Smart Solutions for Urban Over-Traffic: Leveraging Technology for Safer, Efficient Cities- Divyansh Agrawal 

Since childhood, I have had a keen interest in programming and wanted to use its potential to solve some of the major issues faced by the world. I am Divyansh Agrawal, a second-year Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) student at NIT Trichy, currently pursuing a BTech. Coming from a metropolitan city, I have witnessed the major problem of over-traffic, which has become very common in developed cities. I remember instances where students missed their exams, patients died due to late arrival of ambulances, and accidents occurred due to breaking traffic signals; the root cause of all these problems is over-traffic. This is a major challenge faced by numerous nations. Solutions like making public transport free, imposing taxes on tourism, and implementing odd-even vehicle allowances have only worked on a short-term basis. As a developer, I propose to design a smart routing algorithm that considers traffic conditions, accidents, and road closures to suggest optimal travel routes, providing real-time information using Machine Learning. By implementing sensors and cameras along with traffic management algorithms, we can optimize traffic signals and manage congestion dynamically. Additionally, urban planning tools can be incorporated to help design more efficient road networks and identify areas that require infrastructure improvements. All the methods proposed can be integrated into a single mobile application that provides real-time traffic updates. By designing such an app, we can effectively control over-traffic. Furthermore, simulation models can be tested using these apps for further improvements. A significant advantage associated with this approach is that it can reduce the number of road accidents and, on a smaller scale, help in reducing noise pollution.