Intertraffic World Magazine

2013SHOWCASE
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INFR A STRUC T URE TR A FFIC M A N AGEMENT S A FE T Y PA RK ING
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TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT
CONTENTS | 1
Planned special events capture the attention of a nation, a continent or the world and must include the involvement of security whether through security agencies or the military
Laurel Radow, FHWA, USA
10
Laurel Radow on how to manage trafc during planned special events and national security events
Out of the ordinary
16
Why a wider view is needed to foster truly sustainable transport networks. By Louis Neudorff
The bigger picture
Infrastructure 24 28 33 36 38
Behind the scenes at one of the worlds largest road infrastructure projects How the humble road stud is illuminating the path to safer, better-managed road networks A brief history of the future of trafc control from Pexco A new VMS from TripleSign has a number of benets Why Borums road marking range is hitting the spot
What lies beneath? Active measures
Back to the future
The power of three Spot on!
Id often thought trafc lights were badly timed...but then I realised they were unnecessary per se
Martin Cassini, trafc system reform campaigner, UK
40 42 44 47 Trafc management 52 56 62
Outspoken trafc critic Martin Cassini argues in favour of trafc system reform in the UK Helen Gibson and Alan Stevens assess the nancial benets of adaptive real-time trafc control Gevekos efforts to halt the presence of wrong-way drivers on our roads and motorways
Powerful portfolio of safety solutions from SGGT Delta explains the valuable role of retroreection Zehntners advice on how to better manage retroreectivity The continued success of the RollsRoller machine
Safer by design Upon reection Easy does it On a roll
Break the rules
64 67 70
Vaisala explains how technological changes in road weather are causing a paradigm shift A giant leap towards integrated trafc modelling from TSS-Transport Simulation Systems Neural Labs reports on why the software engine is the critical component of effective ANPR systems
New thinking A step up
Bang for your buck? Ghost-busters
Start (with) your engine
Annual Showcase 2013 | Intertraffic World
2 | CONTENTS
Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2013
CONTENTS SAFETY | 123 |3
Trafc management (cont.) 72 74 76 79 82 85 88

Why WIM sensors from Kistler help to offer a highly accurate view of vehicle weights IRD discusses the merits of automated weighstations Trafko presents the latest in computer vision technology for trafc junctions A more graceful approach to vehicle weighing from Intercomp How LED lighting solutions from Gardasoft are proving a critical part of ITS applications SVS-Vistek reports on two worlds being precisely joined to benet the trafc management market How Simetryx is applying the internet of things to ITS
Motion picture
90 92 94 97
PDSystems argues the case for better visibility at pedestrian crossings Not all trafc radars are created equal, as the experts from Wavetronix explain The growing role of LED road lighting tools from Elcom Stemmer Imaging on the path to perfection for ITS cameras
At rst sight
Weight watching
Wave equation
Advance with care Poetry in motion
Out of the darkness Picture perfect
LED there be light Come together Get connected
100 Expert advice
RSMs words of wisdom on how to accelerate the benets of ITS
102 Final countdown 106 New frontiers
The denitive version of ADEC Technologies trafc detector Mohammed Yousuf and Mark Fitzgerald investigate the innovations that are empowering disabled travellers
Safety 114 Inside information 118 Driving standards

How New Jersey is using advanced crash data software to increase road safety in the state Report detailing how the FOTsis project is pushing forward the harmonisation of ITS services across the European community
122 Master glass
Swarco details the merits of micro glass beads for road markings
124 Under the lens
Behind the screens of Gatsos latest enforcement cameras
126 Leading the way 129 Safe and sound 132 In the zone
Transverse rumble strips from Evonik are improving safety in rural areas Prisma Tekniks efforts to help all pedestrians particularly those with sight or hearing loss How Vitronics speed enforcement products are improving workzone safety
The use of social intelligent incentives to reward good behaviour rather than penalising bad is an attractive solution
Professor Eric Sampson, Newcastle University and ITS UK
Annual Showcase October 2013 2009 | Intertraffic World
4 | CONTENTS
Parking 136 Presidential debate 140 Aussie rules

Louise Smyth meets the British Parking Associations president, Anjna Patel The new smarter parking initiatives being planned and implemented across Australia. By Timothy Compston
147 All for one, one for all 150 In the spotlight 152 Get real
An integrated approach to parking management from Open Trafc Systems End-to-end parking system from Park Assist How FAAC is bringing ticketless parking to life
154 Charging ahead 157 Swiss guard
Editorial
Editor-in-chief: Nick Bradley Editor: Louise Smyth Proofreaders: Aubrey Jacobs-Tyson, Frank Millard Art Director: Craig Marshall Art Editors: Andy Bass, Andrew Locke, Duncan Norton Head of Production/Logistics: Ian Donovan Deputy Production Manager: Lewis Hopkins Production Team: Carol Doran, Cassie Inns, Robyn Skalsky
Park-and-recharge systems from Swarco Parking guidance developments from the Switzerland-based Schick Electronic
160 Around-the-world ticket

Amanos new global development strategy
Advertising
Publication Director: Mike Robinson International Advertising Sales: Andy Taylor (andy.taylor@ukipme.com)
162 Park and guide
Wireless parking sensor from Nedap
165 Fitting the bill
Expert advice on recycling bills from Crane Payment Solutions
CEO: Tony Robinson Managing Director: Graham Johnson Editorial Director: Anthony James The views expressed in the articles and technical papers are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the publishers. While every care has been taken during production, the publisher does not accept any liability for errors that may have occurred. Published by
169 Dude, wheres my car?

How Parkhelp is enabling hapless drivers to locate their vehicles
171 Pay it forward
Sentry Protection Products explains why preventative maintenance pays for itself
174 Divine inspiration 176 Pretty vacant
A new idea borrowing an historical name from Smart Parking Systems Tracons video-based occupancy detection solutions
UKIP Media & Events Ltd, Abinger House, Church Street, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 1DF, UK Tel: +44 1306 743744 Fax: +44 1306 742525 Email: louise.smyth@ukipme.com Printed by William Gibbons, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3X, UK This publication and its contents are protected by copyright 2013 ISSN 2042-7204 Intertraffic World is a partnership with Amsterdam RAI, organisers of the Intertraffic events Contact: Amsterdam RAI, P.O. Box 77777, NL-1070 MS Amsterdam, The Netherlands Tel: +31 20 549 12 12 www.intertraffic.com
178 Advertisers Directory 184 Last Man Standing

Newcastle University and ITS UKs Professor Eric Sampson proffers his top 10 hot topics for 2013
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6 | EDITORS COMMENT
Foreword
Read on to discover more about what lies between the covers of the fourth edition of this ever-popular industry read...
Anyone reecting on 2012 and thats the year in general, not only as viewed from within our trafc management bubble cannot fail to regard it as 12 months of huge events. Some were good the 2012 London Olympics and the Queens Diamond Jubilee; some were bad Superstorm Sandy stands out here; and some were either good or bad depending on your political views namely the US Presidential election. But what each of these major events has in common whether a planned sporting occasion or a natural disaster is the impact it has on transportation systems. And that doesnt just revolve around how to get trafc from A to B: major events impact on numerous facets of everyday life, arguably the most notable non-transport issue being that of security. When a mega event takes place, whether planned or otherwise, keeping citizens safe is a prerequisite. In our lead article on the topic on page 10, the FHWAs Laurel Radow explains how transportation and security experts should collaborate during big events to ensure that not only does a transport network keep running but that it also does so safely. With the 2014 FIFA World Cup coming up in Brazil followed two years later with the Olympic Games in Rio Radows words of wisdom are essential reading, particularly for our South American readers who will undoubtedly want these two momentous sporting festivals to be remembered for the right reasons. Safety being a primary goal for our industry, naturally that is reected in the pages of this magazine. As you will no doubt be aware, Intertrafc World is divided into four sections Safety being one of them yet youll nd it recurs throughout. Whether a story is ostensibly about an ambitious, enormous new tunnel project (page 24) or the humble but increasingly intelligent road stud (page 28), at the heart of what drives most of this work is the need to keep people moving safely. It would be naive to believe there are purely philanthropical reasons for keeping us safe as we go about our daily business after all, its no secret that transport networks play an incredibly important role in keeping economies moving, too but it remains heartening to see the subject being so prominent on the global agenda, especially as we progress through this Decade of Action. However, efciency and mobility are not overlooked either. In our packed Parking section, you will nd the fruits of my illuminating discussion with the British Parking Associations Anjna Patel (page 136). A pleasure to speak with, she reveals parking is a particularly strong sector right now despite it having some (mainly political) challenges to overcome. From what she tells me and based on the other technical articles you can read in that section I suspect you will see a growing emphasis on intelligent parking solutions and indeed their role alongside traditional trafc management both within these pages and those of our sister publication, Trafc Technology International. A further personal highlight from this 2013 edition is Martin Cassinis rather unorthodox stance on trafc system reform, which youll nd in the Trafc Management section (page 52). If his proposal of removing trafc lights and other longstanding mechanisms of trafc control were ever to be realised self-control as opposed to the current priority rule I wonder how many trafc managers would have to start searching the recruitment pages. But as Patel and many other interviewees have pointed out to me over the past seven years that Ive been on the Trafc Technology International team, political will is a continuing stumbling block in our industry. Consequently, Cassini might have rather a long wait for his vision of a trafc light-free future to become a reality. In the meantime, enjoy the issue! Louise Smyth Editor
It would be naive to believe there are purely philanthropical reasons for keeping us safe as we go about our daily business

th in this 19 World Congress on ITS FOTsis, edition about the Plan4Safety, xed Fehmarn Belt link and much more!
Articles
October/November 2012
How connected vehicles could alter the RWIS landscape Strategies designed to wipe out wrong-way driving in Texas
WWW.TRAFFICTECHNOLOGYTODAY.COM
Weather front Ghost busters
Pull out the stops

Autonomous networks: could traffic managers take a leaf out of Mother Natures book to revolutionize our roads?
PLUS
| Heart of the matter

The automatic license plate recognition advances forming the lifeblood of todays ITS
| Victory parade
Tollings class of 2012 line up for our annual focus on the IBTTA Toll Excellence Awards
| Rob Gifford, PACTS

Road traffic statistics are not debating points in elections, unlike school standards or health
8 | WELCOME
Welcome
to the fourth edition of Intertraffic World the successful partnership between the publisher of Traffic Technology International and the organiser of the Intertraffic events Cooperation and collaboration are, I am sure youll agree, crucial at all levels in our industry from the ground right up to the most senior governmental echelons. In a way, youre holding an example of what can be achieved when the leading exhibition organiser in the trafc management sector, Amsterdam RAI, cooperates and collaborates with the leading magazine publisher, UKIP Media & Events the creators of Trafc Technology International, tolltrans and Vision Zero International. And in this 2013 edition of Intertrafc World, you will read how participants involved in Infrastructure, Trafc Management, Safety and Parking are coming together as well as how the boundaries between each are increasingly blurred. You will also learn a great deal about the technologies and strategies facilitating this convergence in order to foster a safer, cleaner and more efcient society. Whats clear is that if we as an industry are to achieve our goals, our success will depend on an extraordinarily deep level of cooperation between public authorities, standards bodies, road and infrastructure operators and the Tier 1s and OEMs in the automotive community. We can see through various research projects, such as DRIVE C2X, COMeSafety2, eCoMove, COSMO and many others and not forgetting the USDOTs model deployment ongoing in Detroit that the operability and potential benets of cooperative systems are being fully explored, tested and potentially readied for deployment in the latter half of this decade. But as I hear from many of you at our Intertrafc events in Amsterdam, Istanbul, China and India, cooperation and collaboration is key for business, too. In the past, when trying to successfully land a pitch, a tender simply consisted of tangible and often low-tech products. Now, though, the demand centres around high-tech solutions incorporating components from a multitude of disciplines and markets needing to cooperate to provide a functioning solution (ICT, automotive, energy, etc.) evidenced in some of the previously mentioned projects. Aside from that, cooperation sometimes even with a direct competitor is necessary in order to generate a proposition unique and compelling enough to create a winning offer. All too often, though, we see that within consortia competing for a large project, conicts and distrust about the business case arise in the latter stages. Moreover, consortia are often not fully up-to-speed about the actual and long-term needs and demands of governments and as a result neither the proposition nor the consortia meet the requested quality. More cooperation and collaboration needed, I wager. For RAI/Intertrafc, our main objective is to bring supply and demand together in such a way that the correct consortia and propositions can be conceived and both industry as well as science can nd each other through our truly multimedia offerings. Hence, in our upcoming events the Intertrafc brand will make top-quality matchmaking tools available our print medium Intertrafc World and our .com platform, for example. In spring 2013, our online portal will see a relaunch and will incorporate more information as well as some exciting interactive possibilities. Our magazine, Intertrafc World, will develop an increasing focus on cooperation and solutions, and in this respect a brand-new edition will be published prior to our Intertrafc Istanbul event (to be held from 29-31 May 2013). Ultimately and overwhelmingly Intertrafc will do more and more to make solutions and cooperation understandable and visible through live demonstrations at our events, showcase editorials in our magazines and marketplace modules on our .com platform. For you, though, the challenge is to create similar cooperations. Daring to share will bring results. Talk about the business case at an early stage and share your concerns. You will nd that your biggest competitors will become friends and partners for life. And, as ever, we are at your service and hope that you enjoy what you read! Erik Dijkshoorn Intertrafc Worldwide Events
The challenge is to create cooperations. Daring to share will bring results. Your biggest competitors will become friends and partners for life
2014
25.26.27.28 MAR
International trade fair for infrastructure, ITS traffic management, safety and parking
The Netherlands
Amsterdam RAI
World leading multimedia traffic technology and mobility market place Smart Mobility Centre and World Smart Capital concepts The latest innovations in the industry Over 800 exhibitors from nearly 50 countries Total traffic solutions illustrated by true business cases Dedicated seminars, conferences and workshops Real live demonstrations
Organised by:
10 | SPECIAL EVENTS PLANNING
Out of the ordinary

SPECIAL EVENTS PLANNING | 11
Whether national security events or planned special events, when something unusual occurs, trafc management agencies must be prepared. The FHWAs expert in the know explains the best planning procedures and how to implement them
Words | Laurel J. Radow The year 2012 could be termed the year of water events. In the UK, the highlight of the celebration of Queen Elizabeth IIs Silver Jubilee was the 1,000-boat otilla on the River Thames. Transportation plans were developed and implemented to move the more than one million people to the riverfront to view the boats, which required coordination among the agencies involved in the safety of the participants as well as the viewers. In the USA, 2012 was the Bicentennial Celebration of the War of 1812. One of the rst events was the Star-Spangled Sailabration in Baltimore, Maryland, that started just days after the Queens Jubilee. With more than one million attendees, the event included more than 40 tall ships and naval vessels that sailed into Baltimore harbour for the national start of the celebration and the writing of the nations anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner. Events throughout the coming year will take place at harbours across the country and will culminate with the Americas Cup that will be held in San Francisco in September 2013. Although many of the events will not be considered security events or National Security Special Events (NSSEs), many of them will bring large numbers of viewers and attendees to river and lake fronts. With many of those rivers and lakes at some distance from public transit and parking in the cities at a premium the transportation plans developed for such events must consider how best to move the million or more attendees as safely and quickly as possible to and from the celebrations. In addition to these water events, 2012 will be remembered for the London Olympics. Although the games didnt start until July 27, Monday, July 16 was the day Heathrow Airport saw the most passengers land some 236,955 passengers, breaking the previous daily record of 233,562 set in July 2011. To move the athletes and others in the ofcial community, the Olympic Route Network (ORN) of 30 miles of road within London contained so-called Games Lanes, which were exclusive-use lanes created to ensure competitors and ofcials reached events in time. Although the lanes were
generally very busy with Games trafc, they were open to all trafc at less busy times. To help limit congestion, a network of 150 electronic signs along the network advised motorists when the lanes could be used.
Planned special events

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) denes planned special events (PSEs) as an occurrence that abnormally increases trafc demand, unlike an accident or construction and maintenance activities that typically restrict the roadway capacity. According to the FHWA, PSEs include sporting events, concerts, festivals, and conventions at permanent multi-use venues (e.g. arenas, stadia, racetracks, fairgrounds, amphitheatres and convention centres). They also include less-frequent public events such as parades, reworks displays, bicycle races, sporting games, motorcycle rallies, seasonal festivals, and milestone celebrations at temporary venues. The term planned special event is used to describe these activities because their locations and times of occurrence are known and their associated operational needs can be anticipated and managed in advance. A PSE creates an increase in travel demand and may require road closures to stage the event. PSEs generate trips, in doing so affecting overall transportation system operations. This includes freeway operations, arterial and other street operations, transit operations and pedestrian ow. Unlike roadway construction activities or trafc incidents that constrain travel within a single corridor, PSEs affect travel in all corridors serving the event venue. The information shown below and included in FHWAs August 2008 report, Planned Special Events Economic Role and Congestion Effects shows clearly why transport participation in both the planning and day-of-event activities is critical to the success of the event. The PSEs discussed here and many that have been held in the USA and elsewhere
(Main) Some operations centres may require sta to undergo background checks or to sign non-disclosure agreements (Above) Meanwhile, those on the street also need to be fully briefed as to how to conduct their tra c management duties during an NSSE
Annual assessment
since September 11, 2001 and will continue to be held in the years ahead capture the attention of a nation, a continent or the world and are often ones that must include the involvement of security, whether through security agencies or the military. In the USA, these events are called National Special Security Events (NSSE) and fall under the purview of the US Secret Service. For the state and local DOTs involved in the preparation and implementation of the plans, much of what is involved in preparing for NSSEs is similar to the plans developed for other PSEs, except that these plans are all vetted through the security and/or military agencies. In 2011, the FHWA, USDOT produced National Special Security Events: Transportation Planning for Planned Special Events, a document that listed several critical areas for which planning and preparation must be performed to ensure a successful event. Below are excerpted sections that discuss key aspects of these events.
The FHWA o ers some gures that show annual estimates of PSEs with more than 10,000 attendees: 24,000 PSEs; 600 million attendees; US$40 billion of in-event revenue; US$160 billion in total economic impact; US$4 billion in government revenue; US$1.7 billion to US$3.5 billion in congestion costs; 93 million to 187 million hours in travel delay; 64 million to 128 million gallons excess fuel consumption.
Transportation planning
The creation of the NSSE transportation plan is not that much different from that of a transportation plan for a PSE. The primary difference is the NSSE requires a higher level of security and so may require more road closures, transportation workzone closures, and limited access to parking than would be required for a non-NSSE special event. With an NSSE, the outside entity (such as the White House, when Pittsburgh
SPECIAL EVENTS PLANNING | 13
Sometimes, its not the event...
Transportation planning for planned special events is needed for other reasons. One such reason is when a disaster occurs while a planned special event is under way. When the collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis on August 1, 2007 occurred, a Minnesota Twins major league baseball game was starting not very far from the bridge site. Soon after the bridge collapsed, the state emergency management agency wanted to stop the game and send everyone home. The Minnesota DOT explained that by ending the game early, it would put 20,000-25,000 people back into tra c at the very time when the rescue e ort was under way. Although delayed, the game was started as planned and the fans remained at the stadium.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Ro dal, US Coast Guard
hosted the G20 in September 2009) comes to the local jurisdiction with a request to hold a special event requiring transportation support and approval. The local jurisdiction reviews the request, negotiates terms of support and road closures, and approves transportation routes. For an NSSE, because of its complexity, a unied transportation plan is needed to address the security concerns to ensure the smooth ow of trafc, including transit vehicles, even under heightened security. It is also important that any security plan incorporate planned or temporary trafc and parking patterns. Lead agencies may also request the assistance of any number of other federal, state or local agencies to provide multimodal transportation security. In February 2005, for example, Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Florida, required extra maritime support to provide security to cruise ships serving as supplemental hotels. With the inux of various state and local transportation and security agencies, event leadership must ensure clarication of assignments and resolution of instances of overlapping jurisdiction in advance of the event.
A unied transportation plan is needed to address the security concerns to ensure the smooth ow of trafc even under heightened security
the population. One alternative may be shuttle bus services. Each NSSE will need guidance concerning such costs. established planning relationships a local ofcial that is not cleared to be in a specic zone will not gain access. Additionally, sanitation of an area is the process of clearing all zones prior to the start of the NSSE. Law enforcement uses methods, including bomb-snifng dogs, to conduct a check of all zones to ensure they are secure. After this, the USSS permits no further access into the zone until it has opened up the venue to access by ofcials. This period can be a day or more or just a few hours. During the planning of former President Ronald Reagans funeral service at the National Cathedral, negotiations for road closures and alternate routes for local residents and other transportation users included the discussion of blast zones. For the USSS, this specic building presented challenges because it contains a lot of glass. Although an initial and signicant perimeter was required, the USSS needed to consider an additional layer based on the impact a blast would have on the building, even if the explosion did not occur next to the building.
Security zones
An NSSE will usually require a secure perimeter or zones that require road closures. In some cases, there may be several zones separated by security checkpoints creating rings radiating out from a central point. Again, several road closures will be required just to support these checkpoints. The zones that are set up around a venue are for protection purposes and are usually secured areas with specic access points. Zones also help to assign staff to specic areas, such as along a parade route or around a venue. In both cases, personnel working the event must have approvals granted on a case-by-case basis to move within the zone(s). The zone plan also allows law enforcement and the US Secret Service (USSS) to control access and easily identify people who are not where they are supposed to be. In the case of a parade route, zones will also help to place public seating/viewing, protest locations, media, and exit routes. The security for an NSSE is extremely tight and despite any
Access and functional needs

During planning for road closures, transit station closures and sidewalk closures, planners must consider the proposed alternatives and how they serve people with access and functional needs, including what accommodations may need to be made for these segments of
Operations centres
During the planning stage, it will appear as if every agency needs an operations centre. Because the DOT/DPW (Department
Completing or halting road construction work must be considered ahead of NSSEs
of Public Works) plays such a central role in an NSSE, most operations centres will want transportation representatives. During the 2004 Democratic National Convention, for example, state police set up a command centre involving: state police; the Massachusetts DOT, Highway Division; the MBTA; Division of Urban Parks and Recreation; the USSS; and the City of Boston. As the NSSE approaches, it may be necessary to train transportation personnel as to how to work in an operations centre that includes reporting and communications. Because incidents can occur and problems may develop, the DOT/DPW personnel in operations centres need to know who to contact immediately or need to be empowered with the authority to handle the situation. This may present a problem if a member of the DOT/DPW staff doesnt have a position description that gives them the responsibility to make command decisions. Questions of authority for transport staff who ll positions in operations centres need to be directed to the appropriate ofces well in advance of the NSSE. Some operations centres may require staff to undergo a background check to operate within that centre. Those staff members may need to sign agreements that they will not disclose any information they acquire while executing their duties. Agencies should submit the names of the personnel for clearance as soon as they are requested. The DOT/DPW doesnt need to submit all members of its staff; those who are expected to be in operations centres and their back-up staff is a good start. Some personnel may not pass the background investigation, and there may be a request for a new staff member.
or stopping and then securing ongoing road projects that affect trafc detours, road closures, and key transportation routes will be necessary prior to the NSSE. As part of its assessment of the venue location, the USSS may visit sites to understand the project well in advance of the NSSE. In many cases, the DOT/DPW can provide this information as well. Important information includes the nature of the work, the length of the project, contact details of those running the construction site, and requirements for closing and securing the site.
between the Pittsburgh International Airport and the City of Pittsburgh. In addition, the USSS and state police inspected each job site to ensure that they were secure. These inspections were a part of the larger, overall route inspection that the USSS and State Police conducted. The City of Pittsburgh also closed down construction and work zones throughout the downtown area. A City of Pittsburgh DPW ofcial commented that many of the workzones in the downtown area required a police presence for trafc control. Due to the need for all law enforcement resources supporting the NSSE, the USSS and state police secured workzones and temporarily halted work.
FHWA PSEs/traffic incident management peer-to-peer program

In the past few years, the FHWA sponsored two peer-to-peer sessions. In July 2011, representatives from Pittsburgh who had managed the 2009 G20 meeting went to Hawaii to help them prepare for the November 2011 Asia Pacic Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting. In April 2012, from St. Paul the host of the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC) both the director of the Minnesota Transportation Management Center and a St. Paul police ofcer went to Tampa to help them prepare for the RNC. The development and implementation of good transportation plans is essential for all planned special events whether they NSSEs, major regional events, or the local but well attended street festival. The rst step for a city or metropolitan planning organisation attempting to manage congestion from these events will be to develop an understanding of the frequency, types, and locations of PSEs in their area. Once this data has been collected, ofcials can move on to assess the congestion impacts of the events and explore ways to apply various mitigation techniques. When transportation to the event goes well, the attendees experience from the moment they leave home is improved. The FHWAs intent in sharing these good practices is to ensure that those positive experiences continue. n
Laurel J. Radow is the evacuations and planned special events program manager with the Emergency Transportation Operations Team, Ofce of Operations, FHWA in the USA. She can be contacted by emailing laurel.radow@dot.gov
The NSSE may require temporarily halting road construction projects In some cases, this can mean temporarily resurfacing roadways only to tear them up again after the NSSE
Securing a workzone can consist of removal of equipment, supplies, and debris to include dumpsters. The concerns surrounding workzones range from access to objects that may be used against people to a security risk for an act of terrorism. The NSSE may require temporarily halting road construction projects. In some cases, this can mean temporarily resurfacing roadways only to tear them up again after the NSSE. Workzone concerns must be coordinated with the appropriate committees at the onset of the planning process since a longer lead time makes it easier to accommodate any changes to permitting and contracts. During the G20 Summit, the USSS and Pennsylvania State Police requested the closing of all workzones along I-376
Road construction workzones

Road construction workzones present a unique challenge to an NSSE. Completing
Accurate mobile measurements of pavement markings at trafc speed LTL-M
Measurements of all types of white and yellow pavement markings
Measurements of all colours and types of retroreective sheetings in one
16 | SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT
The bigger picture

When it comes to sustainable transportation, a broader view is now required to better understand the relationships between transportation systems, traveler behavior, and climate change
Words | Louis Neudorff A few years ago, I had the pleasure of writing an article on the newly formed Sustainable Transportation Working Group (STWG) within ITS America (ITSA). The STWG is still going strong, sponsoring webinars, developing and moderating special sessions on sustainable transportation for the ITSA Annual Meeting and World Congress on ITS, and providing general assistance to ITSA staff on such matters. When the STWG started out, our emphasis was on the environment and the role transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) and the supporting ITS technologies can play in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions a major cause of global warming. One of the STWG Steering Committee members Matt Barth, from the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CERT), University of California at Riverside has developed an illustration of how TSMO strategies can reduce GHG. The graph on page 18 shows a speed-based CO2 emissions curve for a typical vehicle travelling on a highway section (solid blue line). The dashed red line represents the approximate lower bound of CO2 emissions for vehicles travelling at constant steady-state speeds. Congestion mitigation (e.g. incident management, ramp management) increases average trafc speeds from slower, heavily congested speeds. Speed management (e.g. variable speed limits and automated enforcement) reduces excessively high speeds to safer and more efcient speeds. And trafc smoothing (e.g. active trafc management) reduces the number and intensity of accelerations and decelerations. Things have changed since the STWG was rst established. The environment and climate change is no longer on the political agenda at the federal level. For example, the subject was never mentioned during the three presidential debates, nor did President Obama and Governor Romney say much about climate change on their recent campaign trails. As such, the STWG recently revised its mission statement and developed a new ITSA Policy Statement on Sustainable Transportation that takes a broader view of sustainability. This new policy statement reads as follows: Transportation is an essential and integral component of a sustainable society. ITSA has dened sustainable
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT | 17
ITS America has dened sustainable transportation as meeting, and sometimes redening, the mobility needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs
transportation as meeting and sometimes redening the mobility needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. There are several attributes associated with these mobility needs a three-dimensional framework consisting of economic, social, and environmental considerations. Economic: Transportation has long been recognised as essential to economic development. Efcient and reliable movement of people and goods that is, mobility improves productivity and can spur economic growth. Social: People who are economically, socially, or physically disadvantaged need transportation options and choices to give them opportunities to work, learn, and participate in society. Related societal issues include the security and the safety of the transportation network. Environmental: On a global scale, the looming threat of climate change has focused attention on the environmental impacts of the transportation sector, which contributes more than 25% of the USAs GHG emissions. Moreover, the concept of sustainable transportation should be addressed in a holistic manner a collective process whereby decision-making and actions carefully evaluate and balance the potential impacts of this triple bottom line. The point to be made is that TSMO strategies and ITS technologies have been deployed for years focusing on the rst two attributes (increased mobility and enhanced safety) of sustainable transportation, and will and must continue to be deployed and operated. The application of these same technologies and strategies, however, can also help protect and preserve the environment by reducing GHG emissions.
1,000 900 800 700
(Above) VSLs help to reduce excessively high speeds and improve tra c throughput (Below) Graph showing the use of tra c operation strategies in reducing on-road CO2 emissions
Alternative therapies
The STWG is also now addressing livability and livable communities, and the role ITS can play in this regard. Livability is closely aligned to and entwined with sustainability. Both concepts address issues of social equity and human health, and seek to promote more environmentally friendly travel options and economic activities. TSMO strategies can help to promote livability concepts. A corridor for example and associated integrated corridor management (ICM) strategies can include walking and bicycling. TSMO strategies and ITS can also help improve how existing transport systems interface with the communities they serve. Performance management is another STWG activity with an increasing focus. The recent Transportation Authorisation Bill MAP 21 addresses performance measures, requiring that goals be established for safety, congestion reduction, system reliability, freight movement and economic vitality, and environmental sustainability, all of which are components of the broader view of sustainable transportation.
Real-world activity Steady-state activity
Congestion mitigation
CO2 (g/mi)
600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Speed management
Tra c smoothing
65
70
75
80
85
90
Average speed (mph)
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT | 19
real-time algorithms for trafc signal control, ramp metering, and active trafc management (ATM) for instance, determining and displaying speeds based not only existing speeds and congestion levels but also to minimise GHG emissions and other pollutants. Another area of emphasis for the STWG is that of adaptation a particularly relevant topic as I type this article in my house in Connecticut with the wind gusts from Hurricane Sandy increasing, hoping that I nish it before the power goes out! Several respected journals and reports lay out the case that climate change has already begun to affect transportation and will continue and most likely, increase in the years ahead. There can be no doubt that the number of extreme weather events has increased over the past few years hurricanes in the northeast, drought in much of the country, freak snowstorms, and the like. DOTs and regional planning organisations will need to consider appropriate long-term planning processes and near-term operational approaches to
The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
Performance management requires the collection and processing of relevant data. ITSA is assisting USDOT with the Applications for the Environment: Real-time Information Synthesis (AERIS) programme as a part of the Connected Vehicle research effort. The objective of AERIS is to generate and acquire environmentally relevant real-time transport data, and use it to create actionable information that support and facilitate green transport choices by system users and operators. Such data may not only be used for performance measures; it might also be used in
Adapt to survive
Extreme weather events pose an increasing challenge to ITS practitioners
A sub-committee of the STWG is addressing the issue of adaptation and will focus on the impact of climate change on the transport infrastructure as well as identify transport technologies and operational strategies that can help respond (i.e. adaptation) to changing conditions. Global warmingcan be expected to result in sea levels rising, an increase in the number of very hot days, and an increase in the frequency and intensity of precipitation events and hurricanes. This, in turn, will impact the transport infrastructure
e.g. pavement and road base integrity, bridge joints expansion, ooding, weather-related delays and incidents, and evacuations from areas impacted by storms. Operational strategies and ITS technologies may be useful for example, traveller information to alert drivers of adverse weather conditions and guide them away from a ected areas, and emergency management strategies and ITS technologies that automatically detect problems within the infrastructure resulting from climate change.
How we manage freight transport is a critical consideration moving ahead
prepare for these changes. In other words, they will need to adapt so as to minimise the potential impacts on the transport system from climatic changes, either through decreasing the systems vulnerability, increasing its resilience, or a combination of both. TSMO and ITS can help in this regard, and approaches include enhanced traveller information, reduced/variable speed limits (via ATM), lane restrictions (e.g. trucks), and road and transit diversions. Increased incident
Fuels gold
Another STWG committee is focusing on vehicles, fuels and the supporting infrastructure. This committee will tackle technologies and policies for improving the on-road fuel e ciency of vehicles under real-world driving conditions. The committee will also seek and quantify the bene ts ITS can provide for enhancing the market penetration and use of advanced technology, with emphasis on plug-in electric vehicles and fuel cells, including considerations of how ITS technologies and strategies can be used within the context of a network of charging or fueling stations. The committee will explore what technologies might be necessary to install on board a vehicle, their relationship and interdependence to the transportation system and infrastructure, and contributions to CO2 and energy reductions. Additionally, the committee will investigate and de ne research evaluating the interrelationship of other ITS technologies to vehicle e ciency across vehicle propulsion platforms. The committee will also function as a portal for informing the sustainability forum on speci c developments and status of vehicle propulsion technologies and OEM market status.
management activities is another solution. Meanwhile, linkages and shared information between transport agencies and emergency management entities can help support regional coordination. Contra-ow lane operations during evacuations and ramp management and closures are two more solutions. Finally, ICM on evacuation routes is another useful tool.
The context of adaptation

Moreover, the associated TSMO strategies will require real-time data to function properly. In the context of adaptation, several technologies are available or are being developed to monitor the weather and infrastructure conditions, and to provide warnings of any pending failures. Ultimately, the members of the STWG have had to adapt to a changing landscape, and will continue to do so in support of sustainable transportation in the future. n
Louis Neudorff is principle technologist ITS, CH2M HILL and chair of ITSAs Sustainable Transportation Working Group
2013
29.30.31 MAY
Istanbul Expo Center
Your gateway to the Middle East and Eurasia 4,801 visiting professionals from 83 countries worldwide 180 exhibitors from 26 countries Focus on smart and sustainable mobility solutions New to market pavilion for first time exhibitors
Organised by:
INFRASTRUCTURE | 23
Section 1
Infrastructure
24 | INFRASTRUCTURE
What lies beneath?

