Chen Jia, a Senior 2 student at Futian High School, has invented a traffic light with sensors in the hope that the device will help reduce the number of pedestrians ignoring red lights.

    Chen’s invention won an award at the 28th Guangdong Adolescent Technology and Science Invention Contest on April 14, and she is applying for a national patent for her invention so that it can be used in public places.

    She said she was motivated to make her invention after she often saw impatient pedestrians running red lights at road crossings. She said that it is a waste of time for drivers to have to wait at traffic lights when there are no pedestrians at the zebra crossing, adding that the existing press-button traffic light is “not smart enough and has its intrinsic disadvantages.”

    She conducted several tests with the press-button traffic light and found it inconvenient.

    Chen was inspired by the infrared sensors of water taps installed in public restrooms and Chen’s traffic light also uses the human body as a sort of switch. Her invention opens the circuit of a green light countdown when the sensor detects a human body within a 10-meter radius.

    The sensor is also equipped with a 10-second automatic time delay device so that the green light will remain on within a scheduled period of time. The traffic light is solar-powered.

    Chen has watched numerous traffic lights in many cities in China and the United States but she thought the traffic lights she saw were not well designed.

    Her invention also allows color-blind people to recognize traffic signals through alternative flashes of red and green lights in different shapes.

    “I am very curious about everything in life and I often take notes of the problems I’ve found so that I will not forget them. It is said that inventions often result from overcoming inconveniencies in life so I always keep a watchful eye on them,” said Chen.(Zhao Jie)