Samah El-Tantawy

Farah El Akkad

After watching snarled traffic both in Toronto and Cairo, Samah El-Tantawy decided to do something different with her PhD dissertation: she created a simulated intelligence traffic light system which makes lights adjust to traffic patterns without any data transmission delays by processing data on site and in real time. As a University of Toronto engineering graduate, El-Tantawy’s project was tested on 60 major Toronto downtown intersections during rush hour. Results showed a 40 percent decrease in delays. El-Tantawy’s traffic light system “helps create more responsive timing for grid-like transportation networks by using data from all directions. It even allows lights to ‘talk’ to each other to create the optimum traffic flow in a given geographical area,” Dr. Baher Abdulhai, director of the Toronto Intelligent Transportation Systems Centre at Toronto University, announced. “Samah’s PhD is simply impressive, a role model for all PhD students. I am certainly proud of her achievements, and I hope my whole team follows suit.”