Traffic is at a standstill in Melbourne , Australia. A computer glitch has shut down the automated traffic signs, and in turn caused the closure of main tunnels and traffic routes. What's worse, they still don't know what is causing the software glitch!
I've done work at CityLink, and their IT shop is just totally clueless. This does not surprise me one bit.<p>This is the same company that was doing "mirroring" with Veritas Volume Manager across a metro fibre link, rather than using their TrueCopy licenses. For no reason. Two fibre cuts rendered their entire production database (tolling) environment inoperable and nearly irrecoverable, on two separate occasions. I worked about 36 hours straight getting everything back online and was given a pair of movie tickets as a thank-you gift.
"... growing whisper within the security industry in Melbourne that there weak security might have been breached from China. ..." ~ <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4605335" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4605335</a><p>Any idea what type of systems they are running?
I'm having a really hard time seeing how this is any different than a traffic light being out. If "me-go-you-go" fails, why don't they just have a traffic officer out there directing traffic manually?
See, this is why we need to hurry up and deploy networked computerized automobiles. We won't need stoplights anymore, so this kind of stuff won't happen!
According to a post on the citylink twitter account, "the Burnley & Domain tunnels will begin the re-opening process @ 4pm"<p><a href="https://twitter.com/774melbourne/status/253371401212403712" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/774melbourne/status/253371401212403712</a>
Apparently the reason the tunnels were closed was that Transurban could not operate the emergency sprinkler system and smoke extraction fans.
Surely it would have been cheaper for Transurban to pay a few MFB fire trucks to be stationed outside the tunnels and close a lane to guarantee them access in case of an emergency. That way traffic could flow, tolls could be charged, and nobody would be as upset. I am sure Transurban make more than the fire brigade would charge them per hour.
Bring every police officer on-duty, making a fair percentage of them as a manual fallback to traffic direction. Have the officers play the part of the traffic lights.