Increasing safety for vehicles and pedestrians

Traffic lights are a great solution for making small carparks safe, and enabling them to manage more vehicles.

They are used when the space for access is restricted (for whatever reason) to one lane but still needing to handle two-way traffic. 

It can also be ideal if you have a unique layout of ramps, (for example, two ramps merging into one) or a restricted lane size, they can be ideal. Carpark traffic lights are particularly important if the single lane ramp is long, or if there are corners. 

How traffic lights can manage carpark flow

A good traffic light system can be programmable to offer flexibility. This means that, rather than having a system that is set (default) to one way, programming can make it easy to meet demand.

And they’re not just limited to one in/one out. Vehicles on entry can get green light preference to get them off the street and out of traffic – and allowing you to be more compliant with development application conditions (or DA Consent) approvals.

Programmable traffic lights can be time regulated, allowing you to have a timer for mornings and one for afternoons, providing peak flow control for when drivers are leaving for work vs coming home.

Note that a ramp signal system may be dictated by council in certain circumstances as part of the DA process.

Traffic light activation options

Car driving over a loop

While loop activation is most common, cutting concrete can be a structural issue in some buildings. What’s more, cutting concrete just prior to project handover can sometimes be messy and inconvenient.

Overhead sensor

A more cost effective activation can be an ultrasonic sensor in the carpark roof. This is becoming more popular since it’s mounted straight into the roof above, so there’s no need to cut concrete to install.

This option:

• Is less susceptible to weather
• Is less susceptible to external influences
• Can pick up vehicles in holding bays and alter traffic lights accordingly
• Can track cars pulling out of parking bays or passing out of ramp areas. The system senses when the vehicle is gone and the ramp is clear, and will return the cycle back to default (green the other way).

Remote activation or manual switch

These options may be appropriate for tighter or space constrained car parks, where there may not be a holding bay where an auto sensor can pick up a car.

For example, some carparks are so tight that there is only room for one vehicle to move from a parking bay. Drivers can’t even begin to move the car out of a parking bay unless the ramp has been red lighted, and therefore clear of other vehicles.

You can even install a system that allows drivers to hit a button as they leave the lift. The system ensures the traffic lights will be green by the time the driver enters their car and is ready to leave.

Parcsafe’s carpark traffic lights system

If you’re looking for a solution to safely control the traffic in a multi-level car park, where ramps between levels are shared for traffic going up or down, Parcsafe can help. 

When only a single vehicle can utilise a car park ramp at any one time, car park traffic light systems resolve any potential issues. By using traffic lights and our rapid ramp controllers, your carpark can be designed with a one way ramp for traffic going either up or down.

The safety of both vehicle and pedestrian traffic in a car park is paramount. Installing these traffic systems in your carpark helps to reduce the potential for any unnecessary incidents.

Traffic light ramp controllers are available for car parks with single lane access. With our Rapid Ramp control panels, you can control the flow of traffic by setting the traffic light sequence depending on the direction of the vehicle flow in your car park. When there is no vehicle traffic, the default state will keep all traffic lights either green or red, depending on the layout and traffic flow in and out of your building.

Get more information about car park traffic lights

To find out more about whether traffic lights could be ideal for your carpark, call the Parcsafe team today on 1300 987 645 or contact us online.