A new xed link across the Fehmarnbelt region will provide road and rail trafc with a quick, safe coast-to-coast transit between Denmark and Germany
Words | Kim Smedegard Andersen
A technical comparison of an immersed tunnel and a bored tunnel con rmed the former as the preferred structure
INFRASTRUCTURE | 25
The Fehmarnbelt xed link between Germany and Denmark is a scheme of international dimensions its physical size alone unquestionably making it one of the worlds largest infrastructure projects. It will provide many new opportunities for the approximately nine million people and thousands of businesses in the Fehmarnbelt region of northern Germany, Denmark and the Scania region in Sweden. New economic, cultural and societal relations will arise to foster trade, tourism, jobs and opportunities for those living and working in the region. With nancial support from the European Union, the Fehmarnbelt xed link has high priority on the EU list of major trafc corridors, the objective being to strengthen capacity for goods transport by rail. The concept of establishing a xed link across the Fehmarnbelt has surfaced on a number of occasions ever since the Rdbyhavn-Puttgarden ferry route opened in 1963. After the opening of the xed resund link between Denmark and Sweden in 2000, the project has been further developed and, in 2008, Germany and Denmark signed a treaty on turning the vision into a reality.
26 | INFRASTRUCTURE
Going underground
The Fehmarnbelt xed link will be constructed as a 17.6km-long immersed tunnel for combined road and rail trafc, as this has been assessed to be the best solution in terms of trafc, safety and environmental factors. At a speed of 110km/h, this would offer motorists a tunnel transit time of 10 minutes. Train passengers will spend seven minutes travelling from coast to coast. When the xed link opens, an average of around 8,000 vehicles as well as 78 goods trains and 40 passenger trains are expected to pass through the tunnel every day. Many vehicles are already crossing the Fehmarnbelt, and in 2011 the average daily trafc on the Rdbyhavn-Puttgarden ferries amounted to approximately 5,400 vehicles a day. The xed link is supposed to replace the existing ferry service. The Fehmarnbelt tunnel will be the longest combined road and rail tunnel to date, and it is also envisaged to be one of the safest and most advanced of its kind in the world. Although the design and construction methods are tried and tested, the unprecedented scale of the project and the depth of the belt up to 30m will present technical challenges.
Aesthetic effects such as varied lighting will ensure they [users] have a feeling of quality and safety during their passage throughout the 18km tunnel
Construction elements
The alignment for the immersed tunnel passes east of the existing ferry ports in Puttgarden and Rdbyhavn. The new tunnel will be constructed from prefabricated elements, produced in a purpose-built factory onshore in Rdbyhavn and towed to the alignment for immersion in an excavated trench on the seabed. There are two types of tunnel elements standard and special. The former will represent the cross-section for most of the immersed tunnel. All of these standard elements will have the same geometric layout, will be around 217m long and weigh 70,000 tonnes each. The two road tubes in the standard elements will be
In the preliminary design, LED motifs of ocks of birds symbolised the tra c corridor known as the fugle ugtslinjen (bird ight line), of which Fehmarnbelt is a part
Timeline and trafc
Germany and Denmark signed a treaty on realising a xed link across the Fehmarnbelt with a twin-track railway and a four-lane motorway in September 2008. Since April 2009, the Danish government-owned Femern A/S has been working on designing a project that both the Danish and German authorities would be able to approve
pursuant to applicable national rules and legislation. In February 2011, the Danish politicians behind the project declared an immersed tunnel to be the preferred solution. The project is expected to be approved in 2015, at which time construction can commence. The aim is for the link to be completed by 2021.
approximately 11m wide. Each of the tubes will contain two trafc lanes, one emergency lane, marginal strips and step barriers along the walls. An approximately 2m-wide central gallery will be located between the two road tubes, and will contain service installations and provide space for maintenance staff and a place of temporary refuge in the event of an evacuation from one road tube to the other. Two 6m-wide railway tubes, meanwhile, will provide space for one track in each tube. Emergency walkways will be located on both sides of each track, and the tubes will include space for ventilation jet fans. Special elements will be located every 1.8km or so and will serve a number of functions. In addition to providing more
INFRASTRUCTURE | 27
The Fehmarnbelt tunnel will be the worlds longest combined car and rail tunnel
space for technical installations, they will allow for maintenance access to all areas of the tunnel with minimum disruption to trafc. There will be 10 special elements along the length of the immersed tunnel that will house the mechanical and electrical equipment required for the operations systems. These will be deeper than the standard elements to accommodate a lower level for equipment rooms beneath the rail and road level, e.g. for transformers. Access to the lower levels will be from the western road tube where there will be a layby, outside the emergency lane, for maintenance staff and emergency services.
Light show
The xed link under the Fehmarnbelt will be one of the longest drives through a tunnel in the world, a future motorist experience that is signicantly inuencing the design and
appearance of the interior. Aesthetic effects such as varied lighting will, for instance, ensure they have a feeling of quality and safety during their passage throughout the 18km tunnel. When entering the Fehmarnbelt, the rst impression will be the mobile lighting along one of the tunnel walls. Over a distance of 1.5km, the tunnels right wall will display moving images powered by LED diodes; these motifs will be repeated along a 1.5km section midway through and along the last 1.5km before exiting. To sharpen drivers awareness, there will be differently coloured illuminated zones during their journey. At intervals, the normal white light which also illuminates the carriageway will be interspersed by strong colours over a length of approximately 50m. The coloured zones and the varying distance between them will indicate to motorists how far they have driven. As they proceed on their journey, the colours will become lighter, more pronounced and more frequent the closer they get to the midway point. This will also provide a clear indication to motorists of when they reach the middle and that they are now heading towards the exit. As a result of this lighting strategy, motorists in the tunnel will feel that their trip is divided into less monotonous sections just as the landscape changes when driving along normal roads. n
Kim Smedegaard Andersen is contract director, Immersed Tunnel at Femern Blt A/S, Denmark
Money matters
As the owner of the project, Denmark is responsible for financing the coast-to-coast link and the Danish hinterland infrastructure, while the German government is financing the associated German hinterland infrastructures. The project estimated to cost 5.5 billion (2008 prices) to construct will be financed by loans guaranteed by the Danish government together with EU subsidies. The fare for driving a car through will be approximately 56 (comparable with the Rdbyhavn-Puttgarden ferry). Loans taken out for construction will over 39 years be repaid by users, as in the case of the resund and the Great Belt Bridge.
28 | INFRASTRUCTURE
Active measures
Assessing the latest trends associated with the development and testing of road stud technology and how, crucially, active solutions are being brought into play to solve specic trafc issues
Words | Timothy Compston
INFRASTRUCTURE | 29
Despite its small size, there is little doubt that the humble road stud can and does deliver massive benets when it comes to enhancing driver safety, helping motorists to stay on the road and in lane, and even prevent accidental red-light running. The growing worldwide attention being given to more active road stud solutions is reected by the setting up, a year ago, of a major three-year European initiative looking specically at this approach. Known as INROADS (INtelligent Renewable Optical ADvisory System), the initiative brings together key research bodies and manufacturers from across the region. INROADS builds on the automated strand of Forever Open Road, a European programme that aims to completely redesign the way that roads are planned, constructed and operated.
LED studs can be seen from much further away and the potential to add more technological components to them is now being explored
Making INROADS
Martin Lamb, based at the UKs Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), serves as the INROADS project coordinator. In his view, the biggest transformation for road studs over the past decade has been the move from standard retroreective studs to so-called active or lit studs (LEDs): In my experience, this has been particularly true in Europe and the UK, he asserts. The fact is that LED studs can be seen much further away and the signicant potential to add more technological components to them is now being explored. Given this backdrop, the primary driver for INROADS moving forward is to develop an intelligent LED road stud with integrated communication and sensor systems, which is not only compatible with the existing transportation infrastructure but can provide some or all of its power needs through renewable sources.
(Bottom) Astucia SolarLite road studs on the M40 motorway in the UK (Below) Installation of Gevekos road studs in Denmark (Main) Luna Road lights provide enhanced nighttime visibility
30 | INFRASTRUCTURE
Discussing how the studs are powered, Lamb notes that a signicant proportion of LED road studs are still wired today, and that in the future for certain requirements such as 24-hour operation this may still need to be the case. But one of things he conrms that the project team is looking to achieve via INROADS is seek to integrate more sustainable ways of powering road studs into the actual units themselves. This ranges from solar, piezoelectric where energy is generated from cars driving over the studs to even considering ways that temperature differentials can provide power, he explains. At a wider level, Lamb emphasises the need for INROADS partners to always have operator requirements at the forefront of their minds throughout the process: We
LED road stud from Denmarks Geveko ITS
A well-illuminated Swedish road at dusk show the potential for LED road stud technology
Put to the test
Paul Carlson from the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) has been researching the impact of LED in-pavement lights when deployed in carefully monitored situations. Although the TTI research engineer points out that road stud-type devices are not as prevalent in the USA as in Europe, they are, he says, starting to make their mark in relation to niche tra c management applications: Here, the
focus is on addressing speci c issues, where they can be studied on an experimental basis. This is especially true for situations in which there is a good case that this will improve road safety and tra c operations. In Sugar Land, Texas, for instance, TTI has been evaluating their use in a triple-leftturn operation at a signalised intersection. You have three lanes of tra c all turning left
Paul Carlson from the Texas Transportation Institute is switched on to developements in the road studs eld
at the same time, he details. The LEDs are employed during the signals left-turn phase to help delineate the lanes and maintain lane discipline. In the nal report of the TTI study on the issue, published in April 2012, a comparison of lane-keeping violations showed a statistically signi cant increase in the number of drivers who drove on or over the left lane lines during lighted pavement markers (LPMs) o periods, compared with when the LPMs were on. This shows the LPMs may help drivers navigate the left turns better and, crucially, stay in their designated lanes.
dont want to simply design road studs that we think might be interesting; we want to design things that we are condent road operators are actually asking for, he says. So one of the rst things we did was to set up an advisory group with a Czech organisation, one from Norway and a European technology platform, who will advise the project group. They attended an operator-focused workshop where other organisations such as the Highways Agency attended, and we also conducted a series of in-country interviews for feedback.
Winter wonder
Somebody who rmly believes in the benets of solar LED road studs even when set against the testing conditions found in Scandinavia is Bruno Hansen, general manager at Danish company Geveko ITS. We have developed a solar-powered solution that is ideally suited for use here in the Nordic countries and can even survive the winter time, he reveals. In fact, the latest model has a mounting system able to withstand being run over by snow ploughs a perennial hazard in Northern Europe. When asked how the solar LED road studs are actually applied in this environment, Hansen explains that they are
INFRASTRUCTURE | 31
Intelligence as standard
The simplest is standalone, which just turns on when the light drops to a certain level and goes off when the sun comes up
Contemplating a more active approach where technology and operations are concerned, Bruno Hansen from Geveko ITS says it is possible to set up the infrastructure to communicate with the latest intelligent units from a remote location via a gateway mounted along the line: With this in place, all the road studs may be brought online and as a result can be monitored from anywhere in the world and if required the data forwarded to other systems.
Spotlighting the growing sophistication of road studs, Hansen reveals that Geveko is now working on a system that can unlock added-value features such as tra c counting and can even detect what direction a vehicle is driving in: If you are driving a vehicle the wrong way on a highway, for example, our system can provide a warning and detail the speed of the vehicle. Also, should you approach a sharp bend, a running light can indicate that you are driving too fast. On the topic of the colours employed by the latest road studs, these are according to Hansen very much context-dependent: It is typically red to tell you to stop, a bend warning would normally be yellow or amber, and if the road studs are guiding to show you where to drive, they would be green.
ush-mounted in a hole, about 8 to 9mm deep, outside the lane at the side: This is primarily to enhance the white markings so drivers can see where the road is running, even in bad weather conditions. The lens system is designed in a way that the light actually comes out at 3 upwards, making the illumination easily visible. It is even possible to see the road stud if you are far away say 1km. In the countries where this technology is now in use, such as Sweden, Hansen suggests that solar road studs are an important driver aid. A particular benet, he says, is in helping drivers to safely navigate the many highways that frequently switch from two lanes to one and back again. The Geveko man says solar LED road studs are available in two main variants: The simplest is standalone, which just turns on when the light drops to a certain level and goes off when the sun comes up. This works well in the long Northern winters, Hansen notes. If it doesnt see light for 24 hours continually it goes into sleep mode and it only needs to see light for about 30 minutes to be awake again. An element that stands out from what was previously possible is the ability of the latest LED road studs to deliver light for an extended period of time. Gevekos own solution, Hansen says, has the capability to provide light for 2,000 hours: This is without receiving any additional charge from the solar cell. Essentially it can operate for
three months without getting anything and still have light at night. A major factor underpinning this has been improved battery and charging technologies: In the past ve years that I have been working on this, battery capacity has more than doubled and there are better ways of charging from the solar cell. We can now charge at very low sun angles it only needs to be up about 15 and in daylight, we dont need to rely on direct sunlight. Although retroreective models still dominate the market in terms of sheer numbers and this is unlikely to change any time soon the most exciting moves taking place are very much in the realm of active and solar-powered LED solutions. n
Di erent colours can be displayed according to the speci c context
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INFRASTRUCTURE | 33
Back to the future

Lane-separator kerb systems: a brief history of the future of trafc control
Words | Peter Speer, Pexco, USA Modular kerb systems have been widely used by trafc engineers for safety purposes, although performance advances are opening up new applications. A wide variety of methods is used to mark the road and to channel trafc into safe and proper lanes. When ush pavement markings are insufcient to provide safe channelisation, channeliser posts are typically installed. If more robust delineation is called for, lane-separator kerb systems can dramatically improve trafc safety. As early as 1936, devices were being invented to more effectively guide trafc past road hazards. In the 1960s, the rst kerb-like trafc markers were invented. In the late 1980s, the rst modern rubber kerbs and paddles appeared on the market in Germany, and were imported into the USA in the mid-1990s. In 2001, Pexco entered the market with its standard-grade FG 300 kerb system, replaced by the Interstate Grade in 2006, which won Best in Show at the 2006 ATSSA Trafc Exposition. Prior to 2009, lane separators were not a recognised trafc control device in the USA. With the publication by the US Federal Highway Administration of the 2009 Manual on Uniform Trafc Control Devices (MUTCD), lane separators are now part of a trafc engineers toolbox for creating life-saving trafc safety solutions. not damage vehicles crossing them, they do make a loud banging noise. The mountable kerbs are designed to enable emergency vehicle access and to stand up, even under winter conditions. The upright post component of mountable kerb systems can, over time, become damaged by impacts but their replacement rate has been shown to be less than standard channeliser posts alone. And as posts used with kerb systems have
Mountable lane separators

Mountable lane separators, or kerb systems, feature a 20-30cm-wide, 5-10cm-tall plastic or rubber kerb section that supports retroreective upright channeliser posts. The kerbs can be placed temporarily during roadworks or installed permanently. For temporary installations, the separators can be glued to the pavement and easily removed later on. Permanent installations are typically bolted to the pavement, which only takes a few minutes per kerb section. The upright posts are designed to be reboundable and bounce back upright when impacted and although the posts will
Continuous kerb at the USAs Tyburn Bridge
34 | INFRASTRUCTURE
Lane separators are used to provide separation of tra c at a work zone in Iowa
Wal-Mart is using Pexcos separator solutions
Lane separators close full median openings
a much better survival rate than posts alone, with kerb systems there are fewer replacement and maintenance worries. The use of high-performance, abrasionresistant reective sheeting can prolong their effectiveness and further reduce the need for maintenance. The physical barrier of a picket fence of posts ensures that drivers keep to their proper lane. Ongoing maintenance costs for lane-separator systems can be problematic if standard, low-performance upright posts are used. But newer, high-performance polyurethane channeliser posts have been shown to be three to ve times more durable than standard upright posts, which signicantly reduces the need for maintenance. Research and development in this area has recently led to even more durable posts, capable of taking 50 high-speed impacts, providing longer-lived delineation, improving safety and further reducing maintenance. Most of these kerb systems were designed to be installed in a continuous fashion, which for a project several miles long can be expensive. The typical installed cost of continuous lane separators in the USA is between US$160/m and US$200/m, depending upon design, spacing and kerb system conguration. Newer kerb systems such as Pexcos Turnpike Grade kerb, designed for discontinuous installation, can reduce the overall cost of the installation.
Testing their mettle

In the USA, to ensure suitability for use, channeliser posts must be tested on the
US National Test Deck, which involves 10 high-speed vehicle impacts at 100km/h, ve hits in the summer and ve under winter conditions. Channeliser posts by themselves do not require federal approval; each individual state evaluates the results of the testing and approves those products that prove sufciently durable. Kerb systems, on the other hand, are required by the USDOT Federal Highway Administration to conform to specic aspects of NCHRP Report #350. The FHWA developed an impact test matrix to address concerns about raised kerbs causing vehicles to be thrown out of control upon impact with the lane separator. Additionally, they were concerned about individual kerb sections becoming dislodged by a vehicle impact and creating a road hazard. The kerb systems must be tested as a complete system kerb and upright posts together to ensure the safety of the travelling public and the durability of the system. Testing for conformance to NCHRP 350 is typically conducted by an independent laboratory such as the Texas Transportation Institute. Early installations of kerb systems in the USA were at rail/highway-grade crossings, where the use of these as median barriers reduced lane violations by almost 80%. Many urban applications arose at the same time: dedicated bus lanes, left-turn restrictions, through-lane protection, acceleration lanes, gores, etc. As the durability of both the kerbs and more importantly the upright posts improved, new applications arose for this unique trafc control device.
The lack of physical separation on high-speed, two-lane roadways can lead to serious head-on collisions. In the USAs Great Plains states, a sure sign of the construction season is road closures on the ageing Interstate freeways that crisscross the Midwest. These freeways are four-lane divided facilities, with two lanes in each direction. A typical Interstate rehab project consists of closing down two lanes in one direction and creating a head-to-head detour using the two lanes on the other side of the median. Trafc in the new lanes is moving at high speeds in opposite directions; it is imperative to keep these vehicles separated. Lane separators have been adopted in the Midwest to provide separation of the trafc in these two-way, two-lane detours, discouraging lane violations and improving motorist safety. The kerb systems and upright posts have proven quite durable, and can be used for several construction seasons, providing an excellent return on investment.
Speed construction and reduce costs

In Florida, the Florida DOT developed a rapid deployment safety programme to utilise lane separators to close full median openings in lieu of conventional roadway construction. Using lane separators allowed for fast deployment of the system at high-crash locations where it had been determined that immediate action would greatly reduce crashes. Between March and September of 2007, the system was implemented at 16 full median opening locations. The cost-effectiveness and construction time-savings were remarkable. For an estimated cost of US$15,000 per location, it was calculated that the installation resulted in eight fewer crashes a year at each location, with associated construction cost savings of approximately US$125,000 for each location. In fact, the use of lane separators reduced the construction time to address safety issues from a typical 30-month process to just two weeks. In the face of increasing trafc safety challenges in the USA, modular lane-separator kerb systems are being used more frequently in a variety of applications. Lane separators that divide parallel or opposing streams of trafc can improve safety substantially. Moreover, the cost of these treatments is reasonable, they are simple to install, and theyve been proven to be durable in a variety of applications. n
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36 | INFRASTRUCTURE
The power of three

A new VMS is showcasing three technical advances: decreased costs, improved power efciency and a more environmentally friendly approach
Words | Hans-Ivar Olsson, Triplesign, Sweden Variable message signs (VMS) offer trafc managers the opportunity to organise trafc more efciently and in real-time. In an expanding urban world with growing trafc, we cannot meet the demand for capacity as a result of restrictions on economy, space and the environment, so the focus has to be on making the current trafc system more efcient through increased exibility. VMS provide a exible solution to the demand for trafc management that is based on rapidly changing, real-time information. However, compared with a static roadsign, a VMS solution appears extremely expensive, power hungry and less environmentally friendly. But not all VMS are the same A Triplesign prismatic VMS with three messages as standard offers the market a far more efcient solution with regard to the three aspects detailed above. This three-message VMS has far lower costs than LED-based VMS solutions, while its smooth drive mechanisms and modular system with a patented production system mean that costs are also lower than for other three-message VMS of international standards. This is all based on a better approach to construction: the Triplesign VMS has fewer components, less material, smaller motors, and requires less time for product assembly compared with other systems.
Lower costs for control system

The control system is PLC based and works with Windows and Mac operating systems. Together with the Triplesign Internet Management (TIM) system, it enables the client to commission a highly efcient, tailored system. Costs are greatly diminished compared with developing and customising a completely new system of components and control program.
INFRASTRUCTURE | 37
hence it is unaffected by power outages. There is also a general difference compared with other control systems: almost all of those control systems require more power during standby.
(Above) Screenshot from the Triplesign Internet Management system (Below) A VMS unit in situ in the UK
Solar and wind power

Such low power consumption makes for a very environmentally friendly concept. These energy-efcient features also open up options for green solutions, such as solar and wind power. Triplesign has complete and customised solutions for solar and UPS (uninterruptible power supply), which not only helps the environment but also makes it possible to avoid expensive power supply installation costs and opens up the potential to install VMS in remote locations.
The system is also adaptable to existing systems because it is able to act as a Modbus slave in the communication with the signals of existing systems. As a result, one might expect the price of the TIM system to be higher than that of existing systems. Actually, though, the opposite is true: the investment for the control system is in general signicantly lower than for alternatives.
Reliable and low maintenance

Triplesigns smooth drive mechanism and small motors mean that its impossible to break the components as long as it is correctly installed and not damaged through vandalism or other similar misuse. This is Triplesigns unique passive safety system. Thousands of Triplesign commercial advertising installations are in operation 24 hours a day, with one revolution every three to ve seconds. For a trafc sign, the estimated lifetime is 10 years or more. VMS have to be able to withstand severe weather at both ends of the temperature spectrum. In this regard, Triplesign VMS are operating well in one of the worlds toughest climates, the winter storm-ridden region of Newfoundland, Canada. The patented modular system enables all active components of the hardware to be exchanged without changing the frame structure. Apart from cleaning, no regular maintenance of the hardware is required. Instead, it is simply recommended that Triplesigns active components are exchanged every 10 years. n
Low power consumption

The power consumption of a standard Triplesign VMS 230V unit in action (during rotation) is 20W, while power for the VMS hardware is consumed only during message change. When information is being displayed, the power consumption of the VMS and control system is zero or close to zero depending on the control system solution. As the rotation time is only one to two seconds and the amount of message changes a day for a VMS in a trafc environment is limited, the power consumption of a Triplesign will for most solutions be only a few Watts a day. This is a dramatic reduction compared with LED-based VMS as LED lamps require a continuous power supply. Another important aspect is that a Triplesign VMS is more reliable because it doesnt require power to expose the same face continuously
38 | INFRASTRUCTURE
Spot on!
The right equipment is crucial for success in the global road-marking sector
Words | Christina Krogh Skoffer, Borum, Denmark From major highways and airports to bike lanes and pedestrian crossings, line markings play a vital role in ensuring road safety. But as such line marking is usually the nal phase of the road construction and maintenance process, road-marking equipment has to perform in operating windows determined by the climate, trafc density and budget. Conditions vary from job to job and from location to location so the right equipment is vital for the success of each project. of its South American customers was top of the companys agenda. Borum has since helped local contractors introduce new application methods and equipment to the South American market. An established road-marking solution in many parts of the world, markings with a raised dot structure which are easy to see in the dark as well as when its raining were completely new to the South American sector. Borums three-in-one combined extruder and dotn line solution is specically designed for this kind of marking and is already being used in many European countries. But the company has now introduced this concept of dotn line markings to several South American contractors and road authorities. So much
so, more road authorities and road-marking contractors are showing an interest in the safety advantages of the system and are travelling to see the equipment in action. As well as introducing new road-marking methods, Borum is supplying its off-the-shelf solutions as well as machines tailored to meet specic customer needs. Similar to other markets, the road-marking needs of our customers in South America are varied, so we can adapt the machines to suit the needs of each market and each customer which vary from small private companies and large construction companies to national governments and local municipalities, reveals Christian Barcelo Juul, managing director of Borum in South America. This requires close daily contact with the technicians and service departments back in Denmark. Uptime is vital for our customers, adds Borums managing director, Ole Munch. They have to optimise the cost of ownership of each machine, so they need to be easy to operate, maintain and repair. By offering local sales, service and support in the region, we can help customers get the most out of the operating windows available for each project.
Progress in Latin and South America

When Danish road-marking equipment manufacturer Borum opened its Chile ofce in January 2012, meeting the specic needs
Airport marking in Turkey

Borum machines arent only used to mark roads. Together with its local distributor in
INFRASTRUCTURE | 39
(Main) Airport marking machines ready for action (Left) The dotn line solution at work
Turkey, Yol Makina, Borum recently won a tender to supply four airport marking machines. Scheduled to service a number of airports around Turkey, each system will be transported from one airport to another, which calls for a robust design and reliability. For contractors and airport management, equipment performance and operator expertise are key when it comes to marking airports. With large areas of tarmac to cover, airport marking machines must have a large tank capacity and be extremely efcient in order to keep runway closures and downtime to a minimum. To meet the needs of the Turkey project, the machines are based on the design of the Master 3000 road-marking machine. With an extended chassis, the extra length allows space for two stainless steel paint tanks: a 1,000-litre tank and a smaller 500-litre tank. Both are tted with a low-level alarm to prevent sudden stops in the line-marking process. For added efciency, each machine is equipped with two airless pumps, which makes it easy to apply two different coloured markings at the same time. With this setup and ve guns on a wide retainer applying 100-150cm wide lines perfectly is not a problem.
screen of the LineMaster, Borums road-marking computer and software system. The computer also displays the line type and length, and the total marked area. All of this information is stored in a work log le, which can be transferred via USB to the ofce for billing and administrative purposes. Truly versatile, the LineMaster can be programmed into the language spoken by the operators, which makes operation straightforward. And because the LineMaster can store up to 99 different line types and arrange these in up to 30 different marking programmes it makes it easy for the operators to apply the markings that are unique to airport work.
The LineMaster computer
On-site training
The contract for the Turkish airports was signed in September 2011, and the machines were delivered in spring 2012. Borums local partner worked closely with the Turkish operators to bring them up to speed with the operational parameters of the airport marker. And with winter just around the corner, it was all about making the most of the available road-marking windows before the temperatures dropped. Meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere, the temperatures are on the up so the South American road-marking season is about to get into full swing. Christian Barcelo Juul sums it up: Theres a lot going on and thats what were here for to meet our customers varying needs and to help them nd the right equipment for the job. n
Easy-to-use documentation system

To keep track of the thickness of the lines, a sensor monitors the paint consumption. This information is displayed on the high-resolution interactive
Christian Barcelo Juul ready to deliver a machine
40 | INFRASTRUCTURE
Safer by design
A powerful and eclectic product portfolio is the key to international road safety
Words | Eva Jacobi & Tobias Schneider, SGGT, Germany
Safety around the world

Every year, there are more than 1.2 million fatalities on the roads worldwide and more than 10 million people are seriously injured. To reduce these numbers, effective work in both active and passive road safety is a prerequisite. The German company SGGT (Safe German Guardrail Technology) part of the Heintzmann Group has dedicated itself to the development, production, installation and worldwide marketing of steel road safety systems for more than 40 years. The business started in Germany but quickly expanded to other European as well as overseas markets. Its own subsidiaries and many long-term relationships with local partners worldwide have been established. With a strong customer focus and a wide product range based on EN1317, SGGT offers solutions for almost every enquiry regarding road safety equipment. An absolute must for conducting business worldwide is to recognise and match the level of development a country has managed to attain at that time. Operating internationally can only be successful if a company can adapt its product to the needs of individual countries. Indeed, economic success at this level depends on the ability to understand the local needs and to offer the adequate product to each country. When it comes to road safety, a wide range of solutions from basic systems to high-end constructions is the key to satisfy varying needs all over the world. There is the need, on one hand, for practical basic solutions in countries where the awareness of the importance of road safety systems is still growing. For such markets, SGGT developed the Heintzmann Basic Barrier family at N2, H1 and H2 level. With very few construction parts for all different containment levels and only two types of bolts, approved safety and customer-friendly handling are combined in one system. Although a basic product, the Heintzmann Basic Barrier represents the rst step towards safer roads. On the other hand, though, there is a demand in highly developed countries for far more specialised products with advanced road safety standards either for permanent or temporary use (such as at construction sites). The Gate-Guard median crossing and the Duo-Rail modular mobile barrier are two such examples of SGGTs answer to these requirements. The use of high-end road safety products, such as crash-tested openings for the central reservation or even vertical gates (such as the Duo-Gate) requires a long period of establishing high-containment
End terminals are becoming more popular
The Duo-Rail is a modular mobile barrier
Gate-Guard is used at median crossings
High-containment barriers play a key role in mitigating serious road tra c accidents
level barriers in the individual market to create the demand for such specialised products. With its longstanding experience, SGGT has the necessary background in technical and sales know-how to include these special applications in its range. For high- and very-high-containment levels, established barriers from H1 to H4b complete the product range of SGGTs road and bridge systems. For bridges, the range includes barriers from containment level H1 up to H4b. For the roadside, a variety of single- and double-sided barriers from N2 to H4b provides a solution for any road situation. Even more specic needs, such as motorcyclist protection (Bike-Guard), aesthetic wood-steel barriers for rural scenery (Nature-Rail quick joint) and the increasing demand for end terminals can be satised by SGGT. This all helps to contribute to reducing the number of accident victims on our roads. n
Diversity makes the difference

Road safety systems by SGGT
Duo-Rail
Gate-Guard
Heintzmann Basic Barrier
Nature-Rail quick joint
Heintzmann Basic Barrier
Bike-Guard End Terminal
Super-Rail
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42 | INFRASTRUCTURE
Upon reection
The role that retroreection can play in improving trafc safety and why standards are particularly useful in this sector
Words | Kjeld Aabye,DELTA, Denmark There is a huge focus on trafc safety in Europe today, with the aim of various European trafc safety programmes being to reduce the overall number of accidents on roads and therefore the number of people injured and killed. In the rst EU programme implemented between 2001 and 2010 the goal was to reduce by half the number of people killed in road accidents. Most EU countries showed signicant improvement over that decade and a few countries even met or exceeded the target, with an overall improvement of more than 40%. A second road safety programme has been implemented for the period 2011 to 2020, with the target being to reduce the number of people killed in trafc accidents by another 50%. The programme mentions seven strategic areas of focus, one of them being the establishment of safer roads.
Road markings, traffic signs and safety

Road markings and road trafc signs are important tools to ensure efcient and safe trafc ow. Research shows that night-time driving in particular increases the risk of fatal accidents, and poorly maintained trafc guidance tools such as road markings and road trafc signs may be a contributing factor to accidents occurring. Maintaining high visibility levels is a very important task
for road administrators. High visibility is ensured by measuring the retroreection periodically with a retroreectometer and carrying out maintenance if minimum retroreection levels are not met. This procedure also allows road owners to plan maintenance and replacement of road markings and road trafc signs, optimising their often limited budgets.
Minimum retroreflection levels

Standards covering the European Union countries are in place. Among other things, they propose minimum retroreectivity levels to ensure safe driving under different weather and driving conditions. EN 1436
INFRASTRUCTURE | 43
(Main) Vehicle-mounted retrore ectometers are being embraced by the industry (Left) The LTL-X is designed for measuring road markings
Road marking materials Road marking performance for road users and EN 12899 Fixed vertical road trafc signs are the two standards in place for road markings and road trafc signs. A third standard, EN 471 High-visibility warning clothing for professional use test methods and requirements, deals, among other issues, with minimum retroreection levels of warning clothing used by road workers. EN 1436 is based on the internationally recognised 30m geometry, which simulates how a person driving in a standard car sees the retroreection of a road marking 30m ahead. The standard includes
recommended minimum retroreection values applied to different types of road classes, under different driving conditions (dry roads, wet roads, rainy conditions, daytime driving, night-time driving) and on white and yellow markings. EN 12899 is a specic European standard and simulates how a person driving in a standard car sees the retroreection of a road trafc sign approximately 100m ahead. This includes recommended minimum retroreection values applied to different types of sheeting material (engineering grade, high-intensity grade) and different colours. The standard deals with type approval, certication testing and testing of resistance to weathering the situation on the road.
at trafc speed have now caught the markets interest, the newest launch being DELTAs LTL-M system, which is based on digital camera technology and digital image processing to ensure accurate measurements. A retroreectometer is able to measure the retroreection of road markings and road trafc signs as seen by the driver of a car. The retroreectometer provides a gure that can be related to the minimum retroreection levels stated in the standards and be a good and sound basis for decisions on maintenance of markings and signs.
Improving traffic safety

Ensuring the right performance levels of road markings and road trafc signs at any time will not, on its own, be able to have the European trafc safety programme meet its goal of 50% fewer people killed in the trafc on European roads before 2020. But high-performing markings and signs will be a relatively cheap and efcient way to contribute to achieving this goal. A retroreectometer from DELTA can ensure you have the right quality of trafc guidance tools on the road to bring drivers safely back home. n
Retroreflectometers
Retroreectometers have been available on the market since the 1980s. DELTA has driven their development since the rst iterations, with its LTL800 model followed by LTL2000 and more recently LTL-X and LTL-XL for road markings and the RetroSign line for road trafc signs. Mobile retroreectometers mounted onto a car to measure retroreection
44 | INFRASTRUCTURE
Easy does it
Wise words on how to go easy on your maintenance budget by better managing retroreectivity
Words | Ingrid Bloss, Zehntner, Switzerland
The ZRS 6060 retrore ectometer is used for measuring road signs to check their visibility
Good visibility of road furniture primarily good visibility of road markings and trafc signs is not a question of prestige or luxury. Rather, it means condence for the driver and is an absolutely crucial factor in ensuring trafc safety. Road authorities strive to maintain a very high standard and to monitor and analyse the quality of their road furniture. A good-quality control system and maintenance strategy is essential to maintain safety, but at the same time it should not put an additional strain on the budget. These seemingly conicting aims can be met through various approaches. The most simple method is an automatic replacement of signs and markings at regular intervals. However, the operating life of road furniture depends on many
factors such as weathering, road utilisation, material, manufacturer, and several other issues. It cannot therefore be predicted when a sign or a marking will lose its functionality and time-based replacement always bears the risk of wastefulness. Another approach is replacement following a visual inspection. This simple strategy at least prevents the unnecessary renewal of material thats still functional. On the other hand, though, it harbours the very real danger of subjective assessment. In most cases, visual inspections are carried out by people who are very familiar with the area and the installed road furniture. Experience has shown that they will subconsciously give better ratings. So replacement by visual inspection may well have the opposite effect to automatic
replacement: signs and markings that are no longer sufciently visible remain in use for too long and eventually become a safety risk.
A superior approach
The most effective and reliable procedure is a maintenance strategy based on measuring values and supported by smart evaluation software. Minimum requirements for the performance of road markings and signs are published in national and international standards and local regulations, making an objective assessment easy: with the help of the measuring values it can be decided whether the sign or marking still meets the requirements and can be seen well by road users. The Swiss manufacturer of precision instruments, Zehntner Testing Instruments, offers a variety of retroreectometers suitable for every users needs and budget. For road markings, the user has the choice between the budget-priced basic ZRM 6006 and the professional-grade ZRM 6014, with many other options all the way up to the far-reaching, vehicle-mounted dynamic measuring system, ZDR 6020. Trafc signs can be measured according to all international standards with the various models of the ZRS 6060 retroreectometer. The initial costs for purchasing suitable instruments will pay for themselves in a very short time. This objective analysis method offers the advantage of a great overview of the condition of signs and markings and enables the systematic and intelligent application of maintenance management methods. The budget will only be used where it is necessary and the quality of the road furniture and with it also trafc
The ZRM 6006 is a basic retrore ectometer, suitable for all users particularly those on tight budgets
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safety can be improved in the long run without spending more money. Smart evaluation and data management software is a valuable tool to support this maintenance strategy. With the instruments ZRM 6014, ZDR 6020 and ZRS 6060, all retroreection data for road markings and signs can be imported directly and can easily be evaluated on a PC or laptop with the MappingTools software. This free, versatile mapping and data analysis software makes the administration and analysis of the measurements both fast and simple. The retroreection measurements can be analysed to individual specications and results displayed on a map. The user can specify colour-coded proles with freely adjustable retroreection threshold values. These can be displayed on the map accordingly. For maximum compatibility with existing systems and procedures, measuring reports in several languages can be generated as PDF or XLS les and data can be exported to an external GIS. This area-wide analysis method offers the advantage of a faster and larger view of the quality of signs and markings. Regular monitoring together with additional data such as trafc volume and accident site evaluations can also be used for making decisions on maintenance planning. n
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ZDR 6020 Dynamic retroreflectometer RL

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ZRS 6060 Retroreflectometer RA

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INFRASTRUCTURE | 47
On a roll
Words | Emma Nilsson, RollsRoller, Sweden Inventions through the ages have one common denominator: they make life easier. Inventions that have revolutionised and simplied life are a natural part of our world today, giving us products that we take for granted and nd difcult to live without. In the sign-making industry, Reklamid feels condent in stating that the RollsRoller has such a place in roadsign production. Most products, ideas and inventions result from a single thought: There must be an easier way of doing this. This is certainly true for the RollsRoller. In 1996, a wild autumn hurricane rolled in over the west coast of Sweden. At one of the countrys leading petrol retailers, the storm destroyed many of its forecourt signs. While biting, wet winds tore apart the acrylic signs and rained sharp fragments of plastic onto busy streets, the Johansson brothers own exible-face EZ system was making inroads across Sweden. As pioneers of exible signs, Reklamid and the brothers Gran and Patrik Johansson were faced with a real challenge: to manufacture 100 new signs at very short notice.
RollsRoller machines save up to 80% production time when compared to traditional application methods
In the mid-1990s, the idea for a atbed applicator was devised. Today, its creators explain how it is now a familiar and well-regarded sight
Lateral thinking
It was easier said than done, Gran Johansson recalls. At that time, all of the parts were laid out by hand. We rented a school so that we could roll out the material on the oor and get the right t, then we did the lamination with soapy water and hand-held spatulas. It was heavy work and very time-consuming. And there was always the risk hanging over us that we wouldnt nish the job in time. That was when Johansson thought to himself,There must be a better way of doing this. That thought was soon converted into action however. His novel idea was to t a table with a traverse and roller to simplify application on the substrate. Using parts purchased from a scrapyard, Johansson developed the rst atbed applicator himself in just a week. As a result, Reklamid was able to complete the remaining 80 signs in a fraction of the time it had taken to make the rst 20. It was afterwards he realised that simply by trying to make things easier, he had invented something completely new. The RollsRoller became
48 | INFRASTRUCTURE
(Left) Multiple units being put to work (Above) Happy customers admire their machine
a patented product that was ready to take on the sign-making market.
Welcomed with open arms

And given its reception, it was clearly an invention for which there was much demand. Time and time again, in fact, reports from customers conrmed that it was changing their entire business from the ground up. By the start of 2000, a detailed business plan had been set up, which resulted in machines reaching sign makers in every corner of the globe. From the companys production plant in Sweden, Reklamid has now supplied more than 2,800 machines, many of them to roadsign manufacturers. In the past 10 years, more than 150 roadsign manufacturers have boosted their productivity by more than 100% as a result of RollsRoller. Plast & Plt Vgmrken in Sweden was the rst manufacturer of roadsigns to invest in a RollsRoller atbed applicator back in 1999. To further improve production capacity, companies that invest in the system, such as Plast & Plt Vgmrken, generally ensure every employee who applies lm to roadsigns has their own machine as a work table and application table. Companies outside Sweden have followed the same path in sign making, too. Roadsign manufacturer Euroskilt is in neighbouring Norway and serves more than 80% of the Norwegian market. It has invested in more than 20 RollsRoller tables. We have production facilities in Norway, Denmark and Sweden, and in every location the system has helped us to improve efciency and increase our output of roadsigns, reveals Trond Aamodt, production supervisor at Euroskilt.
Further south, in Germany, big investments have been made in these machines since 2004, with production efciencies particularly improving the manufacture of large guide signs. Commenting on the RollsRoller system, Bruno Neuschwander from Alpha Sign in Switzerland says: It is one of my most protable investments. Our previous production method (hand roller) is like something from pre-industrial revolution times when compared with the industrial production the RollsRoller offers us. Greek roadsign manufacturer Zafeiropoulos Cristos also reports positive feedback. Our production has increased and the quality of signs is much better, says the companys Andreas Sarlis. Our employees lives are made easy. This was one of the best purchases we have made. The German sign maker, Schilderwerk Beuth, also applies lm to trafc signs using a RollsRoller. The machine improves production efciency and guarantees that roadsigns meet high standards of quality. Optimising the working process in roadsign production, the product is the key element in the process of lm application. Helping to contribute to a more modern approach to producing commercial and roadsigns, many roadsign manufacturers now use from two to seven applicators, and the biggest manufacturers have as many as 23. Together, the 19 largest trafc sign manufacturers in Scandinavia have invested in more than 75 applicators.
Digital printers double productivity

New technology is now starting to replace the electronic cutting overlay (ECOF)
method. Increasing numbers of roadsign manufacturers are now switching to digital printing directly onto reective lm. Once the printed parts have been cut out, the reective lm is then applied to various substrates very easily with a RollsRoller. This method enables sign manufacturers to apply foil with millimetre precision to panels measuring up to 10m in length. The new technique also permits application of the full roll width (e.g. 120cm) in a single stage to a number of joined panels. With the introduction of digital printing in combination with atbed applicator technology, a single operator can now produce up to an astonishing 60m2 of signage in just one day. We are the fth company in the world to introduce fully digitalised roadsign production, reveals Jonas Forsvall, CEO of the Swedish company Blinkfyrar. We are now using third-generation technology consisting of printers, applicators and cutting equipment, he adds. We invested in our rst RollsRoller 10 years ago and its still in use today. It works beautifully with the new technology and this is another area where we achieve big time savings. But were not only saving time weve more than doubled our capacity. We started with a single machine and now we have seven. And the use of the atbed applicator in the roadsign industry continues to spread. This innovative invention can now be found in central and eastern Europe, in North and South America, Australia, Africa as well as in Asia. Theyre different countries, of course, but universally these customers all agree that the RollsRoller has led to a paradigm shift in their roadsign production. n
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their productivity at least 100% by upgrading their production line to the ROLLSROLLER Flatbed Applicator technology. Behind the patented technology is 15 years of experience and product development. Today more than 2,800 commercial sign manufacturers are using the ROLLSROLLER in their sign production and print finishing. READ ABOUT OUR CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCES
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TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT | 51
Section 2
Trafc management
52 | TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
Break the rules

Could trafc system reform offer a better future for our roads or is there a case for throwing away the trafc rulebook?
Words | Martin Cassini
Trafc system reform offers enormous scope for a transformation in road safety, congestion, quality of life and space, the economy and the environment. This case for reforming UK trafc control combines a critique of the current system with proposals for change based on a trust in human nature rather than an obsession with controlling it. With 25,000 human beings killed or hurt on our roads every year, many of them children and 4,000 premature deaths from poor air quality in London alone the current system can hardly claim to be getting things right.
Questioning traffic controls

Were supposed to accept trafc controls without question. A red light means stop. Crossing a red light is a criminal offence. But drivers approaching a green light are barrelling through at speeds that can kill. Crossing a red light after checking there is no conicting trafc means proceeding at a snails pace, with heightened awareness. So is it safer to cross a red light slowly than a green light at speed? Who is the better judge of when to go, or what speed to go at: you and I at the time and the place? Or lights and limits xed by absent regulators? Professor Frank McKenna, co-author of the Highway Code, says we must suppress certain behaviours so the system works. But life is about innite variables. Shouldnt we devise a system that conforms to human nature? Id often thought that lights were badly timed, but it was in Cambridge in 2000 when I began to think they were unnecessary per se. Breezing through a junction with none of the usual delay, I saw the lights were out of action. We complain about the trafc, and blame other drivers, but could it be that trafc controls are the problem?
speed, enabling everyone to do what comes naturally: approach carefully and take it more or less in turns. Could it be that simple? It could. But dont trafc lights ensure safety? Far from it. The latest safety audit from Westminster City Council shows that no fewer than 44% of personal injury accidents occurred at trafc lights. How many of the remaining 56% were due to priority? The statistics dont tell us. Unspeakably, the current system puts the onus on children to beware of motorists. It could and of course should be the other way round. Instead of dealing with the root cause of danger on the roads priority public money goes on systems of control of increasing sophistication and cost, the latest being pedestrian countdown. Why do we need trafc lights? To break the priority streams of trafc so others can cross. It could be argued that most trafc control is an exercise in self-defeat, a vain bid to solve the problem of priority.
With 25,000 human beings killed or hurt on our roads every year, many of them children the current system can hardly claim to be getting things right
Congestion and the environment
Whats the one thing above all others that reduces average speeds? Stopping. How often are we stopped at red, with nothing moving, waiting for the lights to change? How many man-hours, days and years are lost in the mists of dead red time? The electricity alone that powers the UKs galaxy of 24-hour trafc lights produces 57,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. Add the needless delay and the fourfold increase in fuel use and emissions from the stop/start drive cycle, and is it surprising that polar bears are running out of ice?
Road safety and the fatal flaw priority

Our road safety problems are due to bad drivers, right? And congestion is due to the volume of trafc? Wrong! Our problems on the road stem from a system that is based on the anti-social, inefcient, dangerous rule of priority. In other walks of life, we take it in turns. Jumping a cashpoint queue is unthinkable yet on the road we accept such anti-social behaviour without question. Youre driving along a main road. Side-road trafc is waiting to get out, pedestrians are waiting to cross. A mother with a buggy is stuck on a trafc island. Do you give way? Do you even notice them? Probably not, because the rule of priority tells you to ignore them. Priority puts side-road trafc and pedestrians at a lethal disadvantage. It generates dangerous, conicting speeds. Remove priority, and you remove the need for lights and the need for
Self-control more civilised and efficient?

