they do not require external power
sources(IndustrialTrafficSolutions,2016).

Our primary target consumer for our product design is city council officials or

department of transportation offices who will contract and implement thehourglasstrafficlight.

The secondary consumer is Swarco whowillpurchasetheproductdesignrightstomassproduce
and distribute among the contracted primary consumers (SWARCO, 2016). However, the main
targetaudiences whowillbeservicedbyourproductisthemobilepublicsociety,thisisthemain
group who will encounter and utilize the new implemented systems. We believe our product

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efficiently fulfills the needsand requirementsformaintainingtrafficcontrol withinintersections

thecostandperformancegreatlyweighasadependableandreliableproductsystem.
Our competition is very limited, there's only a few companies that producetrafficlights.
Our main competition is Industrial Traffic Solution, ITS are designers and manufactures who
produce a variety of LED traffic signals and markets them worldwide. The ITS company
produces a necessary product that we use everyday the LED traffic signal is a simple product
that illuminates with an electronic component known as LED or Light Emitting Diode. These
LEDs make ITS products moreefficientthanothers,havingtheirtrafficlightsemiteasilyvisible
illumination and provide high quality performance because of the brightness and require little
energy to operate according to (ITS Ledtrafficlights).ITShadcreatedagreatlyusefulproduct,
however, Sand Glass has refined and improved the original design concept. Our product shares
some of the technology ITS uses like the LED lights, we have managed to make our product
better by making our lights solar powered, by applying solartechnologyourtrafficlightswillbe
eco friendly and require no electric power from the city unless as an alternative power source.
With our product to display numbers in the LED traffic light it will show information to the
drivers ofwhenthelightisshiftingtoanothercolorcodedstage,providing assurancenottopass
aredlightandcauseanaccident.
The cost to produce our product is going to be more expensive than our competition
because our traffic lights have more technology, most of the extra cost is because of the solar
panels that will power the traffic light with solar energy. A normal traffic light according to
(trafficlights.com), cost around $424 for one light includingpedestrianlight.Ourlightswillcost
$499.99 for one light and for the whole set of four will be $2,000 withthepedestrianlight.The

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cost of our product to be installed will be $800,000 with a maintenance of $8,000 a year. Our
product may be moreexpensive,however,inthelongtermperspective:trafficcitationsandfatal
collisions may reduce costly expenses maintenance cost maydecreasethanregulartrafficlights
because our products only utilize a citys power grid as an alternative power source andmainly
operatebysolarpoweredtechnology.
In conclusion we took a product concept that would beimprovedandrefinedandwedid
so through innovation. The obstacles were many drivers incorrectly and unsafely crossedtraffic
intersections because they saw the yellow light and thought only to hurry. Drivers received
violation tickets which are very expensive, in worse case occurrences fatal car collisions can
claim lives. The solutionforthefollowingchallengeswascreatedbyHourglasstrafficlights,the
technology that Hourglass traffic lights uses can diminish the amount of accidents and traffic
violations. Explained above, the cost and maintenance will balance positively within the citys
and public favor. From the electronic components to the concept performance, the effort to
improve safety and expense is a cause worth innovating. The mobile public will extremely
benefit from the easily visible, cost efficient, high quality performance of the Hourglass Traffic
LightdesignedbySandGlass.

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Reference

LEDTrafficLights.(2016),Retrivedfrom
https://www.swarco.com/en/ProductsServices/TrafficManagement/UrbanTrafficMana
gement/TrafficLights

RedLightSafetyProgram.(1997).Retrievedfromhttp://brgov.com/RedLight/default.htm

Roadtrafficinjuries.(n.d.).Retrievedfrom
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs358/en/

SolarLEDTrafficLights.(n.d.).Retrievedfromhttp://www.lanecontrols.com/solar/

TrafficLights.com.(n.d.).Retrievedfromhttp://www.trafficlights.com/

WorldHealthOrganization.(2016.).Retrievedfromhttp://www.who.int/en/