When a GPS-equipped bus approaches an intersection, it can, as before, take over the intersection's traffic light, but the computer can also calculate its expected time of arrival and decide either to extend a green light or shorten a red light.

FORBES: Greening the Traffic Lights

Imagine if every time you got into your car to go somewhere, hundreds of people already out on the road reported on the traffic ahead of you, and a computer somewhere processed all they did and saw and calculated the fastest route to your destination right at this instant, and even instantly updated it as you drove, when those other drivers indicated that conditions changed.

FORBES: Waze Keeps You Out of Traffic, as GPS Meets the Power of the Crowd

For example, the National Air Traffic Service, which has presided over one of the worst computer-procurement failures at its much-delayed Swanwick control centre, is outside parliamentary audit.

ECONOMIST: Government

The serious delay in re-starting the computer would prompt a major investigation within the National Air Traffic Service.

BBC: Computer crash delays 6,000 passengers

This gives the state a powerful tool for monitoring computer traffic.

ECONOMIST: The flies swarm in

Police blocked roads and diverted traffic and Fort Regent was evacuated before the computer error was found.

BBC: Jersey warning siren causes rethink of procedures

As investigators examine Paula Broadwell's computer, and pour over the voluminous email traffic between Gen Allen and Jill Kelley, they're looking for signs of a possibly cavalier attitude towards the handing of classified material.

BBC: What can David Petraeus teach the Pentagon?

At the moment all the district councils operate their own teams of traffic wardens and have their own separate computer and collection systems.

BBC: Report finds Devon councils lose ?800,000 on parking fines

The research carried out by the University of Southampton team has used computer games and simulations to investigate what makes good traffic control.

ENGADGET: Scientists investigating AI-based traffic control, so we can only blame the jams on ourselves