When lights are out of action, does civility break down? No: as courtesy thrives, congestion dissolves. As a taxi driver in one of my short lms says: When lights are out of action, you just have to be a bit more careful on the junction, thats all. Its ironic that when lights are out, the authorities post notices on their websites advising caution, implying that when lights are working, we can revert to norms of neglect. When operating under self-control, not only are we deleting dead red time, we are more aware.
My interest in avoiding a collision with you mirrors yours in avoiding a collision with me.
Priority versus equality

Get out of my way! yells priority as it denies innite ltering opportunities and expressions of fellow feeling. After you, says equality, as it stimulates empathy. Once you realise the road network could be a level playing-eld where all road users are equals, where the onus is on the motorist to beware of the vulnerable, where lter (more or less) in turn is the central, sociable rule new vistas open up. Above all, children can go in safety. On the BBC World Services radio discussion programme, The Forum, novelist Tahmima Anam said that whenever society has focused on equality, weve made huge social progress. Among the examples she cited were the abolition of slavery and votes for women. Given equality on the roads, what could be achieved in terms of a safe, civilised public realm is unlimited. What works on a micro scale also works on a macro. When trafc lights were out across London during power cuts in November 2007 and February 2008, did trafc grind to a halt? No. Free of lights that conjure congestion out of thin air, the trafc vanished into thin air. At multilane intersections at peak times, there is a case for part-time control. But it should be a last resort, not the rst.
(Clockwise from top) The new version of Park Lane in Poynton; the tra c control-free space being created; Park lane before showing vehicle and pedestrian interaction; Poyntons redesigned Fountain Place
Putting the ideas to the test

As UK trafc critic Kenneth Todd says, it shouldnt be for us to prove that trafc control is largely unnecessary. Its for the authorities to prove otherwise. But its something they never do. So to demonstrate that self-control is more efcient and at least as safe as signal control, I needed a trial site. In 2004, I won the agreement of Brent trafc engineer, Antoine Aubert, to conduct a trial at Staples Corner. It was blocked by Transport for London (TfL). Over the years, TfL has blocked many of my efforts for example, in 2008, it refused to appear in my BBC TV Newsnight report.
It shouldnt be for us to prove that trafc control is largely unnecessary. Its for the authorities to prove otherwise
Ironically, there is no legal requirement for priority or signals. Councils cannot be sued if they switch off trafc lights and display lights-out signs. We could have all-way give-ways or lter-in-turn tomorrow. As road users, we have a duty to proceed with care. Under priority, of course, that duty is forgotten. It re-emerges when, free of controls that distort our human nature, we rediscover common cause with other road users. In 2009, I heard of a signal failure resulting in less congestion in the west country town of Portishead. Councillor David Pasley showed my lm The case for a no-lights trial, to the Chamber. On the spot, 26 of the 27 councillors agreed to a trial. It began on 14 September 2009, and went permanent 18 months later after monitoring by SKM Colin Buchanan showed that journey times had fallen by more than half with no loss of pedestrian safety, despite a return from
back-street rat-runs and greater numbers using the now free-owing main route. Portishead is a microcosm of how the future without trafc lights could look. The joyful results that deregulation can bring can be seen in the lm I made to document the trial. I invited Portishead to be the rst UK town to go trafc light-free. Less progressive councillors were in charge and they declined. They even took a step back by introducing mini-roundabouts at the trial site.
The Poynton Paradox

The accolade for the standout scheme involving deregulation and redesign goes to Poynton, a village at a major crossroads in Cheshire. For decades, the community was divided by a hodge-podge of multi-lane roads, trafc lights, bollards, trafc islands and dominant trafc. In a scheme promoted by Councillor Howard Murray and designed by Ben Hamilton-Baillie, the wasteland has
If you accept that trafc control is largely counterproductive, you will see it as a rich source of kind cuts
After seeing my short lm in April 2009, Westminster City Council agreed with TfL and the GLA to remove 145 sets something of a drop in the ocean. Also they fail to communicate the bigger picture, hence opposition from vulnerable road user groups such as the blind. Once greeted with disbelief, these reforming ideas are gaining ground, but many authorities still resist change. In Reading, a 750,000 signal scheme at Shineld Road made matters worse. Trafc chief Pat Baxter commissioned TRL to assess 17 other proposals. Where on the list was the lter-in-turn proposal that we submitted two years earlier that worked wonders at a similar junction in Portishead? Nowhere. Does the relationship between council ofcials and equipment salesmen warrant investigation? Why, despite evidence from myself and Kenneth Todd, did the Transport Select Committee, in its recent report, Out of the Jam, fail even to mention trafc lights as a cause of congestion? If you accept that trafc control is largely counterproductive, you will see it as a rich source of kind cuts. Through savings in staff, equipment, technology, journey time, accident and health costs, I estimate the potential for annual savings to be more than 50 billion. Deregulation is not enough on its own. Other essential requirements include: a change in culture from priority to equality; roadway redesign to express an inclusive, social context instead of an exclusive, trafc engineering one; legal reform to make drivers liable for accidents with pedestrians or cyclists unless they can prove a reckless act; an advanced driving test to include cycling prociency. Roads t for people. Fit for children. Not a speed camera or trafc light in sight. Drivers watching the road, aware of pedestrians, giving way, smiling. Is this a dream? No. To realise this vision of a safe, civilised public realm, we need to level the playing eld with roadway redesign and culture change, then let human nature take its cooperative course. n
Martin Cassini is a video producer and campaigner for trafc system reform. Visit www.equalitystreets.com
(Above) Accident scene at a set of tra c lights (Left) Mishaps at junctions are rife on UK roads
been transformed. The lights have gone. All approaches are now single lanes, doubling pedestrian space and communicating a sense of place. Six months since completion, the Poynton scheme with no trafc lights or special speed limits is seeing lower speeds, less congestion and no accidents. After decades of division by trafc (mis)management, the community is reunited and thriving again.
near, let us proceed at walking pace. As a perfect trade-off, when the road is clear, let us choose our own speed. UK road charity Brake would claim that freedom to exercise our own judgement is a licence to drive carelessly. On the contrary, its a blueprint for driving with true care and attention. You cant legislate for maniacs, so why hobble the majority with one-size-ts-all rules devised to catch hypothetical deviants?
The issue of speed

Since Londons Exhibition Road became shared space with no road markings, a man was hit by a truck (he was not seriously injured). Ofcials hoped the 20mph limit would cut accidents by 30%. Now there are calls for the limit to be reduced to 5mph. Speed kills! goes the cry. No, its inappropriate speed that kills. Instead of driving by numbers, we should drive according to context. If pedestrians are
Cost of control and scope for cuts

Astonishingly, the total cost of trafc (mis)management is unknown. Its an area the National Audit Ofce has never looked at. The DfT doesnt even know the number of trafc signals in the UK. We do know that ex-mayor Ken Livingstone imposed 1,800 new sets of lights on London, even at minute crossings such as Eastcastle Street/Berwick Street, conjuring congestion where there was none before. Each set costs 150,000.
Bang for your buck?

Even compared with typical xed-time systems, adaptive real-time trafc control offers signicant delay reductions in urban areas. The big question is, could it be the most cost-benecial ITS ever?
Words | Helen Gibson & Alan Stevens There is no strict denition of adaptive real-time (ART) trafc control, although the Trafc Control Systems Handbook published in the USA[1] describes the action of trafc adaptive control as using both real-time trafc detector inputs and a trafc ow model, [that] predicts trafc demand on each approach (or phase) and modies phase split times. The denition usefully distinguishes ART control from systems of control that use xed-time plans or select pre-calculated plans according to conditions. With ART control, trafc models typically import detector data several times a second to calculate and predict ow arrival and departure patterns and they do this fast enough for splits to be adjusted seconds before the next stage change. And although ART trafc control can operate on a single junction, it really comes into its own when junctions work together to coordinate trafc ow across a network. With such control, offsets between junctions are updated every cycle, the result being smooth, incremental changes in signal timings, dealing effectively with ow uctuations and incidents much faster than any pre-prepared plans could.
The global view

There are a number of ART trafc control systems in operation around the world. The original and most widely used is SCOOT (Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique), originally developed (and still maintained and updated) by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in the UK. Others include BALANCE, MOTION, ACS Lite and SCATS. Transport for London (TfL) is currently investing heavily in SCOOT. In its recent
SCOOT helps TMC operators (main) to keep tra c owing smoothly and growing numbers of authorities, such as TfL in London (left), are investing in it
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TRL estimates that adaptive real-time tra c control o ers a bene t to cost ratio of 19:1 over 30 years compared with a xed-time system
rollout, TfL has measured an average of 12.7% reduction in delays compared with the previous xed-time or vehicle-actuated control, and at some locations nearly 20%. In addition, the reduction in carbon emissions is predicted to be around 6% during normal operation, and higher during incidents (this is because ART control promotes smooth ow, which benets emissions). And its not only London that has seen benets: SCOOT operation has shown benets of 17% in delay reduction over xed-time settings in Toronto, Canada, between 39% and 48% in Southampton, UK, and up to 41% in Beijing. But is ART trafc control the most cost-benecial ITS ever? Different measures
benets, in terms of time saved per junction, has been predicted to amount to between 89,200 and 107,100 per junction by the TfL microscopic modelling team. And that is without considering vehicle operating costs or carbon reductions. Based on these gures, we estimate a BCR for ART signal control to be 19:1 over 30 years compared with having a xed-time system. We have assumed maintenance is 5% per year of initial outlay, a discount rate of 3.5% and benet of 100,000 a year per junction. Thirty years is a reasonable lifespan for adaptive signal control; it has been installed for 30 years already in many major cities.
The city of Toronto in Canada is a long-time user of SCOOT, with around 15% of its intersections based around adaptive control technology
A BCR of 19:1 is enormous compared with many ITS evaluations, for example from European projects looking at vehicle safety systems such as electronic stability control (ESC) and driver assistance systems. See, for example, the eIMPACT website[2] where the highest BCR ratio seen was 4.4:1. More comparative studies are available on the USDOT website.[3] In Europe, there is currently a discussion on the benets of eCall and its mandatory introduction. If an eCall-equipped car is involved in an accident in which airbags are deployed, the car automatically calls the nearest emergency centre, even if the driver
The reduction in carbon emissions is predicted to be around 6% during normal operation, and higher during incidents
can be used to assess the benets of ITS, including time and cost savings, accidents and pollution reduction. These can be brought together by economic methods and expressed using benet-to-cost ratio (BCR). But comparing studies is often problematic as a result of the different timescales over which the costs are incurred and the benets are delivered. With that caution, some ballpark gures are discussed below.
Talking money
Equipping a junction with SCOOT costs in the order of 50,000 in London. Annual user
As well as minimising to vehicular trafc delay across the network, it can be employed to efciently implement and interface with other transport policy objectives
and any passengers are unable to speak due to injury. In such circumstances, the system automatically transmits a minimum data set including the exact location of the crash site and identication of the vehicle, in doing so reducing emergency service response time. eCall has been estimated to have a BCR of between 1 and 2 in TRL studies. An EC impact assessment (using different assumptions) suggested a BCR of more than 3 and compared this alongside ESC with a BCR of nearly 4.[4]
ISA before there is sufcient penetration for the full benets to be realised. However, that gure is for mandatory control of speed, which seems unlikely to be fully implemented. An advisory ISA system has been predicted to produce a BCR of 9.6:1. This is impressive but still not as good as ART signal control. Sixteen years of adaptive signal control, using our assumptions, has a BCR of 15:1.
Chalk and cheese?

Of course, different ITS have different purposes and applications so are not often compared directly and are not usually in direct competition for funding. ART trafc control works well in dense and congested urban networks, where it has a number of distinct advantages and also exibility. As well as minimising to vehicular trafc delay across the network, it can be employed to efciently implement and interface with other transport policy objectives. Additional priority can be given to buses or pedestrians, for instance, or queues can be shifted to meet air quality objectives. Having implemented such policy measures, ART trafc control can then efciently minimise the impact on other road users. So, in examining a range of ITS, diverse in their purpose and area of application, it can be seen that ART trafc control is very exible, effective and cost-benecial.
Other contenders
Perhaps more comparable systems with ART trafc control are ramp metering and managed motorways, so it is interesting to look at evaluations of these. Ramp metering was calculated to give a benet-to-cost ratio of 15:1 in a report evaluating the system in Minnesota.[5] Motorway interventions such as hard shoulder running and widening are evaluated in the Highways Agencys managed motorway consultation report.[6] Hard shoulder running has a BCR of 5.62, while widening has a BCR of 3.37. Another possible contender for a most benecial ITS intervention is that of intelligent speed adaptation (ISA). This has been predicted[7] to have a BCR of 16.7:1 over a 30-year period, including 14 years from the date of decision to implement
Whether it is the best ever is still open to debate! In fact, that debate continued vociferously at the World Congress on ITS in Vienna last October during an IBEC-organised Special Interest Session. IBEC, the International Benets, Evaluation and Costs Working Group is a cooperative group set up to coordinate and expand international efforts, to exchange information and techniques, and evaluate benets and costs of ITS. n
References
[1]
Gordon, R. L. and Tighe, W., Trafc Control Systems Handbook. Federal Highway Administration Report FHWA-HOP-06-006, Washington, DC, 2005 [2] eIMPACT, www.eimpact.info accessed 18/07/2012 [3] RITA, http://www.itscosts.its.dot.gov/its/benecost.nsf/ByLink/ CostDocs accessed 18/07/2012 [4] Executive summary of the impact assessment on the implementation of the harmonised EU-wide in-vehicle emergency call, eCall, 2011, http://ec.europa.eu/governance/ impact/ia_carried_out/docs/ia_2011/sec_2011_1020_en.pdf accessed 18/07/2012 [5] Twin Cities Ramp Meter Evaluation, Final Report, 2001, http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/jpodocs/repts_te/13425.pdf accessed 18/07/2012 [6] Managed Motorway Consultation Report (2011) http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/documents/ M62_J25_to_J30_MM_MPN_SI_Consultation_ Report_2011_10_06.pdf accessed 18/07/2012 [7] Carsten, O. M. J., Tate, F. N., Intelligent speed adaptation: accident savings and cost-benet analysis. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 37, 407-416, 2005
(Left) ART control works particularly well in urban areas, ART systems typically providing a 20% reduction in delay (Below) Adaptive systems provide continual updates to signal timings and respond to congestion levels in real-time
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62| TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
Ghost-busters
New technology is waging war against ghost drivers those who endanger others by wrong-way driving
Words | Christian Schou Jensen, Geveko Materials, Denmark
(Above) On-road warning signs are visible and centred in the drivers eld of attention (Below) The noentry marking is not visible for right-way drivers
The prospect of meeting a car coming head-on in the wrong direction is a terrifying thought for most drivers. Such a practice is obviously highly dangerous: statistics show that between 1996 and 2000, a total of 1,753 people were killed in the USA in wrong-way driving accidents. But so-called ghost driving is an increasing problem around the world. In Denmark, 198 ghost drivers were reported in 2010; about half of those cases involved accidents, causing injuries and casualties. Interviews with police and ghost drivers involved in 100 cases conducted by the Danish Road Directorate (which operates the state road network) indicate that almost half of the ghost drivers had impaired orientation and perception. Other causes of ghost driving included confusion about roundabouts, drivers driving down the exit lane with no intention of getting on the highway, or drivers taking the exit lanes at service stations.
Seeking solutions
Solutions intended to prevent ghost driving include traditional roadsigns and mechanical barriers such as spikes. A more high-tech solution from Geveko
ITS, however, is intelligent solar road studs that detect trafc moving in the wrong direction and emit a bright ashing light to warn the ghost driver. Geveko has therefore developed the Premark 3D-X, a patent-pending road marking system with high visibility in one direction only. A horizontal preformed thermoplastic roadsign is combined with sinus-shaped grooves to create a special 3D marking. The combination of this horizontal sign and a sinus-milled area gives double the functionality of conventional signs as it acts as both a roadsign and a speed dampener in one system, depending on the width. Yet it has low noise emissions. As the warning is on the road, this means it is directly in the drivers eld of attention. A Premark 3D-X sign works as a dynamic sign, even though it is static. It needs no electricity and there are no moving parts or mechanical components. But to drivers eyes, it seems that an emerging bunch of lines are assembled into a well-known trafc sign right in front of them, as they approach the system. Once the car gets close to the Premark 3D-X system, the sign appears to dissolve. The changing
appearance of the signage is eye-catching and will focus the drivers attention on the sign. The system is optimised to a view distance of 30m. The rumble effect from the grooves is an extra functionality in the 2m-wide Premark 3D-X system, making the sign a speed-reducing trafc safety unit for the right-way drivers as well as a roadsign. A comfortable speed driving over a rumble area is 30km/h or lower; driving at 40km/h over the rumble strip is uncomfortable. The markings have the best effect when they are applied 20m from a Give Way or stop line, so the drivers have a suitable speed over the marking when braking before the Give Way line. With a distance of 20m, responsible road users will have a typical speed around 30km/h or lower when approaching the critical area.
Rumble strips provide a haptic warning
Ghost-fighting applications
Ghost driving is often caused by particular local circumstances, with different local conditions calling for individual solutions. The exit ramp from the A20 at Gross Grnau in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, for example, ends in a roundabout. Six drivers were reported in 2011 for driving the wrong way down the ramp, despite regular and extra message signing by the ramp. In June
2012, the local road authorities collaborated with Geveko and road marking company TST to apply a Premark 3D-X threecoloured No Entry sign on the exit ramp. Premark 3D-X was also used as a pilot project in Denmark in 2010, when 10 exit ramps were marked with the text STOP as part of the STOP project to tackle wrongway driving. The project in cooperation with the Danish Road Directorate has been positively evaluated according to the enterprise contract with VD. No ghost drivers have been recorded on the exit ramps since the markings were established. At the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), the aim was to tackle the problem of cars using a truck entrance as the exit from the central test
eld. TST and Geveko applied a Premark 3D-X No Entry sign (VZ267), which is clearly visible even from the opposite side of the test eld. Another use of the system is being evaluated in Denmark, near the city of Rudkbing. Langeland municipality has built a new school and the change in trafc pattern around the school called for new solutions. A potentially dangerous combination of both roads and bicycle lanes connects the school to the surrounding catchment area. Indeed, there is a particular problem at a roundabout where a new bicycle lane will take cyclists across a vehicles-only section of road. A Premark 3D-X sign was used to ensure that car drivers lower the speed with which they enter the roundabout, while paying more attention to the cycling school children. Geveko expects the system to be a tool for road authorities in the continuous efforts to improve trafc safety. Premark 3D-X can also be used at toll stations, bus lanes, city zones, childrens areas and other zones where speed reduction and driver awareness is needed. As well as the companys ongoing projects involving ghost driver solutions, it supplies speed markings, school symbols, bicycle warnings, and much more. n
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Marking the future
New thinking
Technological evolution is forcing the road weather industry to question received wisdom and adopt alternative approaches
Words | Jon Tarleton, Vaisala, USA Road weather intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are installed around the world to monitor road conditions and are enabling road maintenance professionals to make educated decisions.Typically located in remote locations, the sites collect various weather parameters and transmit the data to a decision-maker for their analysis. Road weather stations were one of the rst examples of ITS, and the industry has well established practices as to what should be collected and how. But like anything, something new can change all that. Newer technology comes along that causes you to ask tough questions such as Is this really the best way to do it? The road weather community is beginning to go through just such a transformation, and technology will challenge the way we have always done it! The game-changer that is causing this transformation is the invention and deployment of pavement sensors that no longer need to be installed in the road surface itself. These sensors called non-intrusive or non-invasive can collect pavement temperature, pavement condition (dry, wet, snow, etc.), thickness of the layer of water or ice on the surface, and a value of road friction. Just like trafc sensors, the industry became tired of replacing and repairing embedded road sensors; thus a move to non-intrusive sensors is occurring. Non-intrusive sensors offer obvious advantages, such as no need for trafc control or lane closures during installation, easy maintenance in all weather conditions and lower lifetime costs.
A new concept
So why the change? Isnt road weather data from a sensor in the road surface the same as data from one on the side of the road? In short, no. The major difference that non-intrusive sensors such as the Vaisala Pavement Condition Sensor DSC111 offer is the reporting of a surface friction value, which is a relatively new concept for road weather stations and will likely have far-reaching effects. What non-intrusive weather sensors cannot do is measure the presence of de-icing chemicals on the road surface. As all road chemicals must dissolve in water to do their job, it is currently impossible to measure this dissolved chemical in the water on the road. A manufacturer that claims to be able to detect a chemical value such as freeze point from a non-intrusive sensor is merely reporting the pavement temperature at the moment when ice is detected. This is only valid at that moment in time, and it will not report freeze point when there is no ice present. Such a method calls into question the reason for using freeze point values as a decision point at all. For years, embedded sensors have (both passively and actively) been reporting the amount of chemical on the road as a freeze point. The freeze point is the point at which the current water on the road would freeze if the road surface reached that temperature. As long as the road temperature is above the freeze point you have a wet road, but that is where the simplicity ends. Once the road surface reaches the freeze point of the current water/chemical on the road, it
(Main) Vaisalas nonintrusive condition sensor is able to report the surface friction value a new advance for road weather technology (Left) Measuring road friction is becoming a must-have tool for road weather operations
doesnt mean the road will instantly turn to ice it only means ice crystals begin to form. This means that freeze point alone is not a clear-cut decision data point to determine road condition. In fact, looking at the true amount of chemical on the road may be more challenging than it is worth. Some de-icing chemical, for example, might still be in a solid form, which does nothing for road condition other than provide some minor traction.
Getting to better decision points

As the Vaisala non-intrusive condition sensor cannot see road chemicals (like all non-intrusive sensors), a value of friction was derived to still provide a quantitative value of road condition. For two main reasons, the result is a much better decision point than freeze point or other chemical values. Firstly, in-pavement chemical readings are typically taken at a single point, so the relation to the rest of the road may not be accurate. Secondly, the embedded sensors use pavement temperature and measurements of the owing water to calculate the amount of ice they cannot see ice. The Vaisala sensor is not reading a single point but instead scanning a 1ft2 area, giving it a better view of road conditions, and because it optically sees the ice forming, you get a much more accurate and faster detection of ice or snow. The friction value is also a much better quantitative number representing how slippery the road surface is for vehicles. Freeze point can change erratically as new
chemicals are applied or as water ows and moves over the surface of the sensor. If the end result is to monitor the formation or reduction of ice and snow, why do you need chemical freeze point, which is nothing more than a middle point to the nal answer? The quantitative friction value is beginning to have a huge impact on the future of road weather technology and its integration with other ITS systems. A friction value can be used for a variety of ITS applications, such as signal timing algorithms, activation of VMS and other warning systems and triggering of automated bridge de-icing systems. Friction data will also have a major impact on mobile road weather data collection. Determining surface condition from a moving vehicle using a chemical reading such as freeze point will be very challenging, because a sample of the water on the road must be collected. To do this from a moving vehicle is difcult, not to mention that the vehicle has since passed the area you collected, which makes it near impossible to determine where the sample came from. Again, friction is the answer because it can be collected without collecting water from the road and can be read instantaneously. The biggest advantage, however, is that by using friction both in a xed and mobile application, users can compare readings from both types of data collection and make correlations. Over time we have counted on technology to make major changes to our society and improve our lives. Non-intrusive sensors such as the Vaisala pavement condition sensor and data parameters such as friction are becoming the next signicant steps in improving travel and safety during adverse weather conditions. If you still need a value such as freeze point because that is the way you do it, ask yourself this question. When was the last time you looked for a pay phone when away from home or the ofce? Technology changed you! n
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A step up
How four steps can mean a giant leap towards truly integrated trafc modelling
Words | Jaime L Ferrer, TSS-Transport Simulation Systems, Spain Transportation modellers will soon be able to start a trafc simulation project from scratch and see it all the way through to the end without recourse to separate trafc demand modelling software outputs as a starting point. The soon-to-be-released Aimsun 8 Expert edition offers full four-step trafc demand modelling support, making it the rst and so far the only product in the market to integrate in a single software application trafc demand modelling, mesoscopic, microscopic and hybrid trafc simulation, and dynamic trafc assignment. The addition of trafc demand modelling to the Aimsun application also means that while in the process of performing a simulation study, users will no longer need to go back to a separate package to quantify how demand redistributes itself after major capacity changes are introduced.
Following intensive in-house testing, Aimsun 8 Expert has been in beta testing since September 2012 and the nal version is scheduled for worldwide release in early 2013.
Working towards integration

Four-step demand modelling is an important functionality for Aimsun software and another step towards true integration. Up until now, Aimsun users have been forced to
in the diagram represents an input or a process (experiment) to be executed. These are also dened outside the diagram, and can be executed individually (provided all the previous necessary steps have been already executed). The diagram relates the processes, displays the workow and can be used to execute everything at once. Aimsun Expert also introduces a number of new visualisation modes and outputs that are standard requirements of the trafc demand modelling community. Those include select link analysis, generation-attraction plots, public transport assignment loads, and more.
Aimsun Expert includes new modelling objects to manage distribution, modal split and public transport functions
Interfacing with other software tools

interface with an external trafc demand model not only for importing data as a starting point but also as a means of redistributing demand from one mode to another or to estimate the impact that capacity changes have on overall demand levels. Aimsun Expert obviates this need. Being able to use a single software application for an entire project will create a tremendous advantage in cost-efciency, consistency and quality for Aimsun users. The introduction of these features raises the question of whether TSS will continue to support the import of data from other packages. The company is emphatic that it will not be discontinuing the interfaces with other strategic planning models quite the contrary, in fact. There are numerous high-prole, large-scale simulation projects in Aimsun where demand comes from reputable third-party trafc demand modelling tools. TSS is sure that this will continue and it is in the companys interest to support those users who need to interface with those packages; the idea is to increase openness and provide more choice, not to reduce it by creating articial barriers.
New modelling objects

To manage all the data these new features require, Aimsun Expert includes new modelling objects, including transportation modes, time periods, generation/attraction and distribution data sets for managing socio-economic data, and classication in area types. It also includes generation/attraction vectors, public transport sections and stations, distribution and modal split, and public transport functions. Obviously the quantity of data to be introduced in the model can grow to huge proportions but Python scripting helps keep a handle on the process. Also, new visualisations of inputs and outputs will offer meaningful model overviews. A new general four-step model experiment is available, which consists of a diagram where the input data and experiments are dened. Each box
Future focus
For a company that has earned its reputation in trafc simulation, entering a mature sector seems like a bold or even a strange move. Yet competing in the trafc demand modelling arena is not TSSs primary motivation. In the short term, the company simply wants to make sure that Aimsun users can, if they want to, be autonomous in terms of satisfying all their modelling needs in one package. As for the long run, the company believes that disciplines and models are converging and that modelling experts demand a fusion of concepts and models, hence the reason it chose the name Expert for this new edition of Aimsun. n
The four-step model experiment diagram
CAN YOU READ THIS?
NEURAL LABS CAN
The systems that work use Neural Labs ANPR technology
Start (with) your engine

The software engine is the nucleus of ANPR and its importance must not be underestimated. Experts in this sector offer some words of wisdom
Words | Elas Valcrcel Torres, Neural Labs, Spain
In the trafc sector, almost any company that develops software may at some stage require ANPR technology. This encompasses companies offering software for tolling, truck weighing, network video recorder (NVR) applications, police authorities, city councils and more. Perhaps as a consequence of the wide scope of ITS tasks that ANPR is used for, the marketplace is awash with vendors offering various solutions. The numerous options to consider when rst investing in ANPR can be bewildering, so it helps to seek out some expert advice. At the heart of any ANPR system is the OCR software engine. You can have state-of-the-art image capture the latest cameras, illuminators, etc. but unless the software engine thats processing those images is effective and reliable, your system is as good as useless. A number of companies are marketing ANPR software engines, either as part of a full ANPR system or as an individual component of a pick-and-mix approach. But very few of these companies offer as much experience and expertise as the Barcelona-based Neural Labs. The company was founded in 2005 by two computer vision experts. The founders share 15 years of experience in recognition software (not only for numberplate recognition but also for applications such as container ID recognition, train wagon recognition, etc,) including being involved with Spains rstever ANPR systems. They had worked in full ANPR systems before seeing a gap in the market for a sustained focus on the computer vision and neuronal network segment of an ANPR system the engine. They identied a need to offer tools to enable companies that are new to the ANPR sphere to enter this world quickly and hassle-free. Using proprietary neuronal technology, Neural Labs ANPR engines perform extraction of the numberplate information from an image using a number of techniques including image processing, image analysis, and articial intelligence to create what is known as articial neuronal networks. The companys main USP is that its engines are not hardware-dependent and work with all of the main types of cameras and protocols found within the ITS and security market, such as those from IDS, JAI, Sony, Axis, JVC and protocols such as GigE Vision, DirectShow, Motion JPEG, and CVB Mobotix, to name but a few. To achieve that, Neural Labs talks with the best regarded camera and NVR manufacturers in order to test integrations with their products in the Neural Labs laboratory. This is a real selling point for those customers looking to gain numberplate recognition functionality as all they have to do is combine the Neural Labs engine with their existing, off-the-shelf camera hardware. Naturally, the company also offers unbiased advice about what camera hardware
Red light enforcement is a popular ANPR application
Many toll systems rely on ANPR for payment processing and enforcement
works best for any given task. As clients typically have a vertical solution requiring ANPR capability in their software, Neural Labs works alongside them to guide them as to which cameras, optics, lighting and lters are a good t for ANPR, where to buy them, how to set them up, and even how to design specic solutions. The company, in fact, is evolving into an ANPR consultancy in addition to a technology provider. As a result of all of this consultancy, Neural Labs clients dramatically shorten their time to market. The company prides itself on responding to customer demands with an appropriate technical solution. One client, for instance, needed to read more than two numberplates in one image, so a software engine was developed that can now read up to eight plates in one image. Similarly, another client needed to conduct ANPR in-vehicle day and night without any illumination at all. The software copes admirably with this challenging condition, which well reects Neural Labs unofcial tagline If you can see the numberplate, our engine will read it. And as the company owns all of its technology, its also easier for it to tailor software to meet specic situations, the knock-on effect of which is that continual development and modication results in even better engines.
Satisfied customers
For 99% of the software licences sold by Neural Labs, the company has no idea where the technology is ultimately deployed, either due to badge engineering, condentiality agreements or the fact the software is discreetly integrated into an end system without users even being aware of the engine supplier. Despite this, Neural Labs has a number of interesting case studies that showcase exactly how these engines are being deployed. A toll road in Ecuador, for example, needed to implement an ANPR system to prevent fraudulent activity occurring within a clearing system between
three toll bridges. The clearing system grants free access at the second bridge for a certain amount of time to those vehicles that paid at the rst toll bridge. With the ANPR system implemented by Telectrnica and the Neural Labs ANPR engine, the operator can verify at the second toll bridge that the fee was paid at the rst by correlating the numberplate reads in both cases. Sixteen toll lanes are now outtted with this ANPR solution. Telectrnica and Neural Labs also put their technologies to work on a toll road in Argentina. Under the countrys law, motorway concessionaires are obliged to register the numberplates of all the vehicles travelling across their toll bridges. Telectrnicas automated system complies with this with a performance rate of 99% by using the Neural Labs ANPR engine. This specic concessionaire company now has 20 lanes with the system installed and working. Aside from toll roads, Neural Labs has also sold software licences to 30 countries across the world, where the engines are used for access control, security applications, law enforcement, trafc signal control, and more. Although Neural Labs is still a small-sized company, during these tough years it has grown outstandingly. But despite such success, the founders are eager to bring ever-more advanced offerings to the market and will keep improving the existing range as well as launch new solutions, including an embedded engine that represents a cost-effective solution to process one camera and send results to an application running on a server, and a new product very closely related to ANPR. The HIDAR (Hazard ID Automatic Reader) system is used to read the orange hazardous goods ID plates. Additionally, the company has made considerable effort to evolve its products at the same time in its two supported platforms (Windows and Linux), as the demand for Linux-based ANPR engines has recently grown. n
16 toll lanes in Argentina are now equipped with ANPR
Camera position is important to capturing usable images
If a camera can see the plate, Neural Labs ANPR will read it
Motion picture
WIM is the most accurate way of recording vehicle weight but using the right sensors is crucial
Words | David Cornu, Kistler, Switzerland Weigh-in-motion (WIM) is the only technology to provide an accurate insight into the weights and axle loads of passing vehicles without disturbing or interrupting the trafc ow. It also provides a great deal of extra information about the vehicles, including the number of axles, length, vehicle class, direction, speed, distance between vehicles, and so on. When combined with digital cameras, an image of the vehicle and its numberplate can also be added to the measured data. All in all, WIM has proven to be a powerful technology with applications in many areas.
Road design/maintenance
The magnitude, frequency and distribution of the weights and axle loads of trafc are key factors to determine the lifespan of road pavements and bridges. Engineers are interested in several aspects of the loading spectrum. Road engineers, for instance, are particularly interested in axle loads and lateral distribution, while bridge engineers have an interest in gross vehicle weight and longitudinal distribution. Both rely on detailed and accurate WIM data, which can be used in road maintenance planning, or in the strength assessment of bridges. WIM data has become a standard input in many road pavement and bridge design codes.
Overload enforcement
Overloaded trucks result in considerable extra costs for maintenance of the damaged infrastructure as well as increased trafc risks and unfair competition between transport companies. WIM system data, however, can assist enforcement agencies in achieving the required reduction in overloading. Even without digital cameras, WIM data can be used in the planning of police controls (place and time). Another well-known application is the preselection of overloaded vehicles. In this
case, the WIM system is installed before a regular (static or low-speed) weighing station. The advantage here is that only overloaded trucks are diverted to the control site, which results in more efcient controls and reduced disturbance for the correctly loaded trucks. Recently, there have also been a number of initiatives in various countries to introduce WIM systems for direct, automatic enforcement of overloading. In this case, a ne is based directly on the WIM measurement and automatically sent to the offender.
WIM technology
All of these applications rely on a constant quality of the WIM data. But high-quality WIM sensors are also essential. The Kistler Lineas WIM sensors are based on quartz technology and provide unparalleled accuracy and stability over time. Small quartz sensing elements are integrated into a compact construction. Wheel loads are accurately measured without being inuenced by speed or temperature. The several sensor lengths available (1.5m, 1.75m and 2m) provide full modularity to
instrument a trafc lane. The installation can be conducted quickly and easily without heavy machinery as it requires only a small slot of 55mm by 72mm. These sensors have proved to be rugged and reliable in hundreds of installations in diverse environmental conditions, and stand out as a result of their ne accuracy, stability, long life and temperature independence. Moreover, they can be installed in all types of pavements and provide accurate weight data at any speed. n
Tolling
Toll fees should be based on the vehicle weight and the axle loads. Currently, fees are mostly based on the distance travelled and the vehicle class, generally a combination of the number of axles and vehicle prole. The higher number of axles on a vehicle usually results in a higher fee. But this type of tolling actually stimulates overloading and, consequently, an increase in maintenance costs. As the pavement damage is proportional to the fourth power of the axle load, toll operators are increasingly switching to weight-dependent vehicle classes. This is based on the cost-by-cause principle, which is fairer for both the road users and the toll operators.
Kistlers Lineas sensor is easy to install both individually and in groups for comprehensive recording over a wide roadway
Low- and High-Speed WIM with Lineas Quartz Sensors
New Generation of WIM Sensors However, thanks to the increased length, sensor The newly designed "double-length Lineas" is a installation and cable routing can be done faster state-of-the-art weigh-in-motion sensor which is and more easily; the result is lower costs for system fully compatible with the previous version. and installation.
www.kistler.com
Kistler Group, Eulachstrasse 22, 8408 Winterthur, Switzerland Tel. +41 52 224 11 11, Fax +41 52 224 14 14, info@kistler.com
200-688e-08.11
Weight watching
How an automated weighstation improves transport safety and efciency
Words | Eric Hooks, IRD, USA The St. George, South Carolina commercial vehicle inspection station (CVIS) is one of the most advanced automatic vehicle inspection facilities of its type in the Southeastern USA. The station automatically screens commercial vehicles by weight, dimension and credentials from the South Carolina commercial vehicle information exchange window (CVIEW). With more than 26,000 commercial vehicles using the facility every week, the efciency provided by the automated screening system is essential to preventing delays while ensuring all vehicles meet regulations and safety standards. The St. George station uses IRDs screening system, which integrates an automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) camera and weigh-in-motion (WIM) sensors for mainline vehicle sorting, additional WIM sensors for secondary ramp sorting and a static scale for enforcement purposes. IRDs iSINC (Intelligent Sensor INterface and Network Controller) is a key component of the system, enabling integration of WIM sensors, ANPR cameras and other components, including the IRD workstation that provides a real-time command station for the state enforcement ofcers. The WIM system provides axle weights and GVW (gross vehicle weight), axle spacing, vehicle length and speed. With this information, the system is able to determine the vehicles weight classication and compare the measured weights with those allowed for that class to determine if the vehicle is compliant with regulations.
Trucks approach the St. George inspection station
Automated inspection and recording

