Adaptive traffic signals: what actually works at Indian junctions

Most adaptive signal literature assumes lane discipline and homogeneous vehicles. Indian junctions have neither. Density estimation has to work on mixed streams of two-wheelers, autos, buses and trucks, which is why we measure occupied road area and classified counts rather than simple vehicle counts.

The second field reality is failure: controllers must fall back to proven fixed-time plans instantly when cameras or power fail, because a junction can never depend on the AI being up. The third is trust: traffic police adopt the system junction by junction, so dashboards must show why the system chose each green split. Explainability is an adoption feature, not an academic one.