In this article, we introduce event-based boundary controls for 1-dimensional linear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Inspired by event-triggered controls developed for finite-dimensional systems, an extension to the infinite dimensional case by means of Lyapunov techniques, is studied. The main contribution of the paper lies in the definition of two event-triggering conditions, by which global exponential stability and well-posedness of the system under investigation is achieved. Some numerical simulations are performed for the control of a system describing traffic flow on a roundabout. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.