The ANPR system automatically reads the numberplate of each passing vehicle and refers to the state CVIEW database to check for credential and safety issues. As a vehicle passes over the WIM sensors, the iSINC creates a vehicle record consisting of the vehicle weight and dimensions, the date and time, overheight information, the lane number, any violations, the sort decision (report or bypass) and any warnings or detected errors. A side-view camera capable of both day (colour) and night (black and white) operation adds a photo of the truck to the vehicle record and the NPR camera adds the numberplate data. Finally, an indication of the mainline signal given to the vehicle is recorded. By comparing the individual axle weights, axle group weights, bridge formula weights and GVW with the maximum weights allowed for the class of vehicle, the system determines whether the vehicle is overweight or if there is a dimension violation, and ags the vehicle accordingly. In addition, an overheight detector is used to check for height violations. Using the weight, dimensions and CVIEW/SAFER credential status for the vehicle, the iSINC makes the sort decision: vehicles with potential violations are directed to report for further inspection and vehicles that are compliant are directed to bypass the inspection process and return to the highway. For the vehicles that report for further inspection, the potential violation is highlighted on the workstation so that the enforcement ofcers can focus on the potential violation as efciently as possible. IRDs trafc control subsystem automatically monitors passage and directs the vehicles through the inspection station. If a vehicle is directed to report to the static scale for secondary weighing, a variable message sign (VMS) directs it to the correct position on the static scale and tells it when to halt. The vehicle record is then updated with static scale weights and the system performs the required compliance checks. The system also checks for potential vehicle length violations. Most US states limit the length of commercial vehicles. The allowable length varies by jurisdiction and is commonly measured from the kingpin to the rear axle group. When an axle group is detected that is outside of the regulation, the system alerts the operators of a potential kingpin violation that warrants further inspection.
A detailed record showing side-view and NPR images along with potential violations
Inspection station display

The enforcement ofcer controls all of the operations via a Windows-based GUI at the workstation. Each vehicle record is sent from the iSINC to the inspection station computer and displayed on the workstation. If a violation is discovered, the ofcer is informed via the GUI and audible alerts. After alerting the ofcer, the system will hold the vehicle for the congured exception hold time, before instructing it to exit, in doing so providing the ofcer time to take action; normally to select a VMS command to signal to the driver what to do next. If the vehicle is compliant, the VMS automatically provides an EXIT message, allowing the vehicle to leave. The fully automated function will release any vehicle after audible alerts within a pre-set time limit to prevent backups if the operators are busy with other vehicles. The high volume of commercial vehicle trafc on major transport corridors presents a challenge for agencies with limited resources to enforce weight and safety regulations. IRDs automated inspection station offers an effective solution while maintaining enforcement ofcer oversight and control. Wider adoption of such systems will allow agencies to focus their efforts and help make commercial vehicle operations safer, more effective and efcient. n
Rule your traffic kingdom.
With IRDs ITS Solutions
HTMS/Traffic Safety Systems
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement/Operations
Traffic Data Collection Systems
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Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) Scales & Sensors
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Service and Maintenance
INTERNATIONAL ROAD DYNAMICS INC.

www.irdinc.com | info@irdinc.com
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Advance with care

The latest in computer vision trafc technology for road junction safety
Words | Angelo Dalli, Traffiko, Malta The use of advanced computer vision technology to monitor trafc scenes has evolved to the point where trafc junction safety can be greatly enhanced through constant monitoring and control of the situation. Recent developments using GPU CUDA computing have enabled a practical solution that can monitor trafc light junctions, including both vehicles and pedestrians. Standard existing trafc camera infrastructure can be used with or without ANPR capability to monitor junctions with the new technology. Computer vision algorithms in conjunction with articial intelligence (AI)-based expert systems enable the junction application to understand a trafc scene and be capable of monitoring vehicular behaviour and ag enforcement events automatically. Trafc junctions pose unique problems for monitoring applications that take pedestrians into account as opposed to vehicular trafc only. The use of computer vision to monitor the trafc light itself and detect violations visually cuts down drastically on the number of violations that can be contested by, for example, having a non-functional lamp in the trafc light itself. As the system shows both the trafc light lamps and the violating vehicle in the encrypted evidential image, there is minimal chance of a contestation occurring successfully, which minimises the work needed during the enforcement process. requires the use of deformable templates to detect and track the general behaviour of pedestrians at junctions, both while waiting to cross a road and while crossing it. Some particularly challenging problems that had to be overcome during the initial deployment of the system were in dealing with situations such as where children were crossing the road (due to their smaller size and more erratic behaviour), and when stray animals crossed while there was a green light, automatically triggering the jaywalking event monitor. The detection of pedestrians present on the road while the trafc light is showing a green light can be used for a variety of applications. One example is to provide feedback about the timings that should be used for the trafc light to allow for adequate time for pedestrians to cross, which is particularly useful for junctions that may have different usage patterns at different times of the day. Trafko has invested more than three years of research and development to create a comprehensive, innovative AI technology called IDITES, which is an acronym for Intelligent Digital Transport Enforcement System. This work was partially funded by a European Union ERDF grant. IDITES is an AI system that performs constant analysis of trafc scenes on a 24x7 basis in realtime or after the fact, cutting down on the amount of labour required in enforcement and monitoring activities. Vehicle detection is performed automatically by the AI system using features such as windscreen edges, tail lamps and overall colour to visually ngerprint vehicles and determine precise
Tracking behaviour
Pedestrian detection and crowd tracking is an advanced application area that
positions and headings. Vehicle model packs catering for urban, interurban, highway and industrial trafc scenes can be plugged in to provide specic classication capabilities optimised for particular deployment scenarios. Extracted scene information is used to trigger specic actions to issue a penalty charge notice when a red-light violation has been detected, for instance. The ability to detect both vehicles and pedestrians using the same integrated system presents a powerful new tool that can be used to simultaneously detect violations, analyse behaviour of both vehicles and pedestrians and provide accurate statistics about different junctions on a 24x7 basis. The counting and behaviour information statistics can be used to create an optimised trafc light schedule, allowing more time for vehicles during times of the day when few pedestrians are crossing the junction while
allowing more time for pedestrians during busy periods of the day. The presence of pedestrians especially children can also be used to trigger a quicker change to a red light, in doing so potentially helping to prevent serious accidents from occurring.
Crowd control
The pedestrian detection technology can also be used in situations where large crowds of people are interacting with transportation systems, such as in underground subway stations, train and bus stations, taxi ranks and other similar places. The vehicle detection and analysis technology is also used to help the overall trafc ow through the junction. Trafc jams and abnormal trafc conditions that deviate from the norm for that time of day are automatically detected and alerted. The ow statistics for each junction can be used together with statistics from other junctions and merged together to present a unied view of trafc ows
that can signicantly improve junction planning and trafc modelling. The modular nature of IDITES enables it to be plugged in as an intelligent component in existing trafc application software, such as access control, car park management, road trafc monitoring, congestion and toll charging, journeytime analysis and security applications. The AI element in the technology ensures that IDITES is an effective replacement for existing video analytics applications. The GPU CUDA technology achieves a performance level that is 10 times faster than traditional applications. As an effective next-generation replacement for existing video analytics applications, IDITES can add multiple capabilities to existing camera infrastructure without requiring invasive interventions such as the installation of a loop or other embedded sensor that requires regular maintenance. The use of existing camera infrastructure also enables it to double-up as a regular trafc monitoring system, which can lead to additional situational awareness at no extra cost. IDITES technology is well on the path to transforming future trafc applications and products, making them intelligent, autonomous and more capable than present solutions through the use of AI and computer vision techniques. n
(Left) Both tra c light lamp and driver violation are shown, thereby reducing the number of enforcement activities that get contested due to faulty lights (Above) As well as vehicles, any pedestrians in the scene can be detected and monitored
Weighing Systems for ITS & Enforcement

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Poetry in motion
A more graceful approach to vehicle weight enforcement using portable WIM systems can have more success than easily avoidable permanent weighstations
Words | Aaron Van Heel, Intercomp, USA Portable law enforcement systems are available in both static and dynamic congurations as a tool to aid authorities in overweight enforcement. Used concurrently with high-speed virtual weigh-in-motion systems (VWIM), they regulate potentially overweight vehicles, in doing so increasing safety and reducing long-term road damage. Portable scale technology also allows for enforcement and monitoring techniques to screen for probable overweight or oversized vehicles. Both of these types of portable systems are used throughout the world for citation-based purposes in high trafc areas as well as on secondary or rural roads. Although permanent weighstations play an important role in enforcement, there are many common ways for drivers to avoid them, often simply by following alternative routes to bypass them. This exacerbates the problems associated with overweight vehicles because the roads around the permanent weighstations are typically smaller secondary roads that were not designed for the weights or sizes of the trucks so the damage to the roadways is even more signicant. can simply be diverted off the road to a convenient location. Additionally, the hours of operation and locations can be far more random than with permanent stations. Weighing capacities of up to 30 tons per axle allow the system to weigh heavy vehicles on unimproved surfaces. The system will weigh axle-by-axle in static mode using just two scales, while roll-up ramps/levellers keep axle groups on a level plane, providing 1% accuracy. Portability and ease of setup is enhanced with cable-free operation as the scales and CPU communicate via wireless weighing technology and are powered by commercially available batteries for up to 300 hours of use. The advantages of the static portable wheel load systems include lower system cost and higher accuracy than dynamic systems. However, the time required to
Alternative strategies
To regulate overweight vehicles that are avoiding permanent weighstations, some type of law enforcement has to be deployed on the smaller secondary roads or downstream from in-road VWIM installations. Intercomp portable static systems include two portable scales, roll-up ramps/ levellers and a wireless indicator all of which can be transported in the boot of a vehicle and set up by one person in fewer than 15 minutes. The actual inspection of the vehicles does not have to be done on the motorway; all commercial vehicles
(Above) An Intercomp weigh scale (Above right) Truck drives over a roll mat (Below) Vehicles can be directed to a suitable location for inspection
weigh each vehicle is increased as a result of the vehicle being required to stop on the scale as each axle is weighed.
Portable dynamic WIM systems

Portable dynamic systems offer the same features as static systems but with the added benet of being able to weigh vehicles as they pass over the scales at up to 10mph, with between 2% and 3% accuracy. Portable WIM systems can also be set up for operation virtually anywhere. This type of system consists of an indicator, two scales and roll-up ramps. Like its static system, Intercomps dynamic system is fully portable in the boot of a vehicle and can be set up in fewer than 15 minutes. These systems provide authorities with a fast, reliable and cost-effective solution to protecting roadways and concentrating enforcement almost anywhere required. Portable WIM allows authorities to monitor, screen and issue citations in areas not served by permanent weighstations. VWIM can serve as a screening device for potentially overloaded trucks, allowing portable wheel load and portable WIM systems to be used for efforts downstream of VWIM installations.
VWIM systems are coupled with cameras that have OCR capabilities. The cameras are used to read the vehicles numberplate, DOT number (or unique vehicle ID) and capture general vehicle images. The cameras play an essential role in VWIM as the data collected not only allows the vehicle to be clearly identied but also provides the information necessary to query central databases to gather more information about the vehicle. Data captured by the cameras is used along with data collected by the HSWIM system, which automatically measures the axle weights, axle spacing and gross vehicle weight. This data is then transferred to a nearby CPU and processed to identify and classify the vehicle. Data and images can then be accessed in the ofcers vehicle via the web from roadside locations for enforcement after violators bypass major roadway weighstations. VWIM systems can provide many of the benets of permanent weighstations at a fraction of the cost as they can function autonomously or with law enforcement downstream from the system. These systems are seen as a cost-effective solution because they do not require onsite staff, and can be installed in strategic locations. The efciency of vehicle weight law enforcement can be increased with portable wheel load and WIM systems. They can be used on roads that may be used to circumvent permanent weighstations. In areas without permanent scales, portable scales can be used and moved to different locations to increase the perceived enforcement area, which is an effective force multiplier. As law enforcement and various agencies begin to share information about the vehicle and operator, VWIM software is capable of querying central databases to determine if there are outstanding and/or a history of violations. This extra information enables authorities to expand their commercial vehicle inspection and enforcement capabilities. n
LED there be light

LED lighting is making an interesting and highly valuable contribution to ITS vision applications
Words | Paul Downey, Gardasoft, UK As continued advances in functionality and reducing costs make their effects felt, LED lighting is realising its long-held potential for transport-related applications. It is often the primary choice of ITS system integrators as they strive to meet the evolving demands for high luminous intensity, exibility of installation and operation, and low cost of ownership. Functions specic to LED lighting systems include multi-pulsing, which enables cameras to take several images with different pulse lengths, and software that automatically chooses the best one(s) for the application. Traditionally, only two images have been taken and then compared. Another key benet is the LEDs dynamic response to variable light. The better the lighting conditions, the less the image processing requirements; and modern LED solutions can accept feedback from the camera to the lighting system in real-time via Ethernet or RS232 and take account of different ambient light conditions caused by time of day and weather. LEDs score over Xenon-based technology as they allow faster pulsing, typically 30Hz compared to 2Hz. That allows detection and triggering to be accomplished via the camera, removing the need for an external sensor, such as a loop or laser, for applications such as enforcement or vehicle classication. Many systems now trigger the camera continuously and use the images to detect whether a vehicle or other object of interest is present. This greatly reduces costs because there is a much reduced installation or maintenance burden. In addition, LEDs themselves have no consumable parts, which results in even further savings. Flexible mounting options and the ability to retain tight control over beam angles, and therefore areas of illumination, results in greater exibility in terms of where light sources whether one or several are located in relation to cameras. It also means that both single- and multilane applications are catered for, with illumination over a wide range of distances.
Open road tolling

Such performance characteristics lend themselves well to applications such as open-road tolling. In an increasing number of countries, windscreen-mounted sticker tags are used to permit travel on tolled roads that feature automated payment whether in stop-and-go or free-ow environments. Gardasofts VTR Series LED strobe-light trafc monitoring systems, for example, have been deployed in Slovenia, where sticker tags are used to allow access to tolled facilities on a timed (weekly, monthly or annual) basis. A fully automated solution was required to replace manual checking by police ofcers. Key performance criteria included the ability to read both the vehicle numberplate and the windscreen-mounted tag at all times, in all weather conditions
and without any restrictions in trafc ow. This was a challenge as the exposure requirements for plate and sticker capture are different. However LED systems multi-pulse capability the ability to ash two different levels of light intensity in very quick succession allows a single camera to capture the same vehicle event. This has many clear advantages over alternative systems that would require two cameras and associated control sensors.
Multi-lane operation
A multi-lane capability is becoming increasingly important for some ITS applications and here, again, LED systems very fast pulsing provides a solution. In another recently completed project, single VTR series LED lights were used to cover three lanes, with each lane having a dedicated camera. Each light had to be able to accept a trigger from one or more cameras. The working distance of the lights was 20m and Gardasoft offered the option for custom beam arrangements. In this
Gardasoft specialises in illumination for ANPR
instance, the beam geometry was arranged to give a 32 beam in the horizontal axis and 12 in the vertical axis. To enable synchronisation with the cameras, three TTL trigger inputs were congured on the VTR light, enabling any of the cameras to provide a trigger.
Mobile and public transport applications

Technological advances mean LED lighting is being used in numerous standard and custom applications and these can take a number of forms, including the addition of extra heat sinking to xed-position applications such as gantries or control circuitry to modify the way the lights operate. As its light intensities are orders of magnitude higher than conventional light sources, LED line light technology can provide an extremely powerful, focused line of light at the subject. Existing custom applications include vehicle-mounted LEDs on emergency vehicles, which signicantly improve visibility, detection rates and, therefore, safety. In fact, this application could potentially be extended to large commercial vehicles, heavy plant as well as all types of road vehicle. n
Screenshot of an open-road tolling application
Vehicle-mounted toll tags also need to be read accurately
Accurate images for ANPR purposes are needed for billing and enforcement purposes on toll roads
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Come together
The story of two worlds being precisely joined for the benet of the trafc management sector
Words | Roland Maier, SVS-Vistek, Germany The so-called industrial camera has become a real star in the quality assurance of every imaginable form of industrially produced goods. Over the years, the usage of these compact and robust image producers has grown dramatically. It is especially gratifying that German manufacturers have played a key role in placing innovative products in the market and have as a result been key in the support of the Made in Germany machine-building industry. SVS-Vistek has once again proved its role as one of the pioneers in the image-processing market by introducing a high-end camera with a lens mount such as those successfully used in demanding photographic applications. Focus, iris and zoom are now controllable directly from the camera over the GigE Vision interface without any additional cabling. The Micro Four Thirds (MFT) lens mount standard provides for a high level of spatial resolution with a reasonable pixel size through the use of telecentric-type lens systems. This design characterisation is ideally suited to the newest generation of CCD (close-coupled device) sensors and therefore provides the framework for the perfect adaptation of highresolution and high frame rates to fastchanging image-acquisition parameters.
Opportunities abound
New possibilities and therefore new markets are now opening up to exploit the advantages of this unique capability. The classical image-processing environment was one of absolutely identical and stable conditions from image to image. Most lenses were therefore of the xed focal length variety and with the focus and iris rings permanently xed with thumb screws. In the robotics industry, however, a high degree of exibility is required. This
expectation also has to be addressed by the image-processing system in that it must adapt to ever-changing capture positions. The SVS-Vistek EVO Tracer is able to successfully adapt to acquisition distance, object size and illumination changes in just milliseconds. The technical developments of photography and industrial image processing are certainly comparable and, as previously seen, new developments in photography will be followed closely by advances in machine vision. One of the developments was iris and focus control by the camera. When the exposure time is taken separately, a brightness difference of merely 1:10 to 1:20 can be compensated for. Controlling the iris additionally from F/2 to F/22, one reaches a factor 6 F-Stop, or a difference of 1:64.
Iris control
Exposure control using the iris offers huge advantages when fast-moving objects dictate short exposure times. The correct exposure values can be derived from the images themselves or from a separate exposure meter. The autofocus was also a milestone that contributed to improvement in photographic quality. With the EVO Tracer, this can be taken care of with an autofocus algorithm or a laser distance meter, which can tell the camera/lens combination on what (and to which) distance it should focus. Additionally, the control of the focal length is a great advantage when constant detail resolution is required for images
taken at differing distances. Motorised zoom lenses are not particularly common in the world of high-quality photography, but the MFT standard for the new mirror-less system cameras will change this. The choice of lenses that are a perfect match to the integrated Truesense Imaging CCD sensors is large, and as a result of the very fast reaction times of the lens adjustments, the EVO Tracer masters even difcult illumination situations. The best possible images are guaranteed due to the optimal use of the sensors full dynamic range. We are sure the EVO Tracer will expand the possible application areas in machine vision, states Andreas Schaarschmidt, president of SVS-Vistek. We also have our eye on areas well outside of factory automation. The areas of trafc technology and high-end surveillance can prot tremendously from the possibilities of the Tracer. The high frame rates and resolution make unusually sharp and detailed images possible, which were previously only realised by incomparably more complicated and expensive systems.
Total control of focus, iris and zoom: the Micro Four Thirds lens mount
format in the BlackLine series. For power and I/O communication the M12-12 is used, while the GigE Vision-compliant interface utilises 10-Gigabit Ethernet-certied, cross-coded connectors for data transfer. This guarantees upwards compatibility for future developments and possibly represents a cooperative industrial connectivity standard.
Part of a broader series

The camera belongs to the newly developed industrial BlackLine series, which offers a robust housing design and the widely used industrial standard M12 connectivity system. In machine building especially in PLC and sensor control the M12 connectors have a proven track record. This, combined with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) availability from various suppliers of nished cabling, is the reason for adopting this connectivity
Summary
Industrial cameras have a lot of potential for further development in order to perfectly t into the electromechanical environment by providing true value-added features. Experience, ideas and above all vision are three criteria required to create new stimulus and possibilities for users. Hence, these are the criteria that went into the development of the EVO Tracer. n
The EVO Tracer is part of SVS-Visteks BlackLine series of machine vision cameras
Tough Workers.
BlackLine - the new standard in cameras from SVS-VISTEK for use in harsh environments. Exceptional features like an especially robust, 2-piece housing and an available lens tube to achieve IP67 protection combine to form the basis for this standard. The BlackLine cameras also add high quality, futureoriented, industrial-standard, M12 connectors for the GigEVision and I/O interfaces. Delivering first-class results in the roughest of environments - thats how our ECO- and EVO-series BlackLine cameras are proven to be really tough workers . Available now in 40 different models from VGA to 8 Megapixels. Get informed about the SVS-VISTEK BlackLine cameras at www.svs-vistek.com/blackline and see for yourself what makes these cameras truly tough workers. SVS-VISTEK GmbH
82229 Seefeld/Germany Tel. +49 - (0) 81 52 - 99 85 - 0, info@svs-vistek.com
Get connected
Explaining how the internet of things can be applied to the ITS and logistics sectors across the world
Words | Pedro Mastrangelo, Simetryx, Uruguay The McKinsey company famously published an article entitled The Internet of Things. One particular paragraph is highly interesting for practitioners of trafc management. The predictable pathways of information are changing: the physical world itself is becoming a type of information system, the text states. In whats called the internet of things, sensors and actuators embedded in physical objects from roadways to pacemakers are linked through wired and wireless networks, often using the same internet protocol (IP) that connects the internet. These networks churn out huge volumes of data that ow to computers for analysis. When objects can both sense the environment and communicate, they become tools for understanding complexity and responding to it swiftly. Simetryx believes that its new core product, YourView, addresses this technology paradigm change for the ITS world. data is easily viewed from any computer, tablet or smartphone, while GIS are built over Google Maps, which allows open and universal access. CIEMSA, the operator of Uruguays national WIM enforcement system (16 stations in total), successfully applied YourView through an implementation that lasted four months and ended in March 2012. The project was designed to advance the value chain incorporating private logistics companies and ports. Uruguay is one the few countries in the world that has fully implemented WIM as the sole technology for truck overloading control. Figure 1 shows the intuitive platform and the main stations viewed. A typical real-time view, meanwhile, can be seen in Figure 2, which focuses on a WIM station,
Open-platform technology
YourView is a web-based open platform designed to smartly connect the high-level data of a logistics business or a transportation network. Alerts and reports are built over maps for custom creation of decision-support tools. The platform is technologically agnostic. Critical high-level data from diverse existing hardware such as GPS, OBU, CCTV, weighing (both weigh-in-motion, or WIM, and static), RFID, VMS, truck parking, trafc control data, OCR, equipment interchange receipt (EIR) containers, straddle carriers, weather stations, and more, is just a click away. All
(Figure 1, left) The userfriendly platform and the main stations viewed (Figure 2, left bottom) A typical real-time view
viewing geofencing capabilities, weighings in real-time, CCTV stream, e-documentation clearance, integrating RFID and trafc data, GPS from selected vehicles, and alerts due to preventive maintenance or component failures. Figure 3 shows the main dashboard view of high-level totals of Uruguays weighings in real-time as well as high-level alerts (for instance, a long queue is building up at a WIM station), connecting with ports, logistic operators and so on. In Figure 4, a dashboard for a single WIM station can be seen, with easy viewing of graphs showing daily weighing records or historical data as well as month to date (MTD) and year to date (YTD).
Worldwide access
All the examples listed above take mere seconds to bring to life; just two or three clicks from the moment the software is activated and this valuable
data can be viewed from smartphones, tablets or computers from anywhere in the world. In the logistics sector as well as being a popular tool for WIM systems YourView software has also been applied at ports for controlling trafc lights, VMS and RFID access control. For the ITS market, Simetryx has used its innovative system to conduct operations and maintenance for high- and low-speed WIM applications, for electronic toll collection (ETC) systems and for trafc-monitoring stations. The companys prime market up until now has been Latin America a natural scenario for an organisation that is part of a larger South American engineering group. However, Simetryx is now setting its sights on broadening the scope of its experience and to help it meet that goal, the company believes that YourView will prove to be an attractive tool for markets around the world. n
(Figure 3, top) View of the main dashboard (Figure 4, above) A dashboard for a single WIM station
At rst sight
The importance of visibility at pedestrian crossings should never be underestimated. But new technologies can have a big impact on safety at such locations
Words | Jaroslav Latal, PDSystems, Czech Republic If something strong confronts something far weaker, the result is pretty much determined beforehand and that doesnt only apply to bar-room brawls! We all know who will lose in an accident at a railway crossing and its not the train. New railroads, overpasses (and sometimes underpasses) are therefore built in a way that prevents trains and cars even appearing in such trafc mismatches. Unfortunately, when it comes to pedestrians, it isnt that easy regardless of how safe overpasses and underpasses might be. To think authorities will replace all pedestrian crossings is simply unrealistic. It is therefore far better to concentrate on the methods that can be applied to make the crossings as safe as possible. To see and be seen is the basic premise of road safety and this applies to drivers and pedestrians alike. Pedestrians standing in the trafc infrastructure is incomparable with that of drivers however. For a pedestrian, to be seen is a matter of life and death; for a driver, to see a pedestrian in time means preventing an accident by adjusting their driving or stopping altogether. Pedestrian crossings are designated just for pedestrians to be able to cross the road
safely theyre places where pedestrians even have the right-of-way over vehicles. Yet why do vehicle-versus-pedestrian collisions happen so frequently? Primarily because the pedestrian wasnt seen by the driver in time, for whatever reason. Most frequently, an obstacle of some description is to blame a vehicle driving parallel on a four- or more lane road or a parked vehicle in the way. Short people, children and even people in clothes that blend with their surroundings are also easy to overlook, especially when there is reduced vision. With the help of so-called safe (or intelligent) crossings, its possible to contribute signicantly to the early recognition of pedestrian presence in the immediate vicinity of a crossing as well as on it.
Key information in time

Early recognition is enabled through an electronic detection system that informs drivers about the current pedestrian presence through warning LED lights (signalling lights) directly from the road. PDSystems combination of pedestrian detection and indication works non-stop. At night, the pedestrian crossing is highlighted by white lights with asymmetric characteristics in a way that makes the pedestrian highly visible, even in dark clothing.
The PDS-400 LED system
Dynamic detection and indication

Active (dynamic) pedestrian detection and indication also makes it possible to warn a driver about a possible collision with a pedestrian. Pedestrian presence is indicated without any delays or lags, and the indication time is exactly proportional to the actual pedestrian presence on
LED signalling can help stop collisions
the crossing and within its close vicinity. The information about a pedestrians entrance on the crossing is known to the system even before they actually enter the road and pedestrian presence warning is signalised during the entire time of the pedestrians movement over the crossing. Even a short person walking very slowly is reliably detected during when crossing. Such technology is especially valuable at those locations where trafc violations (for example, illegal parking) result in an insufcient view over a pedestrian crossing. A signicant increase in pedestrian safety can even be achieved on multilane roads where collision situations are frequent as a result of driver inattention (one driver is giving the right-of-way to a pedestrian, whereas another driver
going in a parallel lane in the same direction continues on). It could also be useful in areas with high trafc density, both vehicle and pedestrian in places where the installation of more intrusive measures would cause congestion.
Ground LED lights (signalling lights)

To communicate (signal) directly from the road from the spot with the highest natural and statistical attention of all trafc participants is ergonomic. Therefore, if we are to inuence their behaviour, especially that of the vehicle drivers, it is necessary to communicate the key information directly to them into their line of sight directly from the road. The basic building block of the safe crossings system is the warning LED
signalling lights, which are constructed in a way that meets the main criteria for trafc on-ground communication. The signalling lights have to be clearly visible, even in strong direct sunlight, but at the same time they must not blind the drivers in reduced vision or at night. This is ensured by the dynamic brightness regulation feature (PWM), which is dictated by the lighting of the surroundings. Another important feature is high mechanical durability, which is necessary for problem-free operation even on high-trafc roads with a large ratio of heavy truck trafc. Self-cleaning, maintenance-free construction and the option of full ploughability in the winter should be a matter of course. As a new feature, there is the option to switch the colours within one LED signalling light depending on the application and its remit. Light, for instance, can be red and white for pedestrian crossings, red and green and possibly yellow for trafc lights, red, green, yellow and blue for road tunnels, and so on. And as this is a warning trafc safety system, it is necessary for the LED signalling lights as well as the control unit to feature remote controlling and monitoring functions in order to ensure the correct, continuous operation of the system. After all, the lives of trafc participants are on the line. n
LED Lighting Signal PDS-400

Up to four colors bi-directionally with an independent control of each LED
Tempered glass Stainless steel 4 powerful LED bi-directionally Water-resistant CPU
Salt water-resistant aluminium alloy AlSi12Mn
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Quality Czech made product High resistance up to 96 tonnes More than 100m water column Low prole < 5mm Up to four colors bi-directionally Independent control of each LED Monitoring of functionality High reliability and efciency Self-cleaning constructions Easy to install and to service
PDSystems s.r.o.
tel: (+420) 724 542 775 mail: info@pdsystems.cz mail: vondrus@pdsystems.cz web: www.pdsystems.cz, www.pdsystems.com
Wave equation
Transportation ofcials around the world are learning that, when it comes to accurate and reliable trafc detection, not all radars are created equal
Words | Don Leavitt, Wavetronix, USA What is the true cost of vehicle trafc detection? Its a question that many transportation professionals ask and for good reason. As public agencies, departments of transportation are charged with wisely using the public funds that make up their annual budgets while maximising their investments to improve the safety and efciency of their roads. It is not an easy task, particularly in difcult economies when public funds are scarce and taxpayers are clamouring for greater transparency and accountability. To make the most of their ITS investments, transportation professionals should have an understanding of the three factors that most directly inuence the value of any intelligent transportation system. First, do they understand the important role that vehicle detection plays in ITS? All ITS applications rely on the accurate, real-time data that comes from vehicle-detection devices installed in the eld, says David Arnold, president and CEO at Wavetronix, one of the leading manufacturers of radar vehicle detection. When agencies invest millions of dollars into implementing ITS, why would they choose to low bid the one thing that will have the greatest impact on the effectiveness of their system? Second, do they know what vehicle-detection technology will best serve their needs? Today, there are many choices for trafc vehicle detection, from embedded technologies such as loops and magnetometers to video technologies (cameras and numberplate readers) and from GPS and cellular solutions to radar.
The Danish deployment of SmartSensor HD
Knowing what it is you want to accomplish with ITS and then knowing what technology will best help you achieve those goals is critical, Arnold continues. Third, do they understand what the long-term costs of ownership will be? Agencies will often look at the cost of vehicle detection only in terms of the initial price of the sensor, Arnold reveals. In addition to initial price, agencies should also consider what the device will cost over the life of the product including maintenance costs and the cost to replace the device if necessary. When long-term costs such as these are evaluated, devices that seem like a good deal at the start quickly become a scal nightmare when agencies consider what they will end up costing over time, the Wavetronix CEO adds.
Shopping smart
A recent ITS deployment in Denmark serves as an excellent example of how careful consideration of these three factors can affect the success of a system. The Danish
(Main) Installation in Virginia, USA (Left) The SmartSensor HD is a radar-based detector
Road Authority (DRA) has embarked on a road-widening project to expand the E20 highway between Odense and Middelfart from two to three lanes in each direction of travel. To manage trafc ow through the workzone, the DRA is implementing a system using SmartSensor HD to monitor trafc volumes and vehicle speeds before and during the road construction. This is a project that depends on good data, explains Kim Mortensen from Olsen Engineering, the Wavetronix distributor in Denmark. To be effective, we need to know how many vehicles are travelling through this area and at what speeds. Identifying the appropriate technology was easy. We knew we wanted radar, Mortensen says. Loops would not be practical as we wanted non-intrusive detection, so radar was the best choice. But identifying the correct radar device for the system was more challenging. Today, there are a number of radar vehicle detection devices in the market, and several different types of radar detection. In 2011, a similar project near the Danish town of Skrup used a type of radar that installs overhead and only detects vehicles in a single lane of trafc. This kind of sensor is good for single-lane applications, such as toll lanes or highway on- and off-ramps, but not so good if what you need is multi-lane detection, Mortensen details. Instead, the DRA chose SmartSensor HD a multi-lane detector that uses true high-denition radar to identify vehicles. HD is a side-ring radar, meaning it installs at the side of the road and aims its beam across the lanes of trafc. The sensors 250ft
detection range detects vehicle volumes and lane occupancy in a surprising number of lanes; a dual-beam design allows HD to accurately detect individual vehicle speeds and classications. In August 2012, the DRA began installing 10 SmartSensor HDs throughout the construction area to monitor trafc across all lanes. The data provided by HD will be used to inform drivers of delays, to see if workzone speed limits are being followed, and to help the DRA determine the best times to engage in construction activities. HD has proven to be the best sensor for this project, Mortensen says. It is very easy to recongure, so when trafc is redirected or lanes are moved during construction, HD is the only sensor that will give the DRA the trafc information it needs, under any conditions during the construction period.
Lifetime costs
HD was of course not the rst sensor the DRA considered. The single-lane radar was much less expensive than HD, Mortensen comments. But when longterm costs were evaluated, the DRA quickly realised it had serious drawbacks. In terms of long-term costs, the single-lane radars installation and maintenance costs are far higher than for the HD, he notes. In terms of performance, the single-lane radar only detects one lane and doesnt respond to changes in lane conguration or lane closures. In contrast, one HD can detect multiple lanes and is easy to recongure when necessary. When all these factors were considered, HD was clearly the best choice, Mortensen states. Although these three questions are not the only things an agency must consider, they do represent the questions agencies should be asking in order to make best use of their public funds. Effective ITS starts with accurate data, Arnold concludes. If an agency does everything it can to ensure that it is getting the best data possible, then its ITS goals will most likely be successful. n
Out of the darkness

As LED lighting becomes a viable, affordable option for illuminating our roads, its potential impact on safety appears truly enlightening
Words | Miroslav Osoba, Elcom, Serbia benet analysis, no matter how high the evaluated costs of potential accidents.
The rise of cost-effective lighting

The appearance of advanced and cost-effective LED lighting brings increasing accessibility to quality road lighting. Its economy is the result of the high energy efciency of LEDs (currently around 150 lm/W and still rapidly improving) and controlled light directed towards the targeted area, as well as the use of light intensity dimming in accordance to actual needs. Infrastructure investment is reduced through the lower supply power needed and the reduction of necessary cabling. Through Power Line Communication (PLC), a single cable is enough for power supply and complete control of numerous LED lamps. PLC provides further savings in lighting system maintenance. The potential for complete remote monitoring of each light source greatly reduces maintenance costs, so mobile service staff go directly to the failure point with already completed diagnostics and can work online by connecting to the lighting system and maintenance centre.
Safe trafc ow is one of the main requirements that responsible society has to provide to its citizens (trafc users). Trafc risk management is based on the objectively estimated risk level of a trafc situation (using statistical, analytical or alternative methods). However, in real trafc conditions, drivers mostly behave in accordance with their subjective perception of risk, which can differ dramatically from risk level analysis data. One of the most inuential factors is that the vast majority of drivers (fortunately) have no practical experience with road trafc accidents. A signicant percentage of drivers is prone to underestimate the risk that is, to overestimate their ability to avoid the undesirable outcome of risky situations. To achieve better trafc safety, a series of measures is commonly applied to bring these two disparate levels closer. Besides the correction of road geometry and other risky elements along with the use of signs to highlight existing risks great potential exists in creating conditions that will improve drivers perception of risks and their proper assessment. Certainly, a crucial factor is the visual information that the driver gets by observing the trafc scene.
Lighting and its role in safety

Both statistics and plain common sense clearly conrm that night-time road conditions carry a higher level of risk because the amount of relevant information is dramatically reduced. According to some statistics, a quarter of daily trafc that is driving in conditions of reduced visibility represents a larger proportion (about 40%) of the total number of accidents that occur that day. When perception is difcult, drivers tend to overlook decisions (or make them belatedly) of direct inuence to trafc safety.
Road lighting offers a more realistic picture of the trafc situation and gives drivers a basis for better and timely recognition of possible risks. However, there is also some counter effect: by lighting up the trafc situation, drivers behave more freely, are more relaxed, and can be prone to taking a higher level of risk. When these two opposing effects combine, the rst is, however, the dominant one (conrmed by the results of numerous studies). By illuminating dark road sections or by improving the lighting on sections that are already illuminated, the level of danger could potentially be reduced by up to 40%. However, accurate and objective criteria for such an estimation does not exist. The research methodologies are different, but unambiguous conclusions based on almost all published results can be formulated that show the expected reduction in trafc accidents to be highly signicant. If this is so, why, then, are the majority of risky sections on our road networks still not illuminated? And why are some of the existing illuminated parts not better lit? The real reasons are primarily of an economic nature. The corresponding costs of infrastructure and energy consumption are a signicant counterweight in cost/
Intelligent approach
LED light resources are designed using precision-made optics to focus on the target surface, and the amount of light engaged outside can almost be negligible. This is not only to minimise light pollution and create the efcient use of engaged energy, but also to improve trafc safety. The attention of road users gets focused on the illuminated areas that are relevant for the perception of potential risks. By choosing different colours of light (LED source type) at some critical points and/or the appropriate dynamic control of lighting intensity, drivers also focus their attention on risky situations. High colour rendering index (CRI) typical for LED lighting (>0.75) provides better colour reproduction of elements of the street scene, giving them the similar image as under daylight. Their identication and recognition are faster and more reliable,
ITS for the logistic world

YourView software platform for logistic and traffic industries WIM solutions Traffic controllers RFID Access Control ITS connectivity delivered
www.simetryx.com
Power supply and PLC communication System management System maintenance Wireless communication Local photo sensor
Control centre of public lighting
Local transformer
Global photo sensor
Individually controlled lamp
Local event tra c detector
(Left) Elcoms intelligent public lighting concept (Below) Part of the companys range of LED lamps
Tra c ow detector Onsite repair service in wireless connection to centre Local transformer
which as a consequence allows a more efcient driver response in risky situations. LED lighting has an appropriate answer to human eye adaptation phenomena. Adaptive lighting along tunnel entrance/exit sections is a good example. Owing to the capability to dim lighting in a range between 100% and close to zero, all other border zones of illuminated sections of the road in changing conditions of natural light could be controlled in accordance with the optimal user perception. As well as its economic benets, PLC communication (and alternative wireless communications such as GPRS, RF, ZigBee, etc.), offers the potential of LED lighting in different ITS applications and further safety improvements. Each lamp in the network has a unique IP address and can be remotely monitored and controlled as an individual or as a member of one or more functionally predened lamp groups. This offers great potential for including active lighting in ITS applications, which combined with event detection, provides better treatment of risky situations. At the level of the public lighting network, the general light intensity is determined as a function of the natural light level and the overall trafc activity. Trafc intensity is usually weaker after midnight, so even a vast reduction of the intensity of lighting provides enough light for trafc situations that are less complex. When dimming LED lighting, reduction of energy consumption is proportional to light intensity reduction. What isnt proportional is the quality of visibility. The reduction of LED lighting at about 50% is perceived by the human eye as a
signicantly smaller reduction as a result of the nature of human vision (logarithmic dependence of light quantity). Group control of LED lights is appropriate for a variety of lamps along the road or its sections. The correlation between the intensity of LED lighting and trafc intensity can be made directly through the tactical trafc detector. The lower light level imposed during the night with low trafc can be corrected by the detection of an unusually high trafc ow. After detecting this trafc activity has passed, the lighting can then be decreased again. Individual lamps engaged at trafc network spots may be under the direct control of detected events to provide a higher light intensity. Pedestrian crossings with approaching vehicle detection or detection of pedestrian presence become more intensively illuminated. The drivers detection of risk becomes better owing to the light intensity change, which attracts attention, and owing to better and more reliable recognition of trafc scene elements. The similar scenario of light control is applicable for bus stations, rail crossings and other rare events during the night-time period. The combinations with synchronised engagement of trafc signs with LED support provide safety effective solutions. LED lighting technology, with its basic parameters and options, opens up many possibilities of smart and efcient usage with multiple benets for trafc system users and for society. Due to the fact that this technology is still in rapid development, further improvements of its efciency, economy, functionality and its wider usage are rightly expected. n
VISION TECH NOLOGY FOR TRAFFIC

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Picture perfect
Does the ideal ITS camera exist? Not quite yet, but we are well on the path to perfection
Words | Steve Hearn, Stemmer Imaging, UK The challenges facing ITS camera systems are many and varied, depending on the application. For that simple reason, the ideal ITS camera simply doesnt exist regardless of cost. The emergence of feature-rich industrial cameras at an attractive price point, however, is helping in this regard and is beginning to blur the distinction between the machine vision and ITS markets in terms of camera capabilities. One way of utilising the exibility of functionality such as the auto-iris, zoom and focus offered by GigE Vision machine vision cameras is to adopt a modular approach to trafc camera/illuminators. The idea is to tightly couple integrated infrared illuminators and high-denition machine vision cameras, or cameras designed specically for outdoor and trafc applications, and make them fully controllable via a single Gigabit Ethernet interface for remote preset, modication and monitoring on-the-y. The choice of the GigE interface brings a double benet of allowing image data to be transferred over distances up to 100m using standard Ethernet cable and providing a failsafe to conrm that data packets are actually transmitted over the network, unlike CCTV cameras that just transmit an unrecoverable stream of data. This level of integration provides a range of advanced capture and illumination modes, which solve many of the common problems experienced when using such cameras in uncontrolled environments. One conguration, for example, could deliver both ANPR and overview images from a single camera, in doing so reducing the overall
Gigabit Ethernet coupling of HD cameras and illuminators allows integration of a wide variety of camera and lighting combinations
capture from sun to shade in trafc applications. Some feature built-in digital video recording as well as congurable, integrated multi-area motion detection. Others may be specically designed to operate in extreme temperatures (from -20C to 60C) and uctuating lighting conditions. Of course, not all of these features are mutually exclusive, but the exibility of the modular approach enables the best options to be selected. Resolution choice could be inuenced by the eld of view necessary, such as the number different lanes to be covered, different sizes of numberplates, etc. The use of high-resolution cameras requires the use of appropriate lenses. Higher resolution generally means larger image sensors to maintain sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio, which in turn means that larger-format lenses are required possibly even digital SLR versions. Lenses need to be IR corrected if they are to cope with day and night lighting. Control of lens functions such as iris, focus and zoom position may be possible through the camera itself or through a management control system. The availability of colour or monochrome cameras allows the user to decide whether colour is really needed. The additional detail offered by colour can be useful but generates signicantly more data to be processed and stored.
Things arent black and white

Lighting is a key consideration for ITS applications and a variety of lighting powers and wavelengths may be needed, depending on the distances to vehicle, number of lanes and whether the numberplates are retroreective. The colour of a numberplate is important. If a plate is red, for instance, it cant be illuminated with red light. Sometimes it is necessary to capture the plate and vehicle image at the same time, which requires hugely different light intensities if the vehicle has a reective plate. This type of application needs two ashes with different intensities and shutter speeds to combine into one high dynamic range image. The camera/illuminator combination approach allows the optimum IR-pulsed LED lighting units to be chosen together with options for dual-wavelength capture. If specic wavelength illumination is being used, camera lters may be needed to allow the required wavelengths through and block the others. When ambient light is being relied upon, cameras with good white balance adjustment should be chosen, as this can be very difcult to optimise under certain lighting, such as sodium streetlights. Clearly, custom solutions aimed at the specic application offer the best answer. So although the perfect ITS camera may not exist, the GigE coupling of HD cameras and illuminators takes us a step closer to that goal. n
High-intensity LED illumination systems can be completely customised with a choice of white light and IR wavelengths, o ering internal timing, intensity control, trigger input and long-distance communications
cost of installations. By housing the cameras in an IP67 enclosure for direct mounting in outdoor and hostile conditions, they are protected from the effects of changing temperature and humidity.
Camera functionality
The use of HD GigE Vision cameras in this modular arrangement immediately brings the benet of triggering functions to ensure exposure occurs at a precise point in time rather than when a free-running camera would naturally capture the image. This facility can be important in applications such as ANPR and for speed calculations. With camera manufacturers offering resolutions from WVGA up to 29 megapixels, frame rates up to 300fps and with optional inbuilt JPEG compression on some camera models, there is a conguration to suit almost every application. Some cameras feature a wide dynamic range to optimise image
Expert advice
Minimise risk and accelerate the benets of ITS by ensuring new solutions complement existing hardware, create real-time city intelligence and are capable of easily integrating third-party software
Words | Martin Mantalvanos, RSM, Ireland Cities are under pressure from government, citizens, industry and environmental groups to manage their road networks more effectively and improve safety. Although ITS offers the promise of sophisticated solutions, it is struggling to translate technological advances into wide-scale benets for cities. Why is this the case? Its partly because the backbone of the trafc industry is built on legacy hardware, precise real-time city intelligence is often lacking, and reliable core platforms for easy implementation of innovative software are difcult to source. How, then, does our industry even begin to overcome these complex issues?
with cities existing hardware. Utilising the latest cloud technology and fuzzy logic, it enables trafc hardware suppliers to make their existing controllers up to 50 times more powerful without investing in costly R&D processes themselves. Installation is clearly a consideration in the implementation of any new ITS solution. Easily installed at a junction as a credit card-sized arm processing board, FITS removes the need for complicated system integration procedures. Once installed, it starts working instantly, removing a large proportion of the perceived risk associated with implementing a new ITS solution.
Real-time intelligence
Data drives ITS. Solutions are only as good as the data theyre using. There is so much talk in the industry about simulating trafc situations, namely rebuilding data to suggest how things may look, but not necessarily how things really are. The advantages of using accurate, real-time information for instant decision-making are huge from improved day-to-day management of junctions and timely emergency vehicle routing to better public transport provision ultimately resulting in safer, more attractive and more competitive cities. Developed by scientists and industry experts over a 15-year period, the FITS solution captures and recompiles live trafc data faster than the human eye. It updates 50-70 times a second, providing a real-time view of trafc situations as they unfold not approximate simulations. This information is then provided to key decision-makers in a visual, user-friendly format. Designed to work as an advanced trafc analysis solution and/or as an automatic trafc management system, FITS removes the guesswork from ITS simulations.
Upgrading existing hardware

The trafc industry has traditionally been a hardware-dominated industry supplied by hardware providers. These engineering companies whose core competencies are in hardware while keen to improve their offerings and respond to the need to reduce costs are nding it difcult to invest in development as their margins get tighter. So it is vital that new solutions leverage existing hardware, complementing and building on what the hardware companies already offer, while all the time keeping costs down. RSMs FITS trafc analysis and management software works hand-in-hand
Single platform convenience

Innovative new ITS solutions are being developed all of the time. Their take-up by cities is, however, often hampered due to a lack of central cloud- or server-based systems with a common user interface. At the moment, this absence of common standards means the introduction of new solutions can require a total overhaul of legacy systems. As a result, cities are not implementing new products because the associated procedures are too complex and expensive. RSMs FITS solution acts as a core ITS system, enabling cities to add new third-party products and innovations cost effectively and seamlessly. Additional key
The FITS software compiles live tra c data faster than the human eye
Tra c signal control is an important part of ITS simulation
functionality, such as pollution awareness, bus location, pedestrian awareness and a heavy vehicle locator, can also be added to the FITS system according to cities individual needs. In 2013, in fact, FITS will offer more features, including taxi management, cyclist management, emergency routing and bus priority functionality.
cities, which is where scalable solutions and phased implementations come into play.
The best of ITS

Getting the best out of ITS requires a new mindset on the part of all stakeholders in the trafc industry. A willingness to form new partnerships is key. ITS is not an end in itself. What it can achieve optimised trafc ow, improved safety, reduced environmental impact and better use of city funds needs to be the end goal of any new ITS implementation. Fast-tracking technological advances into results on the ground is possible when new ITS solutions complement existing hardware, create real-time city intelligence and have the ability to easily integrate innovative third-party software. n
(Far left) Users can bring up historical data to incorporate into their tra c management strategies (Left) Tra c volume, speed and delay are just three parameters that can be visualised
Embracing change
There will always be an element of risk involved in going ahead with any new ITS solution, even when a thorough cost-benet analysis points clearly in favour of implementation. Pressure internally and from the public means that city decision-makers may tend to base their decisions on the perceived risk rather than the benets. As a result, its up to ITS companies to help minimise unknowns for
Final countdown
The latest generation of a proven trafc detector offers the ultimate level of accuracy and reliability
Words | Andreas Hartmann, ADEC Technologies, Switzerland The 2011 edition of Intertrafc World magazine was the platform to introduce the TDC1-PIR a single-lane trafc detector using multiple PIR and thermal detection zones and since that time the technology has gone on to be successfully installed in hundreds of locations worldwide. The company behind the system, ADEC Technologies, has kept working to further improve its performance in demanding trafc conditions. Although the TDC1-PIR was originally designed as a detector for highway applications with little stop-and-go trafc, the updated version adds algorithms to not only accurately count vehicles at slow speeds but also to reliably separate vehicles driving closely together in platoons at highway speed, in order to reduce concatenation into large vehicles. The free-ow trafc-acquisition performance of the detector has not changed signicantly for commonly found, standard trafc patterns. In dense trafc however when cars were driving less than 400ms apart two or more consecutive vehicles sometimes became concatenated into a long vehicle. The detector has a built-in three-bin classication (by vehicle length): class number 1, 3 and 4 is output for each vehicle. In dense, fast-moving trafc, the detector concatenated two class 1 vehicles and output one class 4 vehicle leading to an undercount in passenger cars and an over-count in the articulated lorry/ lorry with trailer class. That signicantly affects the classication performance on the passing lane under these conditions, on average only about 1% of the vehicles on the passing lane are in fact class 4 vehicles. The graph opposite (Figure 1) shows the number of class 4 vehicles the TDC1-PIR has classied compared with inductive loops located 50m downstream. The new TDC1-PIR and the loop deliver very similar numbers for class 1 volumes. Equally, the volume of class 4
More than 1,000 TDC1-PIR units have been deployed throughout the Netherlands
vehicles has been substantially improved compared with the original TDC1-PIR. The differences between the gures from the loop and those from the improved TDC1-PIR are virtually negligible when considering the different physical measurement principles applied by both systems i.e. measurement of vehicle length either by magnetic
properties (loop) or visual properties (TDC1-PIR). The new version of the detector resolves the concatenation problem.
Speed acquisition
Accurate speed acquisition is important both to properly classify a vehicle (the length is derived from the speed and the occupancy time) as well as for the new detector to
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(Figure 1) Hourly rates of class 4 (large) vehicles on the passing lane
(Figure 2) Histogram of number of vehicles per speed error bin
effectively compete with traditional radar detectors. The improved TDC1-PIR offers tenfold savings in power consumption and a passive nature. To examine the speed acquisition, ADEC maintains a break-beam system at a test site that provides reference vehicle speeds that can be compared with the new TDC1 measurements. Figure 2 shows a histogram of the individual vehicle speed error. The averaged absolute speed error of the detector at the test site on an 80km/h limit highway is 2.5km/h. Resulting from this level of performance the detector can stand its ground in the crowded market of radar-based detectors.
Range of applications
Besides ITS applications where detailed per-vehicle trafc data is retrieved through the detectors RS485 serial interface the system is also available using a simple transistor open collector output or a single-pole single-throw (SPST) relay output. Although using this interface fails to take advantage of the wealth of information the TDC1-PIR provides (individual vehicles speed, length, time-gap and occupancy time), it eases the integration of the detector into legacy systems that are not tted with a programmable serial interface. The new version features a signicant leap in performance in less ideal trafc conditions, ranging from closely travelling cars at highway speeds to urban stop-and-go trafc. Overall, it offers a compelling combination of features. Its power-saving design means that it has a consumption of less than 60mW. Its accurate speed acquisition, meanwhile, is offered with an average error of <3km/h (3% at >100km/h). The system has a wide
A worrying shot that shows vehicles driving dangerously closely at speeds of more than 100km/h
input voltage range from 5.5-30VDC and 24VAC. It also has a wide mounting range, from 5.5m to 18m from the centre of the monitored lane and up to 40 inclination in side-mount settings. Both overhead or side mounting is possible. Furthermore, there is also the option of a simple solid-state or contact closure output. And nally, the detector has been tested both in urban and interurban applications. n
Every six seconds someone is killed or seriously injured is killed or seriously injured on the worlds roads. on the worlds roads.
The United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety launched around theof world in May 2011. The United Nations Decade Action for Road
Safety will launch around the world on Wednesday 11 May 2011. The goal: to reduce global road deaths by 2020 The goal: to reduce global road deaths by 2020
Every six seconds someone
Visit: www.decadeofaction.org
Visit: www.decadeofaction.org
For expert advice, statistics, contacts and opinion from the frontline the growing epidemic of global For expert advice,of statistics, contacts and opinion road the trafc deaths, from frontline ofcontact: the growing epidemic of global
road traffic deaths contact: Avi Silverman, Head of International & Public Affairs, Affairs, FIA Foundation: FIA Foundation: a.silverman@afoundation.org a.silverman@fiafoundation.org www.afoundation.org www.fiafoundation.org
Avi Silverman, Head of International & Public
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Section 3
Safety
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New frontiers
From DSRC to robotics, innovations that help travellers with disabilities can also enhance the road experience for senior citizens, bicyclists, delivery workers, and mums and dads
Words | Mohammed Yousuf & Mark Fitzgerald A few years ago, Mark Riccobono made history at the Daytona International Speedway driving a sport utility vehicle without the use of his eyes. Riccobono, executive director of the Jernigan Institute of the National Federation of the Blind, is legally blind. But watching him drive solo around the track as he did in front of thousands of people on January 29, 2011 spectators might never have guessed had it not been announced over the loudspeaker. The demonstration one of the activities before the scheduled race marked the rst time a blind person drove a street vehicle in public without the assistance of a sighted person. With the help of nonvisual technology, Riccobono successfully navigated the 1.5 miles of the road course that branches off the multilane, oval racetrack. The road course veers off into the centre of the oval and winds around as a curvy two-lane road before rejoining the main track. Riccobono managed the turns, avoided moving and stationary obstacles, and passed a van without collision. Range-nding laser sensors afxed to the vehicle sent information to an onboard computer that created and updated a three-dimensional map of the road environment. Cued by electronic signals triggered by the computer, vibrating gloves and a vibrating strip on the car seat sent him directional signals. The signals informed Riccobono which way to steer and when to speed up or slow down and brake. It was thrilling for me to be behind the wheel, but even more thrilling to hear the cheers from my blind brothers and sisters in the grandstands, Riccobono said in a news announcement released by the National Federation of the Blind shortly after the event. It ... [shows] that blind people can do anything that our sighted friends and colleagues can do as long as we have access to information through non-visual means. Riccobonos accomplishment is just one example of how technological innovation can benet people with disabilities. At the Federal Highway Administrations (FHWA) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), researchers are working on a suite of new technologies that have the potential to improve the lives of people with disabilities, senior citizens, and other members of the travelling public. For example, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), accessible data, wireless communications, mobile computing, robotics, articial intelligence, and object detection navigation offer many possibilities for increasing mobility and independence. Designing waynding, orientation and guidance technologies into personal vehicles, public transport systems, ticketing and travel information mechanisms, terminals, intersections and pedestrian infrastructure can enhance the experience of travelling for everyone including those with special needs.
After this blind pedestrians request to cross the street is communicated to the tra c controller using DSRC, information about his location can be broadcast to all the other travellers on the network, including approaching vehicles
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New momentum
Research in accessible transportation has gained momentum in recent years as a result of federal initiatives. In July 2010, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the White House partnered with the Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Commerce to facilitate a discussion among technologists and disability advocates about innovative uses of the internet to improve accessibility. The discussion led to the following challenge. How can transportation data and other
geo-data be used to increase accessible travel for people with disabilities? Over the next three months, participants collaborated via conference calls, email and websites and produced a comprehensive report, Data-Enabled Travel: How Geo-Data Can Support Inclusive Transportation, Tourism, and Navigation through Communities. The document calls for a number of policy and research interventions and highlights transportation needs of deaf people and those with developmental disabilities, mass-transit needs for the non-driving disabled and prejourney travel information requirements for the elderly and disabled. The report also offers information about universal design (solutions that are
This pedestrian signal at a crosswalk is current technology and requires people with vision impairments to push a button that sends a request for the tra c light to change so they can cross the intersection
effective for everyone, not just people with disabilities) and expanding transit systems, as well as emerging technologies that could pose barriers to people with disabilities if not accessible to them.
Costs and benefits

More than one billion people worldwide live with a disability, according to the World Report on Disability, published in 2011 by the World Health Organization
and World Bank. A study conducted by Cornell University and a subsequent report, 2009 Disability Status Report United States, found that only 36% of non-institutionalised disabled individuals between the ages of 21 and 64 years were employed in 2009. How much of this has to do with transportation challenges? What impact does limited and non-accessible transportation have on the US economy, especially for senior citizens and individuals with disabilities? The economic and social costs of disability are signicant, but difcult to quantify, the World Health Organization report acknowledges. They include direct and indirect costs, some borne by people with disabilities and their families and friends and employers, and some by society. Many of these costs arise because of inaccessible environments and could be reduced in a more inclusive setting. When the transportation system is exible and adaptable to universal design solutions that bolster accessibility, often the solutions evolve to benet everyone. For example, Kalamazoo in Michigan initially installed kerb cuts, or sidewalk ramps, in the 1940s to make it easier for disabled World War II veterans to move around the city and reach places of employment. Eventually, cities and towns throughout the country introduced kerb cuts, which have proven benecial to bicyclists, delivery workers, people pushing prams and elderly populations. David Lewis, senior vice president of the architecture and engineering rm, HDR, maintains that all of the benets of research and development into accessibility for transportation need to be quantied. For the accessibility of automatic ticket machines at airports, for example, Lewis estimates that the benets for people with disabilities are about US$330 in time savings per 100 uses versus going to a ticket agent. But if you include, he adds, alongside the value of time saved, the added comfort and avoided stigmatic harm of not having to go up to a counter for assistance, the value goes up to more than US$700 per 100 uses. The cost-benet analysis from [the] market point of view cannot be justied unless you take all of these other benets into account. But when you do, you realise theres a sustainable market for accessibility out there. Ensuring sufcient investment calls for a strong research nudge, and thats what the Turner-Fairbank initiatives are all about.
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Innovations in mobile technology and ITS

Obtaining social computing systems by crowdsourcing from a large group of people especially online can benet public transport riders, including senior citizens and those with disabilities. Researchers with Carnegie Mellons Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Public Transportation have developed an iPhone application called Tiramisu (Italian for pick me up), that can predict when a bus or train operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will arrive. Tiramisu also makes it possible for bus and light rail riders to use their smartphones to signal in real-time the vehicles location and occupancy level. By processing signals from onboard riders, the application can communicate to anyone whose phone has the same specialised program and who is waiting at a bus or transit stop. The signals from on board enable prospective riders including senior citizens and passengers with disabilities to see which buses or light-rail vehicles are due to arrive next and estimate how long they will have to wait. Tiramisu can also inform those in wheelchairs about available space on buses and trains. Through their phones screen readers, blind riders can use the application as well. Tiramisus universal design approach helps everyone, explained Aaron Steinfeld, a senior systems scientist in Carnegie Mellons Robotics Institute, in a 2011 press release. It can even benet local shops, he added, because riders will know if they have time to go into a store.
AI AND MACHINE VISION

Researchers focusing on robotics and artificial intelligence are making strides in developing products to improve the mobility and navigation of people with special needs. By 2013, the International Federation of Robotics estimates that more than 11 million personal robots will be in use around the world. Although machine vision technologies could assist those with vision impairment to detect an obstruction or pot holes on a pavement, more research is needed to provide spatial awareness and better wayfinding and guidance, both indoors and outdoors. For military purposes, micro-inertial navigation technology (MINT) miniaturised radar and inertial measurement units embedded in boots to track steps and locate soldiers and personnel in places with limited or no global positioning system capabilities has been highly successful. Potentially, MINT could be combined with other technologies to help those with visual impairments navigate inside buildings.
Ensuring sufcient investment calls for a strong research nudge, and thats what the Turner-Fairbank initiatives are all about
The USDOT is funding ITS research that could benet accessible transportation. Interaction between vehicles (vehicle-tovehicle or V2V) and between vehicles and the roadway (vehicle-to-infrastructure or V2I) via communications technologies that have positioning and computing capabilities can inform travel choices, save time and boost riders condence by producing a higher level of travel reliability. FHWA is exploring the benets of capturing and using new forms of data from automobiles, handheld devices,
Research on V2V and V2I interaction, conducted at the TFHRC intelligent intersection could bene t disabled travellers
freight vehicles and transit. This data will be employed in applications involving rail and roadway surfaces and infrastructure. Were looking at the entire transportation system, not just highways, notes Joe Peters, director of FHWAs Ofce of Operations Research and Development. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and those with disabilities have a particular interest in knowing when a trafc signal is going to change. Were looking at technology that will be able to tell them when the light is going to turn green or yellow or red. In 2011, FHWA opened TFHRCs Saxton Transportation Operations Laboratory, a state-of-the-art research facility focusing on transportation-enabling technologies, innovative concepts and analysis, and operations applications. Consisting of three testbeds, the laboratory is highly integrated and offers a wide range of resources to facilitate forward-looking and reliable research. The labs researchers are developing communications techniques for network modelling and calibration, advanced concepts for freeway merge assistance, and tests to demonstrate cooperative capabilities for adaptive cruise control and trafc signal control. There is a strong relationship between congestion and safety, Peters adds. We envision a future that has connected integrated transportation systems that include bicyclists and pedestrians, which will lead to increased safety, improved mobility, better air quality and an improvement of our national productivity for all transportation system users.
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These researchers at FHWAs O ce of Operations Research and Development are using computer simulation tools to help them evaluate and develop strategies to improve transportation operations
Integration of communications at traffic intersections

So how can messages between various products of information technology namely wireless communication devices and computers be used in new ways to improve management of the transportation system? FHWA researchers are working to determine a use in the 5.9GHz band for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), which is allocated for transportation safety, but also can be used in mobility applications. The FHWA Transportation Operations Laboratorys outdoor Cooperative Vehicle-Highway testbed intersection is equipped with systems for comprehensive control of trafc signals, DSRC, advanced detection of vehicles and pedestrians, bre-optic communications, driver warnings with infrastructure interface and a separate trafc signal cabinet with computers and communications devices. The DSRC system can transmit information 10 times per second to handheld mobile devices and to vehicles equipped with the dedicated short-range units. According to Larry Head, who leads the Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering at the University of Arizona, mobile technology and ITS will be key factors in bolstering accessibility in transportation. I think the vision is to move into a vehicle and traveller environment that is completely connected, leveraging systems that communicate with roadside equipment using many tools, including DSRC communications, 3G, 4G, WiFi, and Bluetooth, he says. Intersections, despite their complexity, are not environments that typically offer a lot of readily available information, but Head points out that if they are equipped with DSRC and public map data, that information
becomes much richer, and it becomes possible to enhance situational awareness of the position of equipped vehicles and other travellers as they report in to the intersection. With traveller-to-vehicle and traveller-toinfrastructure communications, pedestrians with disabilities could use smartphones to initiate sequences of exchanges at
with crossing intersections. Using mobile communications and positioning devices, those with disabilities could broadcast their intent to cross an intersection by sending a message to roadside infrastructure that can communicate with approaching vehicles and trafc signals. As the pedestrians cross, their progress and position are tracked and processed, resulting in a command that is sent to the trafc signal and warnings that are sent to vehicles equipped with onboard communication units. If there are vehicles nearby or approaching that might cause a conict, the red light interval can be extended to allow enough time for those with special needs to cross safely.
I think the vision is to move into a vehicle and traveller environment that is completely connected, leveraging systems that communicate with roadside equipment using many tools
intersections. An equipped pedestrian could send a request to cross the street, Head continues. The DSRC could then communicate this to the trafc controller. Information about the pedestrians status and location could then be broadcast to all other travellers on the network, including approaching vehicles and emergency and transit vehicles. Next, the intersection status technology could notify visually impaired individuals when it is safe to cross streets. The available map information could also be used for waynding, says Head. It can show exactly where a kerb is or where the entrance to a building is located. Other benets of connected infrastructure communications include safety and emergency notications, fare collection and parking accommodations. You could even activate the fans on a bus during the summer, he says. For people with mobility impairments and for elderly individuals who use a wheelchair, cane or crutches, signal phase and timing applications can help In addition, Google has developed self-driving cars that use mapping and computing resources to determine where and how fast to go. Employing lasers, radar and cameras to assess trafc, these cars had travelled nearly 200,000 miles on roads in California and Nevada, according to a 2011 article in The New York Times written by Sebastian Thrun, a fellow at Google and research professor at Stanford University. Self-driving cars will be good news for the millions of Americans who are blind or have a brain injury, Alzheimers or Parkinsons disease, said Thrun, who works with a team of Google engineers. Tens of millions of Americans are denied the privilege of operating motor vehicles today as a result of issues related to health or age. Some of these changes are far out in the future. But I envision a future in which our technology is available to everyone, in every car a future without trafc [crashes] or congestion.
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Focus areas for accessible transport research
On February 23, 2011, FHWA conducted a workshop to examine technological innovations in accessible transportation and better understand the requirements of pedestrians and travellers with visual impairment or other disabilities. It identified several areas of focus including ITS, wireless communications and robotics where research could lead to new approaches in personal mobility and assess technological viability and capabilities. (For Technological Innovations in Transportation for People With Disabilities Workshop Summary Report, see www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/11041/index.cfm.)
Exploratory advanced research

In 2009 and 2010, FHWA engaged stakeholders from within and outside the traditional highway research community to identify topics of research that promise transformation and possible breakthroughs in highway technology, processes and policies. In 2011, FHWAs Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program which focuses on long-term, high-risk research with a high payoff potential issued a broad agency announcement to solicit research and innovations to solve critical highway challenges. The agency issued the announcement after determining that new technological solutions for waynding and navigation guidance for people with disabilities have a strong scientic and technical basis. The objective of the research is to develop concepts and prototypes that use new technologies such as robotics, AI and sensors that could improve event horizons (looking ahead in time and space) related to waynding and navigation guidance. The researchers will assume that broadband wireless technology, ITS, GPS, DSRC and related technologies are widely available. The concepts will be futuristic and will focus on key areas of event horizons: sensing with lasers, cameras, computer vision, robotics, AI, or other technologies; human interfaces that decide how much information should be presented, at what time, and in what form; and algorithms that help plan an event and lay out its scope. These concepts will be exible and extend this research to nd accessible transportation solutions for the elderly and for people with sensory, cognitive and mobility disabilities. Through this research, we will gain insights into providing non-visual information and extending situational awareness that could lead to advancements in highway transportation safety and mobility for all travellers, says David Kuehn, team director of FHWAs EAR Program. This research can lead to new sensor integration and communications systems for travellers
Shown (top) is the tra c signal control cabinet at the TFHRC testbed intersection, which includes computer and communications equipment. The onboard computer and communications equipment shown (above) enables interaction with the TFHRC intelligent intersection
Through this research, we will gain insights into providing non-visual information and extending situational awareness
who are blind or have sight impairments and for sighted travellers who are driving, bicycling or walking at night or in poor visibility, while minimising the potential distraction of having to look away from the road and towards a screen on the dashboard or on a mobile device. So much is possible with ITS and advanced communications technologies. The hope is that the research will eventually generate a new paradigm in transportation a system that is well-connected, versatile and accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities. n
Mohammed Yousuf is a research engineer in FHWAs Ofce of Operations Research and Development and, under FHWAs EAR Program, is leading research on new technology solutions for waynding and navigation guidance for people with vision impairments and other disabilities. Mark Fitzgerald is a senior communications writer at Woodward Communications, supporting FHWAs Ofce of Corporate Research, Technology, and Innovation Management at TFHRC Kindly reprinted from the USDOT FHWA, Public Roads, The New Frontier in Accessible Transportation, by Mohammed Yousuf and Mark Fitzgerald, September/October 2012
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Inside information
New Jersey is effectively using advanced crash data software to increase road safety in the state. Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation is leading the drive for safety
Words | Carissa Sestito, Rutgers CAIT, USA New Jerseys infrastructure comprises an intricate network of highways, bridges and tunnels that are vital to the states economy. More than one million vehicles travel its roads daily so its not surprising that an average of 300,000 collisions occur annually. Making roads safer is one of the US states top priorities. But in January 2006, Patricia Ott, former director of the Trafc Engineering and Safety division of the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), received disheartening information from the National Highway Trafc Safety Administrations (NHTSA) Fatal Accident Reporting System trafc fatalities in the state had increased by 4% since 2003.
Why did this happen?

With recently enacted laws such as lowering the drink-driving threshold and placing rst-year drivers under provisionary regulations fatalities should have been decreasing, not rising. Around six years ago, however, local trafc safety efforts were driven primarily through observation; reactive countermeasures were applied to deter crashes with causal factors that at the time were largely unknown. This approach was not as sustainable as using proactive, data-driven plans.
In 2006, NJDOT professionals had full access to nearly every ofcial crash record in the state, but safety professionals at the local and county levels did not. That meant state-directed projects were able to employ preventative countermeasures, but the same was not true for local agencies. Otts realisation of this disparity led to the birth of New Jerseys only crash data analysis software, Plan4Safety. The goal of the software is to give local and county departments the same access to data that employees at the DOT level have, she says. That data comprises every piece of non-identiable information from every one of the states ofcial NJTR-1 crash reports, such as time of day, date, location, number of drivers and occupants involved, weather, road type, and level of injury.
However, Ott knew that making these crash records more accessible wouldnt conquer safety obstacles entirely. Even if data was readily available, these agencies many of which struggle with budget constraints would still have to invest time and labour sifting through piles of crash paperwork. Why not make the database electronic? And if this database could lter out user-specied crash report queries, Ott wondered, why not map them with emerging GIS technologies? Why not nd crash clusters and trends? Why not even give FHWA-recommended countermeasures, intersection analyses, and crash factor frequencies? Meanwhile, just 35 miles from NJDOT headquarters, Ott was placing the nishing touches on another safety project: the Transportation Safety Resource Center
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(TSRC) at Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) a USDOT Tier I University Transportation Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. TSRC was conceived to become the go-to for engineering guidance, technical assistance and educational materials. It made sense that it could also bridge the gap between crash data and local and county agencies. It was my eureka moment, she says. I had envisioned TSRC as a provider of all sorts of products and services for local, county and state agencies. So what about a way for these agencies to get crash data? The pieces just fell into place. Four months later, Rutgers CAIT introduced TSRC as the states premier trafc safety resource centre, and as the developer of its rst and only crash analysis software, Plan4Safety. Led by Mohsen Jafari at CAIT, TSRC built a comprehensive database that communicates with Plan4Safetys tiered analysis functions. Plan4Safetys
Photograph courtesy of Katherine Marks Photography
Accessible data
Plan4Safetys crash filtering and analysis functions let users investigate crash issues meticulously without the high costs associated with manual calculations. In minutes, users can build specific crash queries with any combination of the softwares 144 data fields, such as crash type, injury level, mobile phone use, time of day, alcohol impairment, occupant restraints, age and gender. By implementing methodologies used by federal and state safety professionals, Plan4Safety can also rank high-risk crash locations, view crash factor frequencies, produce visual representations of simultaneous crash events, and display crashes on an interactive GIS map. One of our most widely used applications is the crash cluster finder, says Mitra Neshatfar, lead engineering researcher on Plan4Safety at TSRC. Users input a roadway and ask it to identify mile markers where crash clusters occur. This helps to deploy resources to precisely targeted areas.
(Main) The aim of the software is to enable local and county departments to have the same access to data as employees at DOT level (Top and inset) Plan4Safety integrates statewide crash data, roadway characteristic data, calculates statistical analyses, incorporates network screening layers and models, and includes visual analytical tools (GIS)
data framework corresponds to each data eld from the NJTR-1, enabling seamless integration of records into the software. In coordination with the NJDOT Bureau of Safety Programs and the New Jersey State Police, TSRC uploads every NJTR-1 crash record from 2003 onward. According to Mitra Neshatfar, TSRCs lead engineering researcher on the project, more than two million records have been entered into the system, with fresh uploads bi-weekly. With Plan4Safety, TSRC provides a way to efciently create and evaluate data-driven safety plans for more than 600 safety professionals statewide, Neshatfar says. We store 144 pieces of non-identiable data in our system, which not only offers limitless possibilities in examining crash issues but it also saves months of work, too.
Work in progress
Plan4Safety is still evolving. In April 2012, the team introduced a new user interface that simplies the
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Photo by Nick Romanenko
In six years, agencies have gone from having no data to data with endless possibilities. Sometimes, I cant even believe how far weve come
(Above) Patricia Ott (Right) Plan4Safety integrates statewide crash data, roadway characteristic data, calculates statistical analyses, incorporates network screening layers and models, and includes visual analytical tools (GIS)
ltering and analysis process, incorporating an a la carte menu and intuitive workow. The users were really the ones who redesigned this upgrade, says Fetrat, describing a team effort that required several weeks of training and user focus groups to rank the usability of the software and its tools. We wanted users to be able to automatically lter, map and analyse data with a simple questionnaire. We also upgraded our GIS map to a more dynamic
Hidden extras
Plan4Safety provides as many insights to data as it does opportunities to use it. Since its inception, the system has contributed to a range of safety improvement projects at the local, county and state levels and not just to find and analyse crashes. The New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety requires all grant applicants to use Plan4Safety data in their proposals. The states metropolitan planning organisations use it to rank high-risk rural road segments and direct funding to road owners. Local police departments use it to plan DUI and seatbelt enforcement campaigns, and engineering departments use it to find crashes linked to road geometry. Municipalities, meanwhile, use it to make pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements. And alcohol and substance abuse organisations use it to support impaired driving education programmes. TSRC even uses Plan4Safety to evaluate localised educational campaigns by examining before-and-after crash trends.
interface, and we linked each crash location in the system to Google StreetView so users can actually see the roads theyre working with. The team is also constructing a framework that will potentially enable the integration of external data such as trauma unit records, insurance histories and road conditions. Trauma unit records will allow users to see if someone died from injuries sustained at the crash scene, says Fetrat. This additional data may revolutionise the way agencies prioritise high-risk locations. Plan4Safety will also provide cost-benet analysis by evaluating crash data against the cost of countermeasures. Part of the reason Plan4Safety exists is to help agencies make smart, proactive decisions, says Ott. If youre not creating data-driven plans, dont expect to see results. And Plan4Safety is paying off. Data-driven plans have helped to reduce trafc fatalities from 700 to under 550. In six years, agencies have gone from having no data to data with endless possibilities. Sometimes I cant even believe how far weve come, Ott concludes. But until we reach zero deaths, our work is still not done. n
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Driving standards
The FOTsis project is pushing forward the harmonisation of ITS services across Europe. And as an expert involved in the project explains, this could also have an impact at a global level
Words | Jorge Alfonso, Universidad Politcnica de Madrid, Spain The successful deployment of cooperative services, such as eCall and congestion management, is widely seen as holding the key to safer and more sustainable road transport in the future. Current efforts relating to ITS services and systems development are a direct response to the authorities push to harmonise the development and deployment of more advanced road applications. In Europe, this requirement is embodied in the ITS Directive and Mandate M/453, which establishes a need for standardisation bodies to push forward the activities that would ultimately result in a number of standards in the field of ITS so that interoperability between compliant devices can be guaranteed. We are now at a point in which a large part of the work has already been achieved and is currently in the testing stage. To date, there have been numerous research initiatives at a national and European level that have sought to promote the deployment of such cooperative systems via the implementation of large-scale field operational tests (FOTs). Yet the majority of the demonstrations have been conducted from the car makers perspective and pay little attention to the operational needs of road operators. In this context, the FOTsis project represents the missing link in FOTs.
The architecture
One of the most important and difficult milestones of any FOT is to set up
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a communications framework that complies with regulatory standardisation requirements. The challenge for FOTsis has been no less signicant and includes seven distinct services and a much bigger number of use cases. These cover a wide range of user needs, and they therefore posed a difcult but at the same time realistic set of features the FOTsis architecture has had to face and meet. The main ideas of the architecture deployment model are that road users will always be connected to the road infrastructure through long-range 3G connections or with the roadside units through short-range links over 802.11p. Long-range, wide-area links can provide the greater coverage, at the expense of longer latency times, while short-range links provide selective coverage to road vehicles and tighter latency time control.
IEEE 802.11p issues

As a 5.9GHz-based radio access technology, IEEE 802.11p is the rst wireless concept specied to the requirements of a mobile scenario. It has ITS applications in mind, focusing on the performance of the communications link between xed and mobile entities, or between two mobile entities at high speeds, changing channel conditions and latency constraints. 802.11p enables communication transactions to be completed in timeframes shorter than other wireless technologies and protocols, and uses specically allocated frequency bands. Together, these two aspects ensure vehicles moving at the usual speeds on motorways complete communication exchanges with more information and data. This opens a new perspective in terms of accurate position tracking and information provision to road emergency services en-route to an incident, or the provision of enriched local toll-related information to road users. There are, however, some signicant differences in the approach with which IEEE 802.11p is integrated in the different ETSI, ISO and IEEE standards framework for ITS services design and deployment. The ISO CALM concept implies a very complex architecture with many different management and sub-layer entities to ensure all communication parties regardless of the layer they are using can contribute and make use of the somewhat monolithic CALM communications structure. The CALM M5 communications module is designed to be compliant with IEEE 802.11 specications, but the CALM M5 specication implies compliance with
Annual Showcase 2013 2012 | Intertraffic World
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Highway operators (Coordination)
A TESTED DEVELOPMENT
FOTsis is one of the European initiatives that can be seen as test activities for certain aspects of the global ITS standardisation e ort. It will conduct large-scale eld testing of the road infrastructure management systems required for the operation of seven close-to-market cooperative I2V, V2I and I2I technologies (the FOTsis services) in order to assess in detail both their e ectiveness and their potential for a full-scale development on European roads. These seven technologies include emergency management, safety incident management, intelligent congestion control, dynamic route planning, special vehicle tracking, advanced enforcement, and infrastructure safety assessment.
(Below) FOTsis will test the road infrastructures capability to incorporate the latest cooperative systems technology (Top right) The set-up of the consortium behind the project
Technology integrators Road safety and automotive research centres Onboard equipment manufacturers Telecommunications operators Map and content providers Logistics operators Users Road authorities
a number of related, relevant ISO CALM elements (at least ve standards at access, management and network layers). This makes the integration with non-CALM-compliant systems a very complicated task. ETSI ITS-G5, meanwhile, seems to have selected a subset of IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.11p specications to dene a functional DSRC module concept that should, in principle, be immediately compliant with the ETSI ITS station reference architecture. Finally, WAVE is again an overall concept similar to ISO CALM but with a much more straightforward and pragmatic approach. It builds on the IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.11p standards but, rather than attempting to create a full architecture, the idea behind it is to identify and complete existing gaps for the intended applications.
S3 Intelligent congestion control
S7 Infrastructure safety assessment

Weather conditions and incidents
S6 Advanced enforcement
Control center
Tra c incidents/tra c data
In brief, all three approaches described above (ISO CALM, ETSI ITS-G5, and WAVE) seem to be compatible at the PHY and MAC level because they are all based around the IEEE 802.11p standard. Integration with the CEN DSRC is achieved by means of a non-interference policy in IEEE 802.11p, which implies that while applications are not compatible it should be possible to use them simultaneously. The problem, however, is the assessment of compatibility outside PHY and MAC level. The three developments (IEEE 802.11p WAVE, ETSI ITS-G5, and ISO CALM M5) cannot be considered outside the general communications framework they are part of, particularly as FOTsis aims at providing a holistic framework. The choice of a given access DSRC technology in this case implies, to a point, the choice of the whole architecture, which is denitely stronger in the case of ISO CALM. In principle, it seems WAVE should be easier to integrate in the general ETSI ITS framework. However, detailed knowledge about the current development status of the three overall frameworks will be necessary to properly address this issue.
3G
Progress and next steps

S5 Special vehicle tracking 3G
Route guidance Incident data
802.11p
RSU
Route guidance Additional incident data
S1/S2 Emergency/safety incident management
S4 Dynamic route planning
Although initially a response to the requirements of the different services and use cases established in the project, the FOTsis architecture proposal has been extended to provide a complex and complete data ow infrastructure that involves all the relevant actors in the provision of advanced road services. The 802.11p wireless access link has been addressed specically, in the context of its potential in ITS environments as well as for the approaches of different organisations for its adoption. At the World Congress on ITS in Vienna in October 2012, the FOTsis team conducted a joint architecture demo, together with the ITSSv6 project, to show how an IPv6 stack provided by ITSSv6 can be integrated in a communications management centre provided by FOTsis, as well as how 802.11p communications could be used in a roadside unit. n
SWARCO AG
RETROREFLECTION AT ITS BEST

SWARCO presents another proof of its competence in developing and producing glass microspheres for enhanced road safety. SWARCO NO. 1 SOLIDPLUS are glass beads which distinguish themselves by outstanding retroreflectivity and solid long-term performance. SOLIDPLUS beads attract the attention of road authorities since these beads are the ideal reflectors for more demanding striping systems, such as markings for road construction zones, pedestrian crossings, tunnels and motorways, and in particular wherever non-white stripings have to be applied. Talk to us first if you want to boost traffic safety for motorists and pedestrians with innovative high performance beads.
SWARCO AG, Blattenwaldweg 8, A-6112 Wattens, Austria T. +43-5224-58770, F. +43-5224-56070, E. office.ag@swarco.com, www.swarco.com
SWARCO I First in Traffic Solutions.
122 | SAFETY
Master glass
Road markings remain one of the most efcient means to make roads safer, and micro glass beads not only provide excellent retroreectivity but they also stand the test of time
Words | Richard Neumann, Swarco, Austria
Retrore ectivity monitoring over 27 months on a pedestrian crossing on canton road 221 in Uetendorf, Switzerland 700 600 Retrore ected luminance 500 400 300 200 Norm 100 0
29/05/2009 25/06/2009
The increase of retroreectivity, the overall improvement of the systems composed of glass beads and various road marking materials, and the beads prolonged durability against the daily trafc impact, are all focal points of research at Swarco. The advantage the Austrian trafc technology group has is that its entire know-how chain from glass bead and road marking materials production to the practical application of the stripings to the road surface is all in-house. It is, however, the Solidplus glass beads that are increasingly attracting the attention of road authorities as these are the ideal reector for more demanding stripings such as markings
Solidplus
23/09/2009
07/04/2010
07/10/2010
11/05/2011 22/09/2011
20/08/2012
for road construction zones, pedestrian crossings, tunnels and motorways, and in particular wherever non-white stripings have to be applied. Solidplus are glass beads produced in a proprietary process developed by us and based on the use of the cleanest raw materials, reveals Hans Jesacher, who works at Swarco in Austria and is also responsible for the Italian trafc materials market. We succeeded in creating microspheres that distinguish themselves from conventional beads through superior stability and extraordinary retroreectivity values. By further increasing the night-time visibility and longer-term performance of the stripings, we managed to take a big step forward in augmenting road safety, he adds. Italian road marking contractor SIAS reports positive experiences with Solidplus. The company uses the beads in spray thermoplastic, thermoplastic, alkyd and waterborne two-component paints to mark both small-scale applications on town streets and large highway arteries that are among the most trafcked in Europe. SIAS applies bead blends of the type Solidplus 15 with sizes between 180 to 850 and Solidplus 15 with diameters from 300 to 600. Typical bead quantities are approximately 400g/m2. Were very satised with the performance level of the road markings, conrms an SIAS technician, while referring to analyses made by Autostrade per lItalia on a total of 420km of right-hand edgeline markings those lines that are frequently subject to wear by cars and HGVs and which are of particular importance for guidance and safety.
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SAFETY | 123
(Left, top) Italian motorway with edgeline striped with Solidplus glass beads (Left, below) Comparison after 1,130 minutes of abrasion test
Standard glass beads
High-index glass beads
Solidplus glass beads
The measurements carried out with a car-mounted Ecodyn retroreectometer four months after the stripings had been applied showed optimum results with peak retroreectivity readings RL of around 500mcd/m2/lux i.e. ve times higher than the norm requires. Meanwhile, the use of Solidplus in Italy has been approved for structured or proled road markings made of thermoplastic. The best results were observed with edgeline stripings with sound effect. When drivers pass the line that separates the right-hand lane from the hard shoulder, they will be alerted with vibration and a sound that there is the risk to run off the road. Moreover, the beads are performing very well in multidot markings currently being tested on the A4 motorway between Brescia and Padova. This type of application with regular thermoplastic agglomerates of 2mm elevation offers particular wear resistance and night-time visibility when the road is wet, because its shape facilitates the drainage of rain water. The markings also show very good bonding when existing agglomerate markings get refurbished and revitalised by spraying over a thin lm of coldplastic. Favourable reports about the positive impact of Solidplus which according to EN 1423 are class A beads (with a refractive index higher than 1.6) also come from other countries. The excellent quality of the beads available in gradations between 0.15 and 1.0mm has been evidenced by turntable tests at Germanys Road
Institute (BASt) and also on testbeds in the USA. Initial retroreectivity values of solvent-based paints or thermoplastic compounds resulted in more than 1,000mcd/m2/lux, which is three to four times higher than the values of stripings using conventional glass bead types. On Austrias A2 highway linking Vienna with Graz, the beads were applied in a solvent-based paint binder for the left-hand edgeline, in a cold-spray plastic binder for the centreline and in a structured (agglomerate) coldplastic for the right-hand edgeline. Average night-time visibility readings taken between highway KM 92 and 96 after four months of trafc impact resulted in values between 876 and 1,146mcd/m2/ lux. These values exceed the requirements specied by NORM EN 1436 for dry performance by 8 to 11 times. The beads ability to withstand trafc impact in the long run is proved by the experience in the Swiss canton of Bern, where selected pedestrian crossings were equipped with Solidplus. The particular challenge in Switzerland is to create optimum night-time visibility for the yellow-painted zebra crossings, which remain a blackspot for severe accidents leading to pedestrians being killed or seriously injured.
Improving pedestrian safety

The excellent test outcome and measurements convinced the Bern road authority to continue to equip a larger number of pedestrian crossings with the
Swarco beads as they clearly enhance the conspicuity of the stripings and therefore signicantly increase pedestrian safety. Made in yellow-structured coldplastic, the markings were monitored over the past 27 months, including two winters with related road maintenance by snowploughs. With Solidplus, the initial retroreectivity level exceeds the required minimum norm by 320%. With the stripings in place for more than two years now and exposed to daily trafc impact, we observe that the minimum norm value of 60mcd/m2/lux is exceeded by 415%, says a proud Hans Jesacher. The solidity of the glass beads becomes clear from an abrasion test conducted in Swarcos laboratory at Amstetten, where different bead types applied to a binder material are put into a concrete mixer to be exposed to water and abrasive corundum particles. The image above illustrates the comparison of standard glass beads and high-index beads with the Solidplus beads. After 75 minutes of testing, the use traces on the standard and high-index beads are already obvious. But the special chemical consistency of the Solidplus prevents the beads from premature wear, which makes them appear stable, round and functional even after 1,130 minutes of abrasive testing. With Solidplus, Swarco has once again demonstrated that dedicated R&D in the optimisation of glass microspheres in terms of their retroreection and stability results in a major gain in road safety, which justies the investment in this innovative product for the benet of motorists and pedestrians. n
124 | SAFETY
Under the lens

How an expert in enforcement equipment is achieving its promise of delivering tomorrows technology today
Words | Alexander Kleyn van Willigen, Gatso, the Netherlands Ever since it introduced the rst speed camera in 1964, one well-known company has been at the forefront of trafc enforcement and during Intertrafc Amsterdam 2012, its new T-Series was introduced to the world. More than a just range of innovative technology design and components housed in a new cabinet, Gatsos T-Series offers a strong solution platform that can be adapted and expanded to meet tomorrows needs in trafc enforcement. A platform can only transcend the strengths of its components when all components work together in harmony. In the T-Series, all components are connected to an authenticated CANbus. Depending on the specic application, the desired T-Series modules (or even third-party hardware) can be hooked up to the CANbus, offering maximum system adaptability. The compact GT20 camera captures crystal-clear images of fast-moving vehicles under all light and weather conditions. Exclusively designed for trafc enforcement, the 20-megapixel CMOS sensor combines speed with superior sensitivity to offer an extremely high image capture performance. The camera captures 30 full-resolution frames per second, meaning an offence can be captured every 1/30th of a second, enabling the system to capture multiple concurrent violations. The powerful J2K compression engine simultaneously delivers more than 4fps at full resolution and 30fps high-resolution video. On top of this, four Intel Atom processors offer sufcient processing power to execute machine vision algorithms such as ANPR and trafc light vision interface (TLVI), as well as algorithms that will be developed in the future.
SAFETY | 125
Gatsos new T-Series system
Tracking radar
The RT3 tracking radar continuously measures speed and position of up to 12 vehicles in the coverage area simultaneously, providing the system with all the data required for determining speed and red-light violations. Accurate tracking of the vehicles guarantees precise and unambiguous identication of the violators, so even the busiest of intersections can be effectively enforced. Automatic calculation of the alignment relative to the trafc eliminates the need for precise alignment, which has been a nuisance and a source for potential measurement error in traditional enforcement radars.
Ease of use
The T-Series cabinet is designed for ease of installation and low maintenance. The low weight and compact-sized system can be mounted to existing infrastructure or stock poles, which greatly reduces purchase and transportation costs when compared with traditional enforcement cameras. The inner IP66 cell containing all sensitive components can be taken out as a single unit for easy maintenance and doesnt need to be opened at the roadside. For the prevention of vandalism, the system is mounted between 4m and 7m high, well out of reach of vandals. The positive response received at Intertrafc Amsterdam to the employability and compact size of the T-Series encouraged Gatso to further optimise these aspects. Without compromising any of the systems features, the company has managed to reduce the volume of the cabinet by 30%, making it even less visible to road users. In addition, the overall weight of the system was reduced to less than 17kg. Weight limitations are an important factor when selecting existing street furniture for mounting the system, so less weight means more mounting options and a reduction in overall installation costs. n
Web interface
Todays automatic enforcement systems should require minimal interaction, but where this is unavoidable, the T-Series hosts a web interface for device-independent control of all features. This interface can be accessed via a network connection with any device running a supported browser and is hosted by the system itself, meaning there is no need for complicated hardware or network setups. All controls are intuitively accessible for both operators and service personnel.
The GT20 cameras capture clear images in all environmental conditions
126 | SAFETY
Leading the way

With road safety rising up the global agenda, the installation of transverse rumble strips could pave the way to reducing speed and increasing safety in rural areas
Words | Dr Wilhelm Karnbrock & Michael Olapoju, Evonik Industries, Germany In collaboration with the World Health Organization, the United Nations recently declared 2011-2020 as a global Decade of Action for Road Safety. The main goal of the Decade is to signicantly reduce the number of road accidents, namely by taking various measures at a national level in each state. According to the latest accident gures by road type, rural roads were found to be most dangerous. This is therefore where the greatest need for action on road safety-related issues lies. A particular danger is hazardous bends in rural roads: to address this issue, a cost-effective concept for inuencing speed behaviour and thus improving safety has been developed. Cold plastic-based transverse rumble strips (TRS) were recently installed at the approaches of hazardous bends on a section of road in Germanys Erzgebirge region, creating raised bands of thick-layer markings that have positively inuenced driving behaviour and improved road safety with the reduction of accidents. roadway environment where there is a need to exercise extraordinary caution, by generating a certain sound and vibration as a warning to the drivers of the vehicle driving over them. In Germany, TRS still have novelty status. The German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) has specically recommended using them on stretches of roads with a high rate of accidents involving motorists. Germanys ADAC automobile club also advocates the use of rumble strips on approaches, particularly where there are hazardous bends on rural roads. It must be stressed that the objective of the local authority is not to dampen the driving spirit
Transverse rumble strips

TRS are a common approach used by local authorities for the purpose of road safety on rural roadways. Internationally, their use as a warning signal is already being implemented successfully in many cases to alert the road user of a changing
SAFETY | 127
h max = 15.00mm 475.00 175.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00
Pro le of a rumble strip courtesy of C. Lank, Aachen, Germany
Hairpin bend on K9107 in the Erz Mountains
Rumble strips created with Evoniks Degaroute resin, courtesy of Limburger Lackfabrik
of motorists by applying rumble strips, but rather to be understood as a warning device to effectively reduce the number of accidents. According to BASt statistics, the prevention of a single accident involving serious injury spares the taxpayer around 130,000 a year in societal costs not to mention the health implications and other consequences that are likely to arise from such an accident for the individuals involved.
Design and application methods

The rumble strips applied in this project were created using a two-component cold-plastic (methyl methacrylate MMA) material designed specically for this application. Once applied to the road surface, this material sets quickly. The strip pattern and spacing used is based on a BASt experimental trial. The rumble strips were applied perpendicular to the road surface on the approaches to a hairpin bend leading to a popular meeting spot for PTW riders in Eibenstock in the Erz Mountains, a site where 12 motorcycle accidents resulting in seven people sustaining severe injuries and nine others suffering minor bruises occurred between 2007 and 2009. The cold plastic-based markings were laid in two different ways. First, a 475mm-wide rumble strip was applied, coloured with uorescent pigments to a bright yellow shade (RAL 1026) for better visibility in daylight. Its application was
conducted using a patent-pending draw box with integrated template. This was designed especially for this purpose by the district accident investigation authority to create a raised wedge of about 175mm in length, enabling the snow ploughs to clear the road easily from the lower edge during the winter period. This was followed by the application of four semicircular raised bands with a maximum height of 15mm above the pavement. Three raised white strips (RAL 9016) measuring 120mm in width were nally applied to create an elevation of approximately 10mm. These strips give an audible and tactile sensation to the drivers of the vehicles passing over them. Anti-skid and reective materials were also added to the application material to fully satisfy the relevant requirements for this marking type.
Results and discussion

According to the accident commission of the region, most of the accidents occurring at the bend which is a veritable magnet for bikers were a direct result of excess speed. As a result, measures were taken in July 2009 to reduce the risk of accidents, which involved cutting 2cm grooves in the asphalt surface at eight partial sections of the road extending through the switchback. These grooves created a bumpy road surface to alert the road users to drive more carefully. Since the installation, not a single accident has been reported. This
demonstrates that tactile road surfaces are an efcient means of reducing accidents and alerting drivers of a changing roadway environment where it is necessary to exercise caution. When this particular section of road was eventually renewed and the previously prepared pavement was removed in the process, road safety experts had to come up with an innovative but similarly effective method that would not involve groove cutting or damaging the newly laid asphalt surface. The solution was to apply raised bands of TRS based on highly durable cold-plastic materials on both approaches of the bend, thereby obliging motorists to decelerate. The application of TRS is to be recommended on sections of roadways where there are frequent accidents as a result of excess speeding. It can be proved that the pattern and spacing of the cold plastic-based TRS represents a fast, cost-effective alternative for exerting a positive inuence on speed behaviour. In addition, the optimised TRS pattern enables snow ploughs to clear the road easily from the lower edge during the winter period without damaging the rumble strips. Benjamin Schultz, the regions trafc engineer, has stated that the above measures will permanently reduce the number of accidents that have occured on this section of road, thereby helping to make road travel in the Erz Mountain area safer. n
th in this 19 World Congress on ITS , FOTsis edition about the Plan4Safety, xed Fehmarn Belt link and much more!
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Safe and sound

Its challenging to plan urban areas so that the safety of all road users particularly pedestrians is given consideration. We need to work harder to improve the accident levels in such areas, and sound-emitting signals can help
Words | Marcus Lidhed, Prisma Teknik, Sweden
Its a conict of interests to plan for safe pedestrian crossings yet also to prioritise cars, public transportation, pedestrians or bicycles. Some parts of a city require that pedestrian and bicycle crossings are separated from road trafc with a bridge or a tunnel to be truly safe, which is costly but serves all interests. Other parts, though, require solutions to make it possible for pedestrians and cyclists to cross safely. Trafc planners need to consider all the interests and the conicts of interests. Who gets priority? Pedestrians in a city are not one homogeneous group, with clear and unambiguous statistics showing the elderly as the highest risk group as they walk slowly and have deciencies in hearing and sight. Children are also vulnerable, but we protect
them better as evidenced by fewer KSIs in this particular group. Disabled and visually impaired people also have difculties negotiating trafc on their own. And some cities have decided to prioritise public transport, bicycles and pedestrians, with cars always having to wait longer in this setup. Political strength is needed with such a policy as the strategy places greater emphasis on human lives and the environment and on reducing cars.
The pedestrian crossing challenge

Pedestrians are challenged to remain safe in trafc by both new and old obstacles. One new problem is electric vehicles, which have become a pedestrian safety problem as a result of them being so quiet. Another
big issue is the use of mobile phones and smartphones while crossing the street. An older issue in many cities is the simple lack of respect for pedestrians trying to cross a street, which is still a huge problem and results in far too many trafc incidents. Coming from a country with a long history of sound-emitting pedestrian signals to a city without any sounds to discern the red phase from the green is a challenge for many people. We are so conditioned to using both vision and hearing to conrm its okay to cross that when one of those senses is removed, we question whether it really is safe to step out. Its a huge benet to use more than one sense before leaving the kerb especially if youre one of those pedestrians distracted by your smartphone.
130 | SAFETY
Prisma Tekniks solutions feature tactile arrows and maps for visually impaired pedestrians
With the challenges in safely crossing a street being tough enough for someone who has full use of their sight and hearing, imagine how difcult that situation is for visually impaired pedestrians. Both human experience and academic research has come to the same conclusion: acoustic pedestrian signals save lives for both sighted and visually impaired people. Some argue that the sound of pedestrian signals is disturbing, especially at night, so adjustable volume is being demanded from citizens in many municipalities. Automatic, ambient noise-controlled volume change is a proven technology in Prisma Tekniks pedestrian signals. Being able to activate sound changes, speech messages and changes of volume are also vital features for the acoustic pedestrian signal. Some groups need to activate their functions, such as speech messages, higher volumes and prolonged green periods. The pre-school class crossing a street to enter a playground, for instance, may need extra crossing time.
Wireless activation
Prisma Teknik also offers wireless sound activation from a remote unit. The concept is simple: visually impaired pedestrians have
wrist straps with a receiver, then as they approach the intersection, the small remote starts vibrating and beeping. Users press button number 1, which starts the location tone in the Accessible Pedestrian Signal (APS) unit for the pedestrian to nd the push button and get directions. The sound is on during green (the walk phase) and stops again after one cycle. Using button number 2 on the remote unit activates a speech message that gives users information about their whereabouts and the name of the crossing theyre at. This is an exception; the optimal solution is to have the sound on with a locator tone 24 hours a day. Sighted and visually impaired people need to be able to travel just like anybody else without needing extra remotes or smartphone apps to safely cross a street. To cross an intersection, humans process four steps using their eyes, ears and sensory perception. Prismas APS products support all pedestrians in safe crossing based on this concept. These four steps are: Locate intersection: The push button has a locator tone that sounds during the red phase. Orientate correctly: To help the pedestrian
locate the direction of the crosswalk, there is a tactile arrow with or without a vibrator placed on either the top or bottom lid. On the right side of the push button, there is a tactile map for the visually impaired to feel any intersection obstacles. Determine when to cross: When the light changes from red to green, there is a distinct change in the sound the most common being a faster frequency. Cross the street safely: Following the sound from the opposite side, the pedestrian can now cross the street safely. As technology develops, the next generation of pedestrian safety equipment is emerging. Well see interaction between different components in the trafc environment including emergency vehicles, buses, cars, and trafc control and monitoring systems. These systems need data from all kinds of roadside sensors and equipment, including the APS. The pedestrian push button offers information about regular and vulnerable (children, the elderly, the visually impaired) pedestrians to the trafc control system. Prisma Teknik believes that ITS systems will develop faster over the next 10 years than they have done over the past decade. Wireless solutions will become more common, along with solar-powered solutions. Low power consumption, meanwhile, is one of the most important demands in developing new electronic products and the company is supporting wireless connections from APS unit to trafc controller as soon as the trafc security sector approves the technology. n
ACOUSTIC PEDESTRIAN SIGNALS

FOUR SAFE STEPS ACROSS THE STREET
Locator tone inside the push-button
Direction arrow and tactile map
WHY PRISMA TEKNIK? Quality MADE IN SWEDEN, vandal

during red (walk dont walk) phase. Warranty Prisma Teknik push buttons come with a five year warranty Global and local customized settings for different controllers and cities
Sound, vibrator and pulse rate change Walk towards sound from opposite side
Security will never sound green
proof design
High Quality Acoustic Pedestrian Signal
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132 | SAFETY
In the zone
Words | Patrick Schulze, Vitronic, Germany From Baltimore County to Washington County, the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities within highway workzones across the US state of Maryland has taken a dramatic fall in recent years. This is a result of the success of SafeZones in reducing the number of speeding motorists and improving road safety for all. The Maryland State Highway Administrations (SHA) SafeZones programme uses PoliScanspeed mobile, the latest generation of automated speed enforcement systems delivered by Vitronic Germany and backed up by maintenance, service and support from Vitronic Machine Vision, Louisville, USA.
How speed enforcement technology from one expert in the sector is now being put to good use to improve safety in work zones across the US state of Maryland
As PoliScanspeed is ideal for unattended deployment in critical driving environments, the mobile systems are widely used in Marylands workzones. Indeed, state highway administrator Melinda B. Peters believes that SafeZones are effective and motorists are getting the message to slow down. This is not only good news for workers but for motorists as well, as the majority of those injured in workzone incidents are drivers or passengers, she comments. SafeZones is a critical part of our workzone safety programme because education of the driving public combined with effective enforcement is a powerful trafc safety tool.
As a result of this programme, the number of incidents is at its lowest in more than 10 years, and since the ofcial launch in 2010, the number of speeding offences has dropped by more than 80%. When the scheme was rst introduced, approximately 7 out of every 100 drivers in a workzone were exceeding the speed limit by 12mph or more. Currently, fewer than 2 drivers out of every 100 are receiving violation notices for excessive speeding. In the past three years, fatalities in workzone accidents decreased by twothirds from nine in 2009 to three in 2011. During the same period, the number of people injured decreased from 827
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to 688 and overall workzone incidents decreased from 1,685 to 1,486.
Proven enforcement technology

Often deployed in conned spaces where traditional speed enforcement is limited, the technology behind Marylands SafeZones not only provides an effective deterrent to speeding but also helps avoid physically stopping motorists in busy workzones, which can prove difcult and dangerous where lanes are narrowed and hard shoulders are not available. Where previous systems were inadequate, PoliScan technology improves road safety for everyone. The measuring units use lidar technology to scan the road area multiple times per second and simultaneously measure the speed and position of multiple vehicles in multiple lanes. Offences are allocated to specic vehicles and documented with digital case les even if several vehicles are travelling side by side or driving with inadequate separation (tailgating). PoliScan is certied for unattended use, so erroneous measurements resulting from incorrect adjustment or operator error are prevented through a combination of system design and the inherent capability of the
PoliScan mobile systems are being used in work zones across Maryland
laser measurement system, explains Daniel Scholz of Vitronic in Germany.
A safer future
We look forward to building on the success of SafeZones in Maryland and contributing further to the safety of workers and motorists alike through the supply and deployment of the latest enforcement solutions from Vitronic, says Scholz. Automated speed enforcement is, the SHA insists, a key factor to maintaining safe trafc mobility in SafeZones, deterring speeding as well as encouraging motorists to modify their driving in order to help prevent accidents. n
Fast and secure

The efcient speed enforcement system operates irrespective of the time of day, weather conditions or the trafc density, ensuring that the case les provide reliable evidence and are valid in any court of law. Unlike previous radar systems, these mobile PoliScan systems are ready for use without site calibration and monitored automatically, while no additional triggering equipment such as light barriers is necessary.
Cutting Edge Speed Enforcement
German engineering at its best:

PoliScanspeed xed the unique City Design Housing for uni- and bi-directional speed measuring PoliScanspeed mobile fully automatic, for unattended use mounted on a tripod, in front or rear of cars or in our stationary housings Operation without induction loops and piezo sensors
Simultaneous enforcement of multiple vehicles in multiple lanes, generating up to 3 times as many cases as conventional systems
www.vitronic.com
VITRONIC Dr.-Ing. Stein Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH Hasengartenstr. 14 65189 Wiesbaden Germany Phone + 49 [0] 611-7152-0 Fax + 49 [0] 611-7152-133 www.vitronic.com sales@vitronic.com
Just imagine...
Imagine the perfect synergy, the makers of automated systems and the leaders in parking solutions coming together. Imagine three companies combining their worldwide experience in a complete range of exclusive parking systems. Imagine a complete range of selected solutions and every day global assistance. Now, discover the world of ZEAG, DATAPARK and FAAC.
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PARKING | 135
Section 4
Parking
136 | PARKING
Presidential debate
From a humble beginning as a trafc warden to becoming president of the British Parking Association, Anjna Patel has seen a lot of change over the years and shes still got plenty to get off her chest
Words | Louise Smyth
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Anjna Patel is a well-known gure in the parking industry. As well as her day job of parking and safer and sustainable travel manager at the UKs Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, in 2012 she also became president of the British Parking Association (BPA). For those unfamiliar with the association, the BPA is a membership organisation that spans both the public and private sectors that are involved in parking. The overall aim is to achieve excellence in parking for all which doesnt just mean everyone in the organisation, it includes the public, Patel explains. That is my focus: to put the public at the heart of our thinking. There is no point just giving out parking tickets; we need to listen to the public and their needs and be improving our parking and trafc management at the same time. And Patel herself is well versed in hearing the voice of the end customers of parking facilities. She began her 25-year career in the sector as a trafc warden and describes how this initial foray into parking that would ultimately shape her whole career path came about almost by default. I actually wanted to join the armed forces but hadnt been in the country for ve years so couldnt do that, she recalls. My idea of second best was to join the police force, so I passed all of the exams with ying colours only to be told I was too short! As trafc wardens were under the jurisdiction of the police force at that time (the late 1970s), Patel was advised that if she went for a sideways move, she would be in with a chance of being recruited for the police force at a later date. She would eventually be offered that chance. They offered me a role after the riots that happened at the time, but I declined as I didnt want a job purely on the basis of making up numbers or meeting quotas. The police forces loss proved to be the parking industrys gain. She rose quickly through the ranks and became area controller of the trafc wardens. Then, in 1986, she joined Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council as a road safety ofcer. In 2000, she ventured back into the parking sector when the council decided to decriminalise parking. Consequently, Patel scored the job of efciently managing this transition. Once again, she rapidly ascended the council ladder and worked her way up to management, although this wasnt without its hurdles, with Patel citing two key problems encountered along the way. One is an ingrained attitude within local authorities (LAs) that parking is not important we can leave it to the engineers rather than employ people with the relevant skills, she says. The second thing I found hard work was being a female in this sector. It has always been a male-dominated industry indeed, when I joined the BPA council, there were only
about two or three women but now there are quite a number of them on the council. LAs tend not to give signicant roles in parking to women. Yet this is such a short-sighted approach. When you consider the parking industry, the backbone of the entire sector is women. Look at a back-ofce: the majority of staff supporting a back-ofce are female, yet you look at the top tiers and theyre staffed primarily by men. Patel is fairly pragmatic about this situation and the progress that is gradually being made in terms of gender equality. She regards it as being fairly par for the course in an industry that she describes as encompassing both the space age and dinosaurs. Expanding on this notion, she explains, Today, you can go to a small local district council where they are still issuing handwritten parking tickets. Then you go to places such as Chelsea and Westminster the top end of the market and see the space-age technology being used. This is simply due to the availability of resources. Technology, although desired by all, is only available if it is affordable.
There is a lot of will to work together from the industry, but there has to be political will too politicians tend to be more focused on whats going to buy them the vote
A uniform approach
Bringing a touch more uniformity is one of the BPAs goals, and Patel lists the organisations recently launched ve-year strategy as a move in the right direction. This focuses on introducing best practice, increasing public condence in parking management and putting the customer at the centre of all decisions. How, then, can such a collaborative approach be fostered? We can do this in a number of ways, Patel states. The BPA has the Parking Forum, so we communicate with our stakeholders such as the RAC Foundation and Disability UK. We work with the DfT. And we have regional groups to encourage joined-up thinking at a regional level. We also have special interest groups that cover everything from the bailiff industry to manufacturers and suppliers to the healthcare service. We make sure they all interact with each other to make improvements together rather than in silos. Patel describes the BPA as a point of contact for all. It is the one voice that is now so strong that it
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engages with national and local governments and it has a valuable input into any legislative movement that impacts on parking for example, the Protection of Freedoms Act. The BPA also works internationally, collaborating with the European Parking Association, for example, as well as much further aeld. Patel details a recent request from colleagues in Canada for some help implementing a Safer Parking scheme similar to the one that exists in the UK. As benecial as such international collaborations are, when it comes down to the issue of real progress at this level, there is still a thorn in the industrys side: There is a lot of will to work together from the industry, but there has to be political will too, Patel feels. Unfortunately, the politicians tend to be more focused on whats going to buy them the vote and that lets us down. One particular facet of the sector that Patel believes is ripe for political overhaul is disabled parking. We are trying to work out a number of things in tandem with the EPA, but political intervention is stopping us, she explains. One of the prime issues relates to blue badges. Obviously you can use your blue badge anywhere in the EU, but theres no mechanism for checking if the badge is valid. If all badges were issued for the same length of time, using the same type of cards, and the same database, that could revolutionise things. Blue badges are there to assist disabled people but, equally, enforcing their usage and stopping fraudulent use is going to be a bigger help in ensuring disabled drivers spaces are used correctly. Ive just dealt with a case involving a guy from Poland with multiple blue badges being used on multiple vehicles, she continues. His argument was, In Poland I can have as many badges as I want for as many vehicles as I want, but in the UK that argument is simply not valid. Again, this is not only about issuing tickets; its about educating people
The Portas effect
Another well-known female has been giving the parking sector some food for thought recently. Retail guru Mary Portas released a report that assessed the impact of parking on UK high streets and her recommendations on the importance of available parking are now being implemented in a number of UK towns. Patel broadly agrees with the report that we need to address the issue in relation to our high streets, but doesnt agree with the recommendation of scrapping parking charges. When we decriminalised parking in my borough, we looked at one local high street and you could never nd a space on that street because it wasnt policed properly or enforced, she says. People parked there all day while at work, preventing others from popping in brie y to spend money at local establishments. Since we introduced managed parking there, people can drive up and know there will be a space. So they are easily able to spend money and contribute to the local economy, where previously the issue of parking prevented that.
and fostering standards across Europe. We are much more transient people now; we travel a lot and issues such as this will keep recurring until the political side of things aligns with the needs of the parking industry and the motorist. It is precisely this joined-up thinking that Patel would like to be remembered for when she eventually leaves the industry. Indeed, she longs for the day when politicians recognise how important parking is to the bigger picture. It really impacts on sustainable travel, she insists. We havent got reliable public transport, and what we do have is getting very expensive. This is where politics will meet parking. If we have a good, affordable transport service, that will complement the parking sector as well. After all, with the growth of vehicles on the roads, parking itself will eventually become a premium service so cheaper alternatives must be available too. The impact of parking on trafc management is also critically important, she adds. Whether youre a parking manager, a local authority or a trafc engineer, you all need to be asking the same questions. How can we make trafc ow through our borough and neighbouring ones safely, and how best can we manage the road infrastructure? Patels words are not mere rhetoric. She has a lengthy history of enabling this cohesive action, too. One recent example aptly illustrates how much of a difference the parking industry can make to citizens lives and not only those in the sector when it comes together in support of an overall aim. A few years ago, Patel set up a charity to assist injured British soldiers. She reports that the majority of the charitys funding more than 1 million has come from the parking industry. Proof, then, of the positive power the sector can assert. n
Patel regards enforcement as critical to improving parking management
The enforcement of disabled parking spaces is in need of European standardisation
TECH TRENDS
The BPA works closely with technology suppliers and Anjna Patel regards cashless payment as a particularly thriving sector today. But she concedes there is a hold-up in the actual rollout of new technologies, due to the inadequate state of some parking facilities. The technology within the parking sector has moved on and to some degree is leading the way, she comments. However, the car parks themselves have been left in a poor state of maintenance. In the area of technology, we are moving forward in leaps and bounds and the investment is being made but, alas, where the structures are concerned we are not investing in our car parks and failing to maintain them. The majority of them are in local authority ownership and they do not see it as a priority to invest in their infrastructure in the current economic climate.
PUT A BRAIN IN YOUR CAR PARK.

All we think about at Park Assist is ways to make parking smarter. Thats why we created M3, the rst camera vision system for parking. It delights visitors while making your operations and security more powerful than ever. Contact Park Assist today for more information.
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140 | PARKING
We reveal the latest smarter parking initiatives being planned and implemented across Australia and speak to those involved in rolling out these ambitious schemes
Words | Timothy Compston
Aussie rules
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There is a growing appreciation among those tasked with managing parking in Australias fast-growing urban areas that new, more intelligent approaches to the delivery of up-to-date parking information whether they be via a website or specially created smartphone app allow drivers to make more informed and timely decisions. Alongside this, smarter payment methods are also high on the agenda.
Information delivery
One municipality that is very much at the forefront of the drive for smarter off-street parking is Perth, the capital and largest city in Western Australia, a metropolitan area that is home to 1.7 million people. Ofcially launched in January 2012 by the Lord Mayor, Lisa Scafdi, the free City of Perth Parking (CPP) app for iPhone and Android users displays real-time parking bay availability at all of CPPs car parks, as well as offering features such as nd your car to help drivers locate their vehicle via their smartphone when they are due to leave a car park. Alongside the app, a parking website has also gone live, providing drivers with another, complementary way of obtaining instant updates and information from CPP . Pat Abernethy, manager, off-street parking, City of Perth, is enthusiastic about the potential offered by the new app and website. This initiative fulls a longstanding desire to improve the level of parking
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information available to our citys drivers. In fact, Abernethy relates that the genesis of the recent project can be traced back to an earlier plan that didnt quite make it off the drawing board: Seven or eight years ago, I advocated the idea of putting up variable message signs at strategic points where drivers were coming into the city, from Freeway North or Freeway South, to tell them where the parking spaces actually were. However, this scheme failed to make it through the council at the time as there were objections to the size of the signs required. Following this, Abernethy reports that the City of Perth embarked on another programme that saw the installation of equipment to display the number of bays available outside each of its 10 car parks: Although this was an improvement in the information provided, you still had to actually go to the car park and if it was full, drive somewhere else. Ultimately, Abernethy and his colleagues at CPP decided in early 2011 that the best option would be to develop a mobile app and a website: For the app element we decided to work with a company, Inhouse
A map shows motorists the parking facilities in Perth
Available spaces are shown in an easy to read GUI
A CAPITAL IDEA FOR SMARTER PAYMENTS

Travelling 1,500 miles to the other side of Australia, another city, Canberra, is focusing on smarter parking this time in terms of how customers actually pay. The capital of Australia, the city is situated in the ACT (Australian Capital Territory). It was announced in June 2011 by Andrew Barr MLA, the ACTs deputy chief minister, that AU$300,000 was being committed to upgrade Canberras parking machines with a strong preference for smartphone tools. At the time of the announcement, Barr commented: Our goal is to make it easier for Canberrans to pay for their parking. He went on to say that there would be consultation with the market to deliver smart parking options. Following up with Brett Phillips, executive director of Regulatory Services, ACT, about the future prospects for smarter parking, he says, It is a question of having a look at the technology that we need to go forward in the 21st century with a parking solution that is bene cial for everyone. For people who park, we want better outcomes from being able to pay without necessarily having lots of dollar coins. In addition, at the present time, we have a group of people who literally drive around Canberra every day to empty all of the machines. Moving away from cash payment would assist us in relation to coin collection, cash and money processing and people wouldnt need to carry signi cant quantities of coins with them. Phillips says that the money in the budget announcement relates to going out to market over the next few months, although as an election is imminent, he says that things will likely slow down during this period. He also feels that whoever comes into power, the focus is unlikely to change because the opposition also intend should they be elected to look at the payment facilities for car parks.
Canberra is aiming to make life easier for its citizens who want to park
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One of the things that we really wanted in our app that was missing from others was live bay availability
Even parking meters have gone virtual in our app-based world
Parking rates are also displayed so users can factor in price
Meters will be upgraded in the move away from cash
Group, that was already familiar with the iPhone and Android devices. One of the things that we really wanted in our app was live bay availability. Most existing apps we looked at just said a car park had 400 bays but didnt actually tell you at that particular time how many bays were left. Abernethy feels that it was important from the outset that the website and app were consistent: We wanted users to see the same layout if they went to the website as they would have on their phone, he continues. The result of this requirement is that there is a user-friendly menu on both showing the different car parks with the number of bays available and a map highlighting the location of the car parks. Now, if Perths drivers are planning to attend an event at the Cultural Centre, for example, Abernethy explains that they simply have to put in the location and they will see immediately which is the nearest car park and the number of bays that are unoccupied. In terms of the apps features, Abernethy highlights that not only is the GPS capability in todays smartphones useful when providing directions to specic car parks, there is an added benet when a car has been parked up: Now users can simply push a locator button on the app after parking and when they come back to the car park they are directed to within 10m of their vehicle, he explains. This is an especially useful feature in larger car parks with multiple levels.
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Time for integration
Larry Schneider
Larry Schneider, president of the Parking Association of Australia and somebody who also runs a large parking consultancy business, o ers a wider perspective on smarter parking trends. When asked about the use of smartphones in relation to parking, he says that there are some very good parking apps out there and spotlights the City of Perth Parking app as one of the best that he has come across: It is very comprehensive, giving a lot of real-time information about the car parks. Where Schneider sees a problem with many of the current parking apps in Australia is that in his view they tend to be supplier rather than customer oriented: The City of Perth only highlights the car parks that are o ered by the City of Perth. The reality is that private operators of parking also have their own apps so if you go in on any of those you are only really being made aware of any parking o ered by that particular provider. The answer to this dilemma, according to Schneider, is better integration: If I go in to a city centre, I need to be able to pick up an app that tells me all of the parking that is available, he suggests. One of the hindrances is getting the di erent parking providers to be con dent enough to release their data and information to a central server. At the moment they are very suspicious about linking their own information because they feel that it is con dential to them. The level of cooperation between the various providers needs to improve.
The app was designed to clearly communicate live bay availability and to show drivers that there were spaces out there and point them to their destination. We really wanted to take the stress out of the whole parking situation
Referencing the response to the app, Abernethy is delighted with the number of downloads so far: On the rst day alone, on the back of the ofcial launch by the Lord Mayor and media coverage, we had 2,200 downloads quite a high number. This gure has now reached 16,000, well above our initial expectations. bays in order from the most to the least available. House underlines ease of use as a major benet: After a couple of touches of a smartphone screen, you have a clear idea of where to park relative to your location. Questioned as to his thoughts regarding the essential ingredients for a good app, House responds: At a basic level, when you think about it, apps are really just tools to make our life better in some way, he says. It needs to be intuitive and to display relevant information with the least amount of touches. It all starts with having the right interface. He also feels that the best apps are those that are based on new ideas or user feedback so they are constantly evolving to become a better tool in the hands of the user. Reinforcing this point, House says that Inhouse is in the process of developing the CPP app further to make it even more innovative. Ultimately, with better information such as that provided by the City of Perth app, car journeys can be planned around where commuters are actually likely to nd a free parking bay, especially at critical peak periods, so reducing the congestion in busy city centres caused by parking queues. There is also the potential to minimise accidents associated with distracted drivers searching for that elusive space and crucially to cut down on problematic CO2 emissions. n
Building an app
The project was very much a partnership with CPP, adds Clinton House, the owner and founder of Inhouse Group, which spent six months developing the app for Perth. The problem at the outset, according to House, was that people often didnt think that there was any parking for them in Perth. We knew that the opposite was actually the case. The app was designed to clearly communicate live bay availability and to show drivers that there were spaces out there and point them to their destination. We really wanted to take the stress out of the whole parking situation. Looking in more detail at the CPP app, House outlines how it works in practice: On the rst screen, the app shows where you are in comparison to all relevant CPP parking. Without touching the screen, green or red highlights around each parking location indicate if parking is available. You can then touch these for more details on what the car park looks like from street level, directions as to how to get there, the opening hours and parking costs. Another tab details the
Pay on Foot or Pay on Wheels: 2 displays. 1 machine. One investment.
http://www.amano.eu parking@amano.eu
2013
4.5.6 MAR
INTEX Shanghai
Visiting audience of high profile decision makers International exhibitors and visitors programme to enhance business opportunities Informative showcase sessions and project presentations Ready to exhibit packages available
Organised by:
PARKING | 147
All for one, one for all

An integrated approach to parking management where every meter is used to benet the overall cause can bring huge gains to congested cities
Words | Juan Manuel Soler Saenz, Open Traffic Systems, Spain Parking management in cities is becoming more difcult by the day, with the number of cars on the streets constantly increasing while the space for them remains the same or becomes even more scarce. Intelligent and efcient management of the precious resource that is onstreet parking has been imposed gradually. But to achieve better management requires better tools. Parking management should no longer be merely a deterrent measure; it must start becoming an integrated measure with other efforts to improve trafc in cities. Yet the tools for achieving this are increasingly inadequate. Streets or even whole neighbourhoods without any vacant parking spaces for hours at a time are not an uncommon sight in cities. This leads to trafc jams created by idling trafc, which is the slow driving that occurs while drivers look for somewhere to park. This idling trafc is detrimental to city congestion, air pollution, noise pollution and quality of life for residents in those areas. To alleviate this situation, parking equipment manufacturer Open Trafc Systems has created a solution whereby the parking meter remains the most important part of the system yet is supplemented by other technology. Communication between parking meters is enabled through a control centre: every single parking meter works for all, and they all work together to offer an individual approach for each parking meter.
Photo courtesy of David Ortega
Its good to talk

The constant communication between parking meter and control centre through the internet is the cornerstone of this approach. Similar to the smartphone that we use every day which receives mail instantly as its constantly logged on with an internet service provider the parking meters are constantly connected with the control centre. This enables a range of uses for every single meter, based on information regarding all of the meters within the same street, zone or neighbourhood.
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Physical setting (minimum installation)
Server Database FTP Web App Firewall
LAN/intranet Control centre access
DSL router
2G/3G WAN/internet
PDM
PDA PDA enforcement maintenance
Remote access control centre
(Above) Schematic showing how the system works in operation (Below) Di erent price tari s can be implemented, such as charging higher prices for longer stays
What can be achieved?

This tool relies purely on something thats both simple and powerful: communication. If we can send and receive information every minute of the day, we can achieve substantial accomplishments. Such communication enables algorithms to compute how many vacant spaces there are in the section of street thats managed by each meter. This information can be sent directly to a PDA or smartphone to offer drivers an estimate of how many parking spaces are available in the area they are driving to. The information can also be sent to trafc control centres, which can utilise it to inform drivers about the percentage of free parking via VMS or other parking guidance systems. The up-to-date availability information can be published on the municipality or citys website so
that drivers can use it before they even begin their trip. This could persuade some people not to take their car into the city at that time, or to park in less congested areas farther away from trafc hotspots. The inverse ow of parking information can also be used to aid trafc management. The control centre and parking meters can be supplied with data on local pollution levels, which would allow trafc to be diverted to streets with lower levels of congestion to reduce pollution in the jammed areas. Using the parking meters continuous connection to vehicle databases also allows for different parking tariffs to be implemented. The motorist, for example, could input their numberplate when buying a ticket and this information could be used to assess the type and average age of vehicles parked within a city. Tariffs could be dependent on an areas occupation rate, or the age and emissions levels of vehicles parked in that area. Tariff variations can also be added, dependent on the occupation time i.e. short, middle or long stay. The parking duration during a predetermined time period is accumulated in the database, and if users go to park their cars for a second time in a predetermined time period, the system will not permit it. All of these improvements can be used to create efcient parking management combined with environmental benets for people living in cities, as well as giving drivers condence that their parking payments are being used to deliver a quality service. Creating a combination of these tools with a multipayment system where users can register themselves online and pay their tariff or add more parking time via their smartphone, an automatic call centre or in the ofce using a computer with internet connection will give a complete service to the citizen, beginning a new era in the eld of parking, and in the integral management of cities. n
10
15 mins
2 hours
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10.00 5 1.25 0.20 0 Short stay Middle stay Long stay
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In the spotlight
A new end-to-end solution is a shining light in demonstrating how the parking sector is rapidly evolving
Words | Richard Joffe, Park Assist, USA
(Above) Combination of Park Assist M3 system and BB-LED light pipes (Top right) Industrial design of cameras and LED indicator on BB-LED light pipe
The word parking suggests a process of coming to a halt with a car and leaving it parked, which sounds like a rather xed, stable and boring procedure. But the world of parking is far more dynamic. It is typically a stressful experience for motorists and involves complex and bulky infrastructure for owners. Customers often ask questions such as: Will I be able to park near the area I want to visit?; Is my car going to be safe?; and Will I be able to nd my car when I return? Many car park owners are also searching for ways to reduce infrastructure and ongoing costs. In an ever-faster world of product development,
TKH and Park Assist have come together across two continents to join forces to create what they believe is the rst-ever end-to-end parking solution. The fully integrated solution encompasses every area of the customer experience, from making a parking space reservation via the internet and guidance to the nearest space, to security by real-time monitoring of the car with a camera and an integrated payment/nd-your-car system. One of the unique elements is the sustainable LED lighting solution that has been integrated with the Park Assist M3 camera system. This LED system provides a uniform distribution of light regardless
PARKING | 151
of how much LED lighting is installed, which ensures that there are none of the light or dark spots that commonly occur with HF uorescent lights. The LED lighting units also provide a safe atmosphere for customers as well as improve the conditions for camera observation as a result of there being much less light contrast on the images. The Park Assist camera solution is embedded onto the LED lighting and consists of cameras that can monitor every parking space in real-time, and provides an IP network whereby the system uses
numberplate recognition (NPR) to track the exact location of every vehicle in the facility. The camera system allows for a range of benets. These include nd your car (location of a customers vehicle can be viewed on their phone or on the paystation), parking guidance (green/red lights direct customers to the nearest available space), security (every space is monitored to ensure cars cannot be stolen), and tiered parking (every space can now be priced differently, which can increase revenues 10-15%). The digital camera network is akin to a smartphone, whereby new applications can be purchased by customers each year. A new app for 2013, for instance, involves identication of loitering and vehicle break-ins, where if somebody is standing by a car for more than three minutes, security is alerted and can view the car in real-time. It can also provide an integrated public address and general alarm (PAGA) system. In case of emergency or electricity failure, there is an integrated emergency light level. All the wiring of the systems is integrated and pre-installed in the light xture, which saves greatly in installation costs because there is no need for separate conduits and cabling for each individual system. The integrated system only needs one external connection point every 300m, which when compared with traditional parking guidance or LED systems, reduces infrastructure and installation costs by around 80%. Further economical benets are found in the sustainability of the system, with a lifetime of more than 80,000 operating hours and virtually maintenance-free and vandal-resistant xtures. Last but not least, an integrated motion and light sensor grid reduces the energy consumption signicantly through an automated dimming protocol i.e. the network recognises if
there are very few or no cars in an area, and automatically dims the lights to save power.
User-friendly GUI
The camera and guidance system, parking management system, intercom, light, PAGA and other building management systems can all be managed through a user-friendly (touchscreen, swipe and optional 3D) GUI in a control room, which also forms part of the comprehensive solution. Through integration of these systems in this one intuitive GUI, the car park operator can save money both in investment as well as in personnel. And as the system is fully IP based, remote control is also possible. The solution enables the operator/owner of a car park to optimise revenues through a number of different methods. Different payment rates, for example, can be charged for areas within the car park (e.g. close to the entry of a shopping mall; XXL car parks for extra large cars) and additional charges for parking incorrectly (e.g. double tariff for double parking, or a ne for staying over the 60 minutes allotted for short-stay spaces). The concept is developed with an open IP-based system and can therefore work with any PMS provided that the manufacturer is open to sharing the communication protocol, in doing so allowing for maximum exibility. The TKH and Park Assist solution allows customers to locate available spaces, nd their car on return, and experience a clean, attractive environment without worrying about security. The end-to-end system is not about parking but rather about improving quality of life and personal mobility, which all makes parking an easier business for operator/owner. Not only does the system greatly reduce infrastructure and ongoing costs, but it also typically leads to an increase of 2-5% in customers visits that result from the stress-free experience. n
152 | PARKING
Get real
Words | Stefan Tea, FAAC International, USA Ticketless, free-ow, E-boarding and smart tickets are all well-known terms in our current lives. They grant us access to venues, aircraft, toll roads and much more. We also increasingly hear about ticketless parking. Today, ticketless parking means the replacement of entry paper tickets (or other media) with mobile phones. Even though this is a breakthrough technology, it just replaces the ticket with another media, in this case the smartphone. Whether the smartphones near-eldcommunication interface or a barcode image is used, it still requires entry/exit
Ticketless parking: vision or reality? One expert in the sector explains the latest developments that are bringing this idea to life
terminals and gates to enforce revenues. At the end, the customer experience is pretty much the same except that they use a smartphone as the ticket. This idea ignores the fact that not everyone has a smartphone and therefore such a system cannot be used by everyone. Another version of ticketless parking is called credit card in and credit card out, which again requires the customer to present something (in this case the credit card) to an entry and exit terminal. In addition, it requires the parker to remember which credit card they used at the entry.
Ticketless parking in the real world

Fortunately, this situation is now changing. The DataPark Groups Australian subsidiary has been awarded a contract and has partnered with a major city in Australia, to develop a truly ticketless system that doesnt require the customer to have any media other than a vehicle with a numberplate. The main goal of the project is to design and bring to life an almost gateless and ticketless parking system for the citys smaller off-street parking garages. The system is based on numberplate recognition (NPR) technology that records
PARKING | 153
the paystation, which sends the information to the central database where the fee is calculated and the information is sent (along with the entry data) back to the paystation. The paystation then displays the entry data and the fee for the customer, who then pays via cash or credit card. If using the internet or phone application, the driver has to enter the location of the facility as well. In addition, frequent users can sign up on the citys website and register the car and numberplate, which allows the customer to use the citys parking facilities without having to pay manually every time. The parking fee will automatically be paid via the users credit card that is on le. Once the parking fee is paid the user can leave the facility. At the exit, the NPR system checks the plate of the leaving vehicle and if the customer is allowed to leave, the vehicle can pass without interruption. If, however, the customer didnt pay for parking and is attempting to leave the facility, the system can be set up in two different ways. The rst option is to have a gate installed at the exit (hence mentioning above that it is an almost gateless system) that is set up to always stay open and only close in the event of payment (or other) exceptions. The second option is that, should an unpaid vehicle exit the site, the vehicle data is automatically sent to the citys infringement database. Customers then have a period of predened days to make payment through the citys website before an infringement notice is issued. The central database server stores all of the transaction, as with a traditional ticket parking system.
Night-vision cameras are used to take numberplate images that are independent from available light conditions
User input and feedback

the numberplate on entry. This NPR system uses night-vision cameras to assure independence from available light conditions. It takes an image of the entering numberplate and uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to convert the letters and numbers on the plate to machine-encoded text. This text le along with the entry data such as date, time, lane ID and rate is sent to a central database. When exiting the facility, the customer can pay the parking fee using an on-site paystation, via the internet or a phone payment application. The only thing they need to remember is the vehicles numberplate. The user enters the numberplate at This DataPark PARCS system was designed with input from the user, resulting in a package that enhances the day-to-day operation and exception management, while providing usable data to make managerial decisions. The system suitably manages single and multiple facilities with equal ease. The controls and reporting are readily accessible through a modern network. This truly ticketless system eliminates the need for drivers to open the window to pull a ticket or present any form of identity at the entry or exit. Ultimately, it means that the vision of ticketless parking has actually already become a reality. n
Drivers can still choose to use pay stations if they desire
154 | PARKING
Charging ahead
Words | Uwe Hahner, Swarco Traffic Systems, Germany As electric vehicles (EVs) begin to make their way onto Europes markets, cities are looking for ways to further their proliferation. Building recharging stations seems to be such a way but doing that is expensive, and budgets are tight. This is where Swarco Trafc Systems park-and-recharge system, ChargeLine Park2Power, comes to the fore. There is a reason why so many city administrators want to further EVs: they see it as a way for their cities to go green. EVs especially e-cars could be the perfect means to provide inner-city mobility while resolving a number of urban environmental issues. They come with almost all the advantages of regular cars, but running on electricity they do not emit CO2, dust or noise into the inner-city environment. However, EVs also come with steep prices and limited driving range. The latter is a big issue and most citizens are still wary
How smarter business models can encourage the use of eco-friendly electric vehicles in an economical way
about buying these new e-cars even those who can afford them dont like their limited battery capacity and range. In fact, research suggests even well-funded, technology-keen consumers wont buy an e-car until an adequate recharging infrastructure is in place to make up for the range anxiety issue, which is why many cities are considering setting up that very infrastructure as a means of furthering these environmentally and city-friendly EVs. With tight budgets, most cities cant afford to set up an infrastructure that doesnt pay for itself. But what kind of infrastructure does?
Park and recharge, recharge and park

As of today, the answer to the above question seems to be an infrastructure made from integrated systems. These are recharging systems that are integrated with other systems or hardware, for example
pay-and-display machines integrated with other power outlets. Some companies have even developed recharging systems that are integrated into phone booths. The way they are constructed saves hardware and wiring costs, which is critical. Among these options, the systems integrated in pay-and-display machines could be the ones that are best for several reasons. Perhaps the most important one is that connecting on-street parking with costs and on-street recharging with costs makes a lot of sense from the users perspective. As recharging an e-cars battery can take 20 minutes or longer (in some cases much longer), recharging a vehicle where and while it is parked saves users a lot of time. Given that enough car parks and spaces are wired for on-street-recharging, it also makes driving to designated recharging gas stations unnecessary.
PARKING | 155
Winning business models

The second reason (and the one that matters most to cities) is that an on-street parking and recharging infrastructure can if set up in the right way pay for itself. That is what separates it from an infrastructure made from the single-purpose, on-street recharging stations that are in use in many cities today. The reason for that is that park-and-recharge infrastructures are paid for by two kinds of revenue parking and recharging fees whereas recharge-only infrastructures are paid for by one kind of revenue, usually the revenue that comes from selling kilowatt hours. Although the latter is hardly sustainable on-street-recharging stations cost several thousand Euros, while at current energy prices, the revenues generated from fully recharging a 55kWh battery are less than 10 the former can be run at a sustainable cost-to-income ratio, depending on the business and pricing models. In a lump sum per use model, users pay a lump sum for using a recharging station, i.e. parking their vehicle in front of it no matter whether they do use electricity from the station or whether they just use the space for parking. This model pays off and is relatively customer-friendly, but it comes with a disadvantage. Revenue still somewhat depends on electricity usage, as anyone who just needs to park his or her car will seek out another parking space to save money. Increased parking fees is another model that many are considering. Users pay an increased fee that covers average energy costs again, no matter whether they use electricity or not. This is similar to the lump sum model and may also bring non-rechargers to seek out other parking spaces. Separate charging for parking and electricity fees is a third model. Users pay a fee for parking in front of a recharging station, so those who use the station to recharge a vehicle have to pay for the energy costs as well. This model allows for a high degree of capacity utilisation, as the parking fee can be priced competitively, making the parking
space equally attractive to both rechargers and non-rechargers. So even if there are only a few EVs in the area to start with, fee revenue can be created. This last model seems to be the most promising, as it appears to be more economically viable than the others. And it is certainly the most user- friendly because users only pay for what they get.
A parking machine with sockets

Swarco Trafc Systems offers a recharging station that supports this last business and pricing model. ChargeLine Park2Power is a combination of parking area ticket machine and recharging station and allows for the simultaneous, separate sale of parking time and electricity through a single device. The system is a master-satellite design, with masters serving as both pay-and-display parking machines and recharging stations and satellites serving as remote energy outlets for parking spaces up or down the road from a master station. As such, it is highly scalable and can easily be built and re-built according to demand and at low cost. Systems such as this offer more than just revenues and cost advantages; they also support (unlike others) trafc-friendly parking as they prevent the long-term-blocking of parking bays as well as parking bay hopping. Flat rates encourage station users to leave their vehicle at the station even after the batteries have been recharged much to the irritation of anyone searching a free charging bay. All-inclusive parking fees, on the other hand, work as an incentive to re-park your fully recharged vehicle at a parking-only parking bay, as doing so may save some money. This leads to an increase in unnecessary idling trafc. Park-and-recharge systems such as ChargeLine Park2Power allow cities to set up infrastructures for EVs that are user- as well as trafc-friendly and most importantly pay for themselves. With them, they can further eco-friendly EVs in a sustainable way and that is a what can be called a triple-bottom-line move. Its good for the planet, good for the people, and good for cities budgets. n
Park-and-recharge systems allow cities to set up EVfriendly infrastructures
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PARKING | 157
Swiss guard
The latest developments from a well-known, Switzerland-based player in the advanced parking guidance sector
Words | Maya Achache & Christopher Toro, Schick Electronic, Switzerland
In todays fast-moving world, looking for an empty parking space is a waste of time and causes stress and frustration. So drivers are becoming more demanding when it comes to saving time and making the parking experience more efcient. Established players in the parking market therefore need to keep reinventing their offerings in order to help achieve these goals. Swiss parking expert, Schick Electronic, continues to develop its technology to accommodate the ever-changing demands of its clients. In fact, the company has recently doubled its production, equipping more than 60,000 parking spaces in 2012 alone.
Guidance and much more

The jewel in the companys crown is its Signal Park parking guidance system but it also offers a wide range of other solutions. These additional systems include ultrasonic detectors, variable message signs (VMS), parking management software, counting solutions and trafc lights.
Schick Electronic handles projects around the world, from small installations for 30 parking spaces in city centres to the largest shopping malls and most demanding customers, such as airports and stadia with 25,000 parking spaces. Over the past few months the company has been busy developing, upgrading and integrating several options in software and systems in order to cater for clients requests. A web service was top of the list of recent customer demands. So Schick Electronic devised a remote control option working with any smartphones available on the market for a more comfortable and more practical use for all managers of car parking facilities. Redundancy was next on the list. To prevent any critical failure of the main system and continue guiding drivers to their free space without any issues, the company developed a way to duplicate critical components and functions of the Signal Park system to keep it running throughout any situation or failure encountered.
Signal Park is deployed at car parks around the world, including at huge facilities with thousands of spaces
158 | PARKING
Data from the Signal Park sensors can be fed to VMS to assist motorists in nding an available space
The integration of TCP/IP a communications protocol used on the internet has also been a popular development. TCP handles the communication between applications, so Signal Park software has added a new tool to communicate with software from third parties, such as parking management systems, advanced available spaces, data information for cities websites, systems for reserving spaces before going to the car park, etc. Schick Electronic has also integrated BACnet protocol in its software, which was designed to allow communication of building automation and control systems for applications such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning control, lighting control, access control and re detection systems and their associated equipment. The BACnet protocol provides mechanisms for computerised building automation devices to exchange information, regardless of the particular building service they perform. For demanding customers, the option of having a working SQL server to manage all statistics in-depth and to bring a professional back-up data solution is now possible via the use of the new update of WinSP software.
Outdoor wireless ground sensor

As a result of the growing need to mix indoor and outdoor car parking spaces, Schick Electronic now integrates within WinSP software and works with a partner that provides and manufactures wireless ground oor sensors to respond together to any type of projects requested. These detectors communicate with the companys signs and software in the same way as standard detectors. When parking is managed with a numberplate recognition system by level and area, the company can adapt a nd-a-car solution. Its system records the exact time when cars are parked or leave spaces and it is easy to retrieve the data via its WinSP-based lost-vehicles software.
Customer feedback
Parking managers such as Vinci Park, Paris Airport, Geneva Airport and more have all tested the Signal Park system against competing solutions and decided to invest in Schicks solution.
The sheer amount of detectors and components produced annually (more than 60,000 spaces installed per year) allows Schick Electronic to remain competitive in terms of price yet still retain its edge in terms of quality, reliability and maintenance services, while guaranteeing a lifetime of its equipment of more than 20 years. Almost all Signal Park car park projects around the world are connected to the internet 24-7, which allows software updates and remote maintenance to be performed as well as information to be analysed at any time. A recent success story from 2011 saw the Parking Riponne in the centre of Lausanne, Switzerland, install the parking guidance system. With four oors, 1,200 spaces and its central location, the car park is very busy all year long. Before it had a parking guidance system, the car park had a counting system without guidance. The initial feedback from the manager of the car park is that there are no more complaints from frustrated costumers as they know exactly where to go and can avoid driving all around the car park without nding the few available places. Consequently, the number of cars has increased with the introduction of the system and the trafc is smoother. This advantage can have a direct impact on a car parks business by increasing its prot as all available spaces can be used. Several other advantages have been praised by the customer, including enhanced surveillance. Each detector has an extra yellow LED that is controlled by the software and helps to locate the cars that have gone over their time limit, and eventually put out an alarm so the vehicle can be caught. This feature makes life for the car parks employees easier and accurate at night-time. As the customer is always guided to a vacant space, when its necessary to close a sector there is no longer any need to install barriers or physically close off the space. The sector is closed remotely. The manager of the car park in Lausanne also added that his customers are highly satised. There was only one person who preferred the older system because she used to park in the same (quite hidden) space and is now discovering the space is occupied when she arrives! n
THE SYSTEM WHICH COUNTS VEHICLES AND GUIDES THEM TO A SPACE
400'000 SPACES EQUIPPED WORLDWIDE

Schick electronic develops and manufactures its products within his company based in Switzerland
www.schick-sa.com
160 | PARKING
Around-theworld ticket
A new development strategy is making parking standardised, harmonised and more efcient for all users in any country in which it is deployed
Words | Roger Hulsbosch, Amano, Belgium In any sector, the development of new functionality, options, machines and software is an expensive matter. In that respect, it is imperative that every new request is subjected to an in-depth analysis and an approval process. This is particularly true of the parking sector, where in todays climate, every penny not only counts but also has to be thoroughly accounted for. Besides criteria such as quality improvement, compliancy (to local laws) and project-specic requirements, a concept called glocalisation has also been adopted by Amano as a standard approach to develop its products in the most efcient way possible. If a companys customer base spreads over many countries, it is obvious that a vast amount of local requirements will need approval and prioritisation by product management and the development team. The glocalise principle requires that a machine or software option is envisioned such that its applicability exceeds the needs of the original request and becomes customer or even country independent. At the same time, any new features should be analysed so that the commercial benets are fully maximised. The Equality Act 2010 law which has nally been imposed on the UK market from 2012 is a typical example of local compliancy. As with other European countries, the UK has enforced upon all aspects of society a set of rules to ensure that disabled people can lead a public life with the same level of comfort as people without a disability. Naturally, this applies to the parking business. Two aspects of the Equality Act have an impact on parking: being wheelchair-friendly and allowing for people with a hearing aid to use an intercom facility in a comfortable way. It is clear that both supplier and parking operator have the obligation and responsibility to comply with these regulations. The downsides are the cost and the potential annoyance factor for the non-disabled. A pay-on-foot parking system can be made compliant with the Equality Act and, as such, have all man-machine interfaces optimised for the wheelchair user. Yet the other 95% (or more) of the paying customers who do not pay on wheels but pay on foot might be disgruntled at having to bend over while paying. The new Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)-compliant pay-on-foot system from Amano copes with this by offering a dual-display solution. The hardware was designed so that the purpose of each display can be decided upon separately. The standard version will show the payment guidance screens on both displays, which results in a pay-on-foot machine that is easy to use by both people standing upright as well as those in wheelchairs. In many countries, one sees standard machines and DDA-compliant machines side by side to offer the same level of comfort to all paying customers. With this new pay-on-foot device, a number of possibilities arise. If, for
PARKING | 161
Screen showing customers that mobile payment is available
(Top) Information screen (Above) Monthly subscription o er
instance, DDA is not a legal requirement, the machine can also be offered without the small display, which reduces the price and results in a standard machine. In addition to that, the car park management can decide whether to give the large display another purpose. The small display can be used as a payment guidance screen, remaining wheelchair friendly, whereas the bigger display provides service information. An example of this could be for the promotion of monthly subscriptions. In principle, static information that can be customised to the operators needs can be displayed. Ideally, alternating screens are shown that mix this type of information with advertisements, an approach that means additional recurring revenue is possible.
Information screens for end users

Knowing that every machine in the Xparc system is communicating by TCP/IP, it is obvious that web pages can be shown that offer the necessary information to end users (addresses, QR-codes to transfer shop details or other information to a smartphone, etc.). One of the benets of a TCP/IP-based hardware concept with a 100% webbased management environment is that additional interfaces to third-party
solutions can be integrated easily. This takes the term service one step further. The Xparc server offers several interface methods, from the very basic .CSV interface and database table synchronisation to the more high-end, online web services. An XML/SOAP-based web service is available that can be integrated by numerous third-party integrators. Any third-party application will always interface with the Xparc host, not with a parking machine. In that respect, the amount of machines that will use the service is irrelevant. One solution offered by this approach is the possibility to pay for a parking ticket by mobile phone. To indicate to end users that this solution is available, the upper screen of the pay-on-foot unit can be used as a static information screen. Customers will pay for their ticket through their monthly mobile phone subscription. In summary, Amano Europe offers a variety of web-based parking solutions. The open and 100% web-based architecture of Xparc allows the company to cope with the growing complexity of parking management. Providing easy interfaces with third-party solutions is an inherent part of Amanos vision on doing parking business today. As much as possible, new requirements are globally applicable. n
A dual display renders the machine suitable for wheelchair users as well as those on foot
162 | PARKING
Park and guide

Why the sensible building block for advanced parking guidance is addressing the mobility theme of smart cities
Words | Ido Wentink & Craig Wilson, Nedap AVI, the Netherlands As economies, urban centres and populations expand, the need for sensible parking guidance is also growing. In a few forward-thinking cities, the rst projects are already being realised. The Dutch technology company Nedap, for instance, offers wireless parking sensors called SENSIT, a platform that represents a building block for easy integration into any third-party management system for parking guidance, occupancy information or enforcement. Availability is a common parking frustration. Some parking facilities are full, while others remain empty yet unknown to searching drivers. Nedap, though, is now offering a solution for motorists to nd available parking spots easily and for parking managers to maximise the utilisation of their parking capacity. The company manufactures numerous intelligent trafc solutions and has years of experience in long-range RFID and ANPR technology. Its systems are used in various applications for vehicle access control and identication of vehicles in cities and industrial environments. In recent years, though, Nedap has been increasing its footprint in parking as a direct result of the SENSIT system, which detects vehicle occupancy in each individual parking spot.
Open architecture
The SENSIT system has a number of technical advantages. Firstly, it is wireless, which means the need for cable runs or
PARKING | 163
The company has recently integrated the SENSIT platform with a variety of third-party systems. Applications include creating better trafc management in and around cities, improving visitor guidance at airports and shopping malls, and informing truckers about available spots at truck-parking facilities along highways as well as at ports. Seamless integration with pay-and-display machines and enforcement applications is also an option.
Wireless in-ground sensors form the heart of this parking management solution
How it works
The SENSIT system consists of wireless, battery-powered ground sensors that are mounted in each individual parking space and together they form a mesh communication network that transmits to a central server. Combined, the sensor technology and a smart detection algorithm ensure a high degree of accuracy. When connected to displays along roads, in cars or on smartphones, for instance, drivers can be optimally informed about available parking spaces and better guidance can be realised. When parking managers are able to map out occupancy, they can better inform drivers about available spaces improved visitor guidance optimises trafc ow. Easy integration of the technology with third-party systems enables Nedap to keep focusing on further developments to continue offering a leading sensor accuracy, while integration of systems gives motorists the feeling of maximum freedom and the parking manager the opportunity to optimise the use of existing capacity. n
retro trenching is eliminated. Secondly, the sensor technology used enables high accuracy levels. And last but not least, easy integration with any third-party car park and trafc management system is possible. Nedap focuses on the development of the best hardware with an open technology standard rather than being tempted to develop additional parking software or systems. SENSIT is an independent vehicle detection system, making the technology an attractive option for integrators and operators in parking, trafc and enforcement.
PARK AND RECHARGE

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PARKING | 165
Fitting the bill

When it comes to recycling bills in paystations, operators have a number of choices available: it pays to take some expert advice
Words | Bassam Estaitieh, Crane Payment Solutions, USA Operators wanting to implement bill recycling in their paystations have to choose between the various bill recyclers on the market. How do they decide which is the best recycler for their specic needs though? They should focus on the features that help them maximise the primary benet of recycling: the reduction of cash-handling costs by minimising the number of visits to paystations to collect cash boxes and replenish change. To that extent, one must determine what features have an impact on the number of cash-related visits to the paystation, such as cash box capacity, recycling capacity, and number of recycled denominations. One must therefore understand how to view the above features in light of the objective of maximising bill recycling benets. Cash box capacity has a direct impact on the number of collection calls. The bigger the capacity, the more notes it can t and therefore the fewer the collection calls generated. The relationship between the number of collection calls and the cash box capacity is a straightforward mathematical one: number of cash box pick-up calls = cash box size/ number of notes going into the cash box. Figure 1 shows the number of collection calls generated for cash box capacities that see 10,000 insertions per month. A bill recycler with a bigger cash box requires fewer collection calls than one with a smaller cash box. In looking at the chart on the following page, for example, a 600-note cash box generates ~70% more pick-up calls than a 1,000-note cash box (all else equal). But does the operator care about bigger cash boxes when migrating from bill validation to bill recycling? After all, bill recycling is about returning notes back to the motorists and therefore the cash box will not see as many notes dropping into it as in the days of the bill validator. Studies into this matter show that a bigger cash box is always important. Specically, the bill recycler should have the same cash box capacity as that of its predecessor (the bill validator) for the recycling benets to be reaped.
For example, if 40% of the banknotes get recycled with a bill recycler, then only 60% of the banknotes previously going into a bill validator cash box will now go to the cash box of the recycler. Using the above example, 6,000 notes (out of 10,000 inserted) will make it into the recycler cash box. If the box can hold 1,000 notes, then the number of collections gets reduced to six (6,000/1,000). However, if the cash box capacity is only 600, for example, the number of collections does not improve when migrating from bill validation to recycling, as for the above example it would stay at 10 collections (6,000/600). Reducing cash box size might end up in clawing back all the benets of recycling when it comes to reducing collection calls! Recycling capacity has a direct impact on the number of replenishment calls. The smaller the
Crane Payment Solutions o ers a number of bill recycling options for paystations
166 | PARKING
25
25
Number of pickup calls
20 17 14 13 11
20 15 10 5 0 400 500 600
10
700
Cash box capacity
800
900
1,000
100 90 80 70 Cassette ll 60 50 40 30 20 Replenishment calls for empty 10 generated cassettes 0

0 8
Inserted bills beyond this capacity go to cash box
cassette ll level was reached (grey plot in graph), all notes inserted after transaction number 11 dont end up being saved. And therefore when the big drawdown begins (starting at transaction number 33), the smaller-capacity recycling cassette depletes quickly and results in a replenishment call. In contrast, had there been a larger-capacity recycling cassette that could have absorbed the earlier stream of insertions, there would have been enough notes stored in the recycling cassette to be able to service the drawdown of notes that follows, and would then save the operator unnecessary and costly replenishment calls. A recycler with a bigger capacity is better than one with a smaller capacity.
Number of recycled denominations

Different bill recyclers offer different capabilities when it comes to the number of denominations that can be recycled. What is the optimal number of denominations to be recycled? Does the operator need to recycle four denominations or is two enough? Recycling another higher denomination may take pressure off the need to dispense lower denominations, thereby reducing replenishment calls. Recycling another denomination may also mean that fewer bills go to the cash box, thereby potentially reducing collection calls as well. The marginal impact of recycling another higher denomination depends on several factors, the most notable being the popularity of higher banknote denominations in the operators locale. In Europe, recycling of the 5, 10 and 20 denominations appears to be enough. Recycling a fourth denomination in the Euro case means recycling the 50 denomination. As recycling is about eventually dispensing change, it doesnt make much sense to recycle the highest denomination in use by most motorists as its quite unlikely to be returned as change. In addition, allocating recycling capacity to the 50 as a fourth denomination means less recycling capacity for the much more popular 5, 10 and 20 denominations. As a rule of thumb, recycle only what will be given back as change. The maximum denomination to be recycled should be one lower than the maximum denomination generally in use. But what about recycling too few denominations? Although recycling fewer denominations increases the recycling capacity allocated to the recycled denominations, it is likely that the absence of a third higher denomination would lead to the faster depletion of the lower two denominations. In conclusion, when selecting the optimal bill recycler, operators should choose the recycler with the largest recycling capacity, larger cash box, and one thats capable of recycling no less than three denominations. This will ensure the operator minimises change replenishment and cash box collection calls, and maximises paystation uptime. n
Start-up cash oat in cassette
16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96 104 112 120 128 136 144 152 160 168 176 184 192 200 208 216 224 232 248 248
Transaction number Cassette ll larger capacity Cassette ll smaller capacity
(Figure 1, top) This shows collection calls generated for cash box capacities that have 10,000 insertions per month (Figure 2, above) This shows the e ects of smaller recycling capacity when confronted with bursts of transaction sequences
recycling capacity, the smaller a buffer it offers against an unpredictable sequence of transactions at the paystation. In the ideal world for recycling, a preceding transaction would have loaded recycling cassettes with the desired bills that would be used for change in the subsequent transaction. But in the real world, the sequence of transactions and bill insertions is far from predictable, and operators always have to start with a certain level of oat inside the bill recycler. A paystation could see a burst of transactions that involve back-to-back insertions of lower-denomination notes (that can be used as change in the future) followed by a burst of transactions that involve insertions of higher-denomination notes that draw down change or vice versa. Bill recyclers with inadequate capacities cannot handle such a scenario well. What would happen when limited recycling capacity is confronted with real-world transaction ow? Figure 2 illustrates the effects of smaller recycling capacity when confronted with bursts of transaction sequences. When the smaller-capacity cassette is lled, all inserted low-denomination notes that would have been stored in the cassette would now go to the cash box. This also has the adverse effect of lling the cash box with lower denomination notes that should have been recycled as change. It can be seen that lower recycling capacity therefore also leads to more frequent cash box collection calls. But the main concern with low-capacity recycling cassettes is that they cannot save too many inserted notes for later use. In the example shown, because the smaller-capacity recycling
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Dude, wheres my car?

Your memory is your best ally when trying to nd your car in a huge parking facility but memory can often need a helping hand
Words | Alexis Puig, Parkhelp, Spain
O ering drivers the means to easily nd their car greatly improves customer service
Screenshot of ParkManager software
All of the aisles in a car park look more or less the same. One aisle after another, with a partial view of each car How many red cars are there in a crowded airport or shopping mall car park? Losing your car among thousands of others is a very discouraging experience, which weve all experienced at least once. The experience is compounded at facilities such as airports, where long stays make it even more difcult to remember where you left your car. ParkHelp, a leader in parking guidance systems (PGS), has tackled this problem with its intelligent Find Your Car feature. So, how does the system work? Put simply, it combines ParkHelps singlespace guidance system with the latest numberplate recognition (NPR) trafc cameras and measures the time between events with a exceptionally smart algorithm. Perfect reading of the numberplate is key, so ParkHelp utilises high-performance NPR cameras, strategically placed at the entrances and exits of oors and sectors.
This technology allows accurate reading with cars in motion. Each time a car crosses the boundary of a sector, its plate number is recorded and stored in the ParkHelp database. If the car enters a sector and doesnt leave it within a certain time, the system can tell roughly where it is. To determine the exact location, powerful algorithms search for PGS occupation events during this time, and the match gives the exact location of the customers car.
Choices to suit various applications

A wide range of options is offered for accessing the customers vehicle location information. All options feature a map with the location of the car and its oor and slot number. This operation can be performed by customers or by garage managers. ParkHelps ParkManager PRO is the managers interface for inputting the customers numberplate data. Customers can input their own plate numbers in standalone tactile kiosks or by using
ParkHelps Mobile App. Find Your Car can alternatively be integrated with major paystations, and by just inserting the patrons parking ticket, the vehicle location appears on the screen and is printed on the ticket; with this solution drivers do not even need to remember their own numberplate. As a result of the combined use of PGS and NPR cameras, ParkHelp is able to offer a cost-effective solution with sophisticated technology and high-tech cameras. The benets for the parking facility operation are huge, including customer convenience, security and loyalty. For parking managers, the company offers a comprehensive tool to locate any car in the facility, which is highly useful in case of emergency or when investigating suspicious plate numbers. Find Your Car is another component of ParkHelps scalable family of technologies, which include dimmable LED lighting, dynamic and static displays, indoor and outdoor PGS, and mobile applications. n
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PARKING | 171
Pay it forward
How preventive maintenance in car parks is a good deed that pays for itself in increased savings
Words | James Ryan, Sentry Protection Products, USA The evolution of the parking industry continues to create challenges and opportunities for parking facility owners and operators around the world. New technologies, increased pressure to boost parking revenues, sustainability, the continued need for additional space, increased safety, the demand for high-performance equipment, products and efcient operations all lend themselves to pursuing a global approach to parking solutions. One element of that approach and something that remains a high priority for parking owners and operators is continual cost reduction. High-density parking areas, insufcient lighting, tight trafc patterns and the always unpredictable vehicle operator can lead to fender benders, dents, scratches and various other assaults on your facility. Repairs are costly. Routine maintenance and a proactive approach to protecting parking infrastructures and facilities ensure continued safe use and long-term durability, which translate to saving money, vehicles and the structural facility.
Investments reduce claim costs and increase revenue

Investments in the facility can eliminate accidents and reduce claims costs, adding more money to the bottom line. Improved lighting, for example, helps eliminate dark areas that often contribute to damage. Improved striping helps drivers park their cars in the correct places (potentially eliminating mistakes). Cameras add to safety and supervision. And, as simple as it sounds, proper maintenance and cleanliness promote safety and eliminate damage. But what about collision damage? The damage resulting from column-vehicle collisions is a major expense for a parking establishment in terms of both column repair and claims costs. In recent years, solutions have been created that reduce costs by reducing the damage caused by vehicle collisions. Park Sentry from the USA-headquartered Sentry Protection Products is a solution for columns that involves a thin layer of protective material being wrapped around the column, softening any impact and reducing or eliminating damage. Do these prevention methods really work? For Park Sentry customers, the proof is in the numbers. A Canadian car dealerships use of the solution has saved them thousands of dollars in car park and vehicle damage at a downtown urban facility. A scrape to a door panel can cost as much as US$500 (400) and a dent is even more costly. In Tel Aviv, Israel, a high-end dealership found Park Sentry to be effective not only in preventing damage from collisions, but also for its modularity in adapting to the columns and for the fact that it contributed to the upscale, professional look of the facility. The valet parking facilities at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, see between 24,000 and 26,000 vehicles each month. Prior to installation, the facilitys claim costs totalled approximately US$2,500 (1,900). By utilising the Park Sentry product on just 60% of its columns in one valet centre and 30% of its columns in another, claim costs were reduced by up to 80%.
Park Sentry surrounds columns with high performance, impact absorbing protection
172 | PARKING
(Above) Investment in the facility can eliminate accidents, reduce claim costs and result in longterm savings (Above right) Proper column protection allows for parking without fear in those tight spaces
The Minneapolis St. Paul Airport parking facilitys comprehensive approach to prevention and maintenance has resulted in a 90% reduction in claims costs, which at one time were very substantial. And in another example, a Westin Hotel in Colorado installed Park Sentry throughout its underground car park and realised a 50% reduction in costs.
Not a perfect world

Ideally, all parking structures would include elements to ensure efcient parking density, maximise revenue and minimise the costs for maintenance and operations. The reality is that parking structures come in all shapes and sizes. They can be single-use structures, constructed with the single purpose of parking vehicles. They can be a part of other structures such as housing, retail or commercial outlets. Or they can be repurposed facilities not originally intended as parking facilities. More cars, more people, increased density and tighter spaces all increase the possibility of collision, vehicle damage and even structural damage. Tighter spaces do increase the potential for more collisions and today its not unusual to see parking spaces crammed next to pillars and posts where they just wouldnt have been decades ago. Ultimately, it creates a burden on the facilitys engineering staff to repair structural damage if proactive measures are not taken to protect the facility while fully recognising the increased collision potential of tighter space designs. Repairs are of course expensive. According to a general contractor source, the cost of repairing a concrete column with minimal damage is at least US$1,000 (800), and as much as US$3,000 (2,400) for repairs to a column with major damage; these approximations are only for one column. In high-density parking
situations where vehicle collisions are more frequent, the cost of repairing multiple columns adds up very quickly. The best-in-class preventive solutions for car parks are moulded products made with impact-resistant polypropylene material. For Park Sentry, the material is ARPRO a branded product normally used in car bumpers. Impacts are absorbed so the skin of the vehicle doesnt take the brunt of the impact and the material is engineered to return to shape again and again. This material is particularly well suited for parking garage protection because it provides progressive resistance, with soft protection for slight bumps and added resistance when needed to absorb harder collisions. Also, the polypropylene material doesnt scratch automobile nishes. With regard to the issue of tight-space car parks, vehicles can be more easily parked very close to column structures as the garage space available for safe car manoeuvres is increased. The bright yellow colour increases the visibility of the columns and walls, often preventing impact from happening in the rst place. You not only experience the product you see it. Park Sentry is available for both four-sided columns and round columns, meaning most of the vulnerable columns in parking facilities can be covered. The product is a minimal footprint, adding as little as 40mm to column structures. The bottom line is that where high-density parking is necessary, and column-vehicle interaction is unavoidable, steps should be taken to minimise the costs associated with these difculties. Todays facility engineers are advised to think about collision protection in a proactive manner and nd solutions before problems arise that require structural repairs or encumber operations with costly liabilities. n
In your city is it possible to:

- Pay from any parking meter? - Pay & Go (no ticket exposition)? - Extend expiration time from any parking meter? - Pay for used time only? - Use a simple SMS payment? - View free bays on VMS panels? - Ask for free bays on your phone? - Check for unpaid vehicles only? - Have all information in real time?
...in open parking areas?

If youll install the revolutionary SPS FL200 Management System the answer will be...
YES!
Using wireless sensors, FL200 ensures all these features, and much more. S200, under pavement wireless Sensor, provides up to 8 years of real-time operations. Fl200 is patended and actually is installed and operative in some Italian and European cities.

For more information visit www.smartparking.it
SMART PARKING SYSTEMS S.r.l. - Via della Scienza, 27 - I 37139 VERONA - Italy Ph. +39 045 8510919 - Fax +39 045 8511079 - info@smartparking.it
174 | PARKING
Divine inspiration
Taking a new approach to parking management, but using a name with great historical signicance, an Italian expert presents its latest offering
Words | Luca Ciscato, Smart Parking Systems (SPS), Italy Now that weve entered the Smart Cities era, established vendors need to ensure they are ready for the associated new technological challenges that will arise. One company thats primed to confront these challenges head-on is Smart Parking Systems (SPS), whose FL200 paid parking management system has seen particular success in Treviso, Italy. Following this deployment, in 2011 the municipality won the second prize for sustainable mobility at the Civitas Awards during the annual Civitas Forum. Hot on the heels of this recognition, SPSs new system is called Dante and is produced by the Italian company Intercomp and distributed by SPS. true paid-parking service, wherein users had various options for payment, including paying for the actual period of parking used. This not only meant users didnt waste money unnecessarily but also meant they didnt get ned for not returning to their vehicles before any payment expiry. Introduced at the 2012 Intertrafc exhibition, Dante combines various advanced features and despite its compact size, these are merged within a single column. And this multi-faceted system is benecial for both manager and end user and can be used as a simple parking ticket machine for paid parking such as Pay & Display, or when combined with S200 wireless sensors as an advanced operations management tool for vacant/ occupied parking. Being a modular system, it can also serve several different functions and can even be customised based on clients requests. The back of the machine, for instance, can be used as an information point for tourists, with advertising and promotional information displayed. All the functions of an intelligent ticket machine are incorporated within Dantes scalable structure and it can be set up in a variety of ways. A basic model, for instance, might just feature a monochromatic LCD display and payment with coins-only but at the more advanced end of the scale, a 7in touchscreen colour display can be integrated with payment by coins, smart card (chip or contactless), credit card (chip or contactless) and SMS. Dante can further be set up to obtain and cross-check, in real-time, detailed information relevant to the whole parking area that the manager
Italian experience
The experience in Treviso the rst European city to be equipped with a system of wireless sensors on all paid parking spaces (nearly 2,600) has shown that the introduction of new technologies in the management of parking is greatly appreciated by users, and even more so by mobility managers who nally have access to analytical data relating to parking trends, as well as the type of people using that parking availability. Through the use of this data, it has been possible to check through rates and better utilise areas reserved exclusively for members, which were previously rarely used. It was also possible to introduce specic member schemes for certain streets and squares, as many users parked in those areas daily and paid for parking with their smart cards. As a result of the technology installed, Treviso was able to provide a
wishes to monitor. It can, for instance, communicate with the wireless sensors embedded beneath the tarmac in the middle of a parking space. Each sensor sends data to the ticket machine or to the specic gateway which, in turn, sends it onto the server through a GPRS modem. Consequently, through the web-based operations management software, it is possible to receive information remotely, check takings, parking permanence, turnover and occupancy indexes, available areas, memberships and the state of alarms over the course of 24 hours. With such
PARKING | 175
Management server (Telecom Italia IDC) UTMS GPRS Supervisor computer Internet
(Main) The Dante ticket machine (Left) Schematic showing how SPSs technology is deployed (Below) The parking meter can also serve as a useful information point
SMS/apps payment
Online vacant buys Real-time vacant bays Onstreet checking
LPRN wireless network
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a setup, the advantages are clear both for the manager of the parking operation and for citizens. The former is able to keep the whole facility under control, verifying parked vehicles, vacant spaces, paid parking, average permanence and many other analyses, which can also be customised as required. Knowing trends associated with mobility and trafc streams is a signicant advantage for the manager, and key for applying customised rate policies tied to specic requirements. Citizens, meanwhile, benet from a service that is punctual and fast. Firstly, on variable message signs, they can access information about the availability of vacant spaces as they enter the city. Then, after having parked their vehicle, they only need to key in the number of the space occupied onto the column and carry out payment, without having to return to the vehicle to display the ticket. Furthermore, among additional services, it is possible to extend the duration of parking from any ticket machine in the city without having to return to the vehicle, while other available parking spaces can be checked directly from smartphones via a dedicated map. And nally, because of the sensor, administrators can also allow for an initial period of grace, or monitored free parking, perhaps just a few minutes for users to conduct quick errands. Parking attendants can control areas of 500 parking spaces or more through the system. The portable device with which they will be equipped
(PDA, smartphone, etc.) will indicate which vehicles are in potential violation, thereby considerably improving efciency of controls. And regarding exibility of use, the meter can also serve as a useful information point. The rear panel was designed to bear a 15in touchscreen colour display, a webcam, a speaker and a microphone with wireless connection. Consequently, in strategic points of the city such as areas with a large tourist ow, Dante can directly provide local information or function as a helpdesk, allowing video/voice contact with ofces located elsewhere. Also, the potential for providing commercial advertisements to shops, restaurants and businesses generally shouldnt be underestimated, which could provide an extra source of income for a municipalitys administration.
Safe and self-efficient

In terms of construction, Dantes body shell and safe deposit box for the coins are manufactured in 4mm stainless steel to guarantee maximum mechanical durability. The exterior varnishing and instruction panel can be customised according to a clients individual requests. The real-time functioning features with 24-hour cover require a 24-hour connection to the power supply (220Vac) or during the night a connection to a public lighting network. The basic version can be supplied through a photovoltaic panel. n
176 | PARKING
Pretty vacant
How video-based occupancy detection for car parks can help motorists trying to nd unoccupied spaces
Words | Kristof Maddelein, Traficon, Belgium
High occupancy of parking facilities in inner-city areas is forcing many motorists who have arrived at their destination to continue driving in order to nd a vacant parking space. No wonder that according to numerous studies up to 30% of city trafc consists of motorists who are looking for a parking spot. As such, vehicles searching for a vacant parking space are signicant contributors to trafc congestion in cities and subsequently they have a detrimental impact on the economy, environment and quality of life in the city. The effect of searching for parking on congestion has become increasingly topical for city planners as well as for car park operators. Many onstreet parking spots are free or priced low in comparison with off-street car parks. As a result of this, motorists tend to prefer driving around for a suitable (cheaper) parking spot, resulting in congested roads. Although hard to nd, most cities still have vacant spots. Typically, friction vacancy a percentage of the total
number of parking spots that remain vacant simply because motorists cannot nd them is some 10 to 15%.
Parking guidance
Instead of simply creating more parking spots and consequently attracting more cars to the city centre city authorities are now looking for more innovative ways to solve the parking problem and ll the remaining vacant spots more efciently, with parking guidance being the most notable trend in this story. Many cities rely on parking guidance systems to direct motorists to accessible car parks with sufcient capacity. Also, by making motorists pay a considerable amount for their onstreet parking spot in comparison with car parks at the edge of the city, car owners will be motivated to park their vehicle somewhat further from the centre, but in an area that offers smooth connections with public transport (subway, tram, bus). Worldwide, city car parks are now being equipped with parking
guidance systems that communicate the vacant spots via VMS panels or for the more forward-thinking cities via smartphone applications. But guidance systems are not only limited to cities. Shopping malls, for example, see these systems as a competitive advantage in order to offer their customers an extra service: nd a parking spot quickly and therefore lose less valuable time. When shoppers know they can easily nd a vacant spot, they will be more willing to return. In the long run, a parking guidance system allows shopping malls to attract more returning customers and achieve a signicant turnover increase. Airports are also increasingly using parking guidance systems to inform their customers about vacant spots per row. At airports in particular, a vacant spot is revenue lost.
Detect to inform
A critical factor in the success of parking guidance systems is an accurate estimation of car park occupancy. To determine the
PARKING | 177
and video detection. Through the steady increase of parking management applications, those technologies which typically have their roots in the intelligent transport systems market are now being tuned and adapted to car park needs. Among those many different technologies, video detection is a promising one, offering many benets for outdoor vehicle parking occupancy detection to both system integrators and end users. A video detection sensor can be installed on existing infrastructure, which makes it exible with regard to planning and deployment. Being non-intrusive, there is no need to close the parking area or clear the parking spaces for installation of the system. The whole area can remain open to vehicle drivers and even for conguration of the system, theres no need to interrupt the daily ow of vehicles entering and leaving the parking area. By measuring the occupancy with video detection in real-time, the system doesnt require a manual reset and manual count of parked vehicles. The accuracy rate is xed and can be taken into account in the parking management system. Another major advantage of video detection is the visual feedback. At any time the camera video stream can be used for video surveillance and monitoring of the parking area, which offers a substantial benet towards the security operations of an outdoor car parking area.
Putting video detection to work

By using vehicle recognition on a xed camera installed on existing or new infrastructure, it is possible to detect the presence of multiple vehicles in the eld of view. The higher a camera can be mounted, the more parking spaces can be seen by the camera. Measuring the amount of parked vehicles and their location in the parking area is easily achieved through a single predened conguration at the deployment of the system. Knowing the amount and location of empty parking spaces is derived from the total amount of detected vehicles in comparison with the predened total amount of parking spaces. A video-based system not only measures how many cars are parked but can also provide the location of free parking spaces, generating valuable input for a parking guidance system. In such a system, multiple cameras can be used to detect empty parking spaces, which are monitored by a parking management system that updates the information on parking guidance displays to guide vehicle drivers to an open and available parking spot. Tracon is well known in the ITS sphere for its video detection systems. Now, though, the company is bringing its expertise in these technologies to the parking sector so that car park managers and drivers can all enjoy better parking operations. n
occupancy rate, there are two possibilities. The rst is counting vehicles going in and out of the car park in order to learn the number of occupied and vacant spots. A second possibility is actually detecting the presence of vehicles in a specic parking spot. Vehicle-counting systems are often used at car park entrances and exits. Due to an imperfect counting accuracy rate, such systems require a manual reset. The accuracy rate for loop counting is typically 97%. Other systems, such as barrier counting, may score better but perfection cannot be achieved. An operator or car park employee must therefore manually count the correct number of vehicles parked and then reset the system count number to this gure. This labour-intensive procedure is repeated periodically, typically every three days. With busy car parks that have vehicles driving in and out very frequently, it can be impossible to conduct a manual count.
Tra cons video detection solutions accurately monitor parking occupancy in real-time
Video-based vehicle detection

In the case of outdoor car parks, a wide range of vehicle-detection technologies are available today, the most popular being inductive loops, radar
178 | ADVERTISERS DIRECTORY
ADEC (page 96) ADEC Technologies was founded in 2009. It rst developed a road tra c detector combining three sensing technologies (Doppler radar, ultrasonic and passive infrared) for accuracy and reliability in above-ground data acquisition. In 2010, ADEC introduced the TDC4 family of detectors, which combines traditional threetechnology tra c detection with the ability to automatically capture images of irregular tra c conditions, such as wrong-way drivers and queues. Contact details: Tel: +41 552 152 400 Email: info@adec-technologies.com Web: www.adec-technologies.com
Avery Dennison (page 22) Avery Dennison develops identi cation and decorative solutions for businesses and consumers. The company employs people in over 200 manufacturing and distribution facilities in more than 60 countries. Its products include pressure-sensitive labelling materials; graphics imaging media; retail apparel ticketing and branding systems; RFID inlays and tags; o ce products; and specialised labels for automotive, industrial and durable goods applications. Contact details: Tel: +1 626 304 2000 Email: communications@averydennison.com Web: www.averydennison.com
300XE a leading bill recycler that boasts a large recycling capacity and large cash box. Contact details: Tel: +1 905 303 8874 Email: bestaitieh@craneps.com Web: www.cashcode.com
Allied Vision Technologies (page 5) Allied Vision Technologies (AVT) designs, produces and sells cameras and components for image processing in industrial and life science applications. With innovative products, superior manufacturing and a service-driven organisation, AVT is established as a premier provider of digital camera solutions for machine vision worldwide. Contact details: Tel: +1 604 875 8855 Email: laurette.perrard@alliedvisiontec.com Web: www.alliedvisiontec.com
Delta Light & Optics (page 15) Delta specialises in design, development, test, certi cation and consultancy in the areas of electronics, microelectronics, software technology, light, optics, acoustics, vibration and sensor systems. Contact details: Tel: +45 721 940 00 Email: delta@delta.dk Web: www.madebydelta.com
Borum (page 35) Borum is an experienced global supplier of trucks and self-propelled machines for road marking. Its range also comprises related equipment such as preheaters for thermoplastic, machine trailers, trailers for handwork as well as line erasers. Contact details: Tel: +45 87 613 213 Email: info@borum.as Web: www.borum.as
Amano Europe (page 145) Amano Europe o ers web-based parking solutions. It di erentiates itself on the market by o ering solutions rather than systems the point being that its products help clients to solve their speci c problems. The open and 100% web-based architecture of Xparc allows Amano to cope with the growing complexity of parking management. Providing easy interfaces with third-party solutions are an inherent part of Amanos vision of the parking business today. Contact details: Tel: +32 89 32 39 20 Email: roger.hulsbosch@amano.eu Web: www.amano.eu
Cale (page 156) Cale Group is a leading supplier of solutions for unattended parking, public transport, and other entry-fee systems, with customers in more than 40 countries. Its products are exible and user-friendly and through the use of modern communication methods handle electronic payments in a secure and e cient way. Contact details: Tel: +46 8 799 37 00 Email: sales@cale.se Web: www.calegroup.se
Elcom (page 84) Elcom has been a company with a creative team of specialists in electronics, telecommunications, programming and tra c since 1994. It provides consulting, design, development, manufacturing and implementation of components and integrated systems of tra c light signalisation, centralised remote control by wire and wireless communication, rmware, use of LED and video technology within ITS applications, LED lamps and control systems for smart public and tunnel lighting. Contact details: Tel: +381 11 37 57 155 Email: o ce@elcombgd.rs Web: www.elcombdg.rs
ASFT Industries (page 45) ASFT contributes to safer roads by developing and supplying equipment related to the measuring of friction on roads. ASFT a leader in products for friction testing stands for Airport Surface Friction Tester, although the company is today equally committed to the road environment as it is to airports. Contact details: Tel: +46 411 651 00 Email: sales@asft.se Web: www.asft.se
Crane Payment Solutions (page 167) Crane Payment Solutions (CPS) is a leading manufacturer of cash payment devices for the transportation industry. Bill validators, bill recyclers, coin validators, coin recyclers and coin hoppers are designed and built by CPS sta at global R&D and manufacturing locations, with a focus on optimising operational costs and improving the motorist and ridership experience at operators and transit authorities around the world. CPSs agship products for the transportation industry include the Bill-to-Bill
EL-TRA Sistemi (page 170) EL-TRA specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of magnetic heads as well as motorised modular card/ticket dispensers, validators and reader equipment for parking, motorways and public transport. It supplies these in more than 40 countries worldwide. The products integrate up to four technologies, including magnetic, barcode, chip and RFID. Contact details: Tel: +39 011 220 2545 Email: info@eltrasistemi.com Web: www.eltrasistemi.com
ADVERTISERS DIRECTORY | 179
Evonik (page 113) Evoniks DEGAROUTE brand covers a broad spectrum of special 2K cold-plastic resins used to make more durable, cost-e ective and environmentally friendly marking compounds for application on major roads or urban streets, bicycle paths and pavements, and for markings in parking lots or industrial buildings. Contact details: Tel: +49 6181 59 6104 Email: info-degaroute@evonik.com Web: www.degaroute.com
GATSO (Inside Front Cover) Founded in 1958, GATSO delivers tra c enforcement solutions around the world from design and manufacturing, to installation and operation. Fifty-plus years after the worlds rst speed-measuring device was introduced, GATSO is still the leader in speed and red-light enforcement. The company has implemented projects in more than 60 countries and delivered 45,000 systems around the world. Contact details: Tel: +31 (0)23 525 5050 Email: sales@gatso.com Web: www.gatso.com
IRD (page 75) International Road Dynamics Inc (IRD) is a world leader in highway tra c management, operating internationally in the ITS industry. With more than 30 years of experience, the company is a multidiscipline organisation specialising in advanced tra c control, weight enforcement, bridge protection and toll management technologies. Contact details: Tel: +1 306 653 6600 Email: info@irdinc Web: www.irdinc.com
FAAC (page 134) FAAC is an international provider of parking management solutions for communities, hotels, hospitals, shopping departments, large o ce buildings and airports. Founded in 1965, FAAC addresses customers parking needs in a reliable and cost-e ective way with standalone or system-based solutions, ful lling operating e ciency needs. Contact details: Tel: +39 051 6172411 Email: marketing@faac.it Web: www.faacgroup.com
Geveko (page 63) Geveko has more than 60 years experience in horizontal markings. The company o ers the full range of materials for horizontal markings and is marking the future with water-borne paint, thermoplastic, preformed thermoplastic, tactile markings, cold plastic and LED markings. Contact details: Tel: +45 63 51 71 71 Email: sales@gevekomarkings.com Web: www.geveko-markings.com
Kamber (page 32) Kamber is a leader in spraying systems, mainly for road markings. The company o ers innovative solutions and a large range of products for spraying all kinds of road-marking products (paint, two components, thermoplastic, glass beads). Kamber has a world distribution network including the main manufacturers of machines. Contact details: Tel: +41 21 691 69 51 Email: info@kambersa.ch Web: www.kambersa.com
FIA Foundation (page 104) FIA Foundation is a UK charity that manages and supports an international programme of activities promoting road safety, environmental protection and sustainable mobility, as well as funding motorsport safety research. Contact details: Tel: +44 207 930 3882 Email: mail@ afoundation.org Web: www. afoundation.org
Intercomp (page 78) Intercomp has been manufacturing electronic scales for more than 30 years and is one of the largest providers of weighing systems to the transportation industry. The company has extensive experience supplying portable scales and weigh-in-motion systems to governments for enforcement, freight control at ports, and data collection. Contact details: Tel: +1 763 476 2531 Email: avh@intercompcompany.com Web: www.intercompco.com
Gardasoft Vision (page 66) Gardasoft Vision was founded more than 10 years ago to provide turnkey machine vision systems for industry. Today, the companys core business is the development and manufacture of highperformance LED lighting controllers. In 2009, Gardasoft acquired the worldwide rights to the VCubed Limited product range, which utilises the latest high-brightness LED technology to produce a range of high-intensity solutions. Contact details: Tel: +44 1954 200343 Email: paul.downey@gardasoft.com Web: www.gardasoft.com
Kistler (page 73) Kistlers core competence is the development, production and use of sensors for measuring pressure, force, torque and acceleration. Its know-how and electronic systems can be used to prepare measuring signals for use in analysing physical processes, controlling and optimising industrial processes and improving product quality in manufacturing. Kistler o ers a comprehensive range of sensors and systems for engine development, automotive engineering, plastics and metal processing, installation technology and biomechanics. Contact details: Tel: +41 52 224 11 11 Email: info.ch@kistler.com Web: www.kistler.com
Intertra c (pages 9, 21, 146, 183) With a proven track record spanning 38 years, Intertra c is the worlds leading trade fair formula for the infrastructure, ITS tra c management, safety and parking sectors. Attracting decision makers from around the globe, Intertra c o ers a platform to do business and get up to speed with the latest industry trends and developments. Whether you are looking to buy, sell or distribute, there is no better place to gain a comprehensive market overview. Contact details: Tel: +31 20 549 12 12 Email: c.jansen-young@rai.nl Web: www.intertra c.com
Macq (page 117) For more than 30 years, Macq has specialised in advanced technologies for tra c. The company developed its own ANPR products, making it a leading worldwide supplier. Macqs popular iCAR range is the highest level of development with remarkable accuracy. Macq is currently looking for new partners around the world. Contact details: Tel: +32 2 610 1500 Email: emmanuel.salle@macq.eu Web: www.macq.eu
TECHNOLOGY W O R L D E X P O 2 0 13
Meteorological World Expo (page 168) Meteorological Technology World Expo is exclusively for people involved in the decision-making process in specifying and purchasing climate, weather and hydrometeorological measurement, prediction and analysis technologies, plus service providers. Contact details: Tel: +44 1306 743744 Email: simon.willard@ukipme.com Web: www.ukipme.com
Park Assist (page 139) Park Assist develops infrastructure technology with a focus on parking and transport. The company launched two products in 2010 that it considers to be the next generation of smart transport systems: on-street wireless sensors and a camera network for indoor car parks that can identify the exact location of any car in real time. Contact details: Tel: +1 877 899 7275 Email: usa@parkassist.com Web: www.parkassist.com
Nedap (Inside Back Cover) Nedap produces vehicle identi cation systems for the ultimate in fast and secure long-range identi cation in order to monitor and control vehicle- and driver-related activities. The ability to integrate various RFID technologies o ers a high level of exibility and user convenience. Nedaps systems are widely deployed around the world. Contact details: Tel: +31 544 471 666 Email: info-avi@nedap.com Web: www.nedapavi.com
Neural Labs (page 69) Neural Labs o ers precise, hardwareindependent and easy to integrate ANPR engines in addition to all the advice and consultancy needed to succeed in building an ANPR system. The companys products are available for Windows and Linux and in di erent versions for stop-and-go or free- ow tra c scenarios. Contact details: Tel: +34 93 591 24 51 Email: info@neurallabs.net Web: www.neurallabs.net
ParkHelp (Outside Back Cover) ParkHelp was set up in 2006 and became a world pioneer in developing IP connection products and applications. ParkHelp o ers solutions for improving urban mobility with the challenge of making it sustainable. The company is present in more than 45 countries with an installed base of more than 200,000 parking spaces, with subsidiaries in Brazil and the USA. ParkHelp improves mobility and sustainability through parking space management, working in both on on-street and o -street applications, including airports and shopping malls. ParkHelp solutions have many bene ts: preventing car park congestion; saving time in nding a space; reducing CO2 emissions; and increasing turnover on peak days, resulting in greater ow to the car park. This increased spending provides increased revenue to the operator and an increase in net income for the owners. Contact details: Tel: +34 934 335 670 Email: info@parkhelp.com Web: www.parkhelp.com
Pexco (page 7) Based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and with seven plants in the USA and Mexico Pexco is a leader in the design and fabrication of extruded plastic products. Davidson Tra c Control has long been recognised as a leading manufacturer of high-quality tra c and highway safety products, which include the FG 300 high-impact resistant delineator posts, temporary pavement markers for chip seals and two versatile curb systems. Davidson also manufactures Types I & II, ADA-compliant barricades, guardrail delineators, barrier markers, snow poles, pedestrian safety signs, and more. Contact details: Tel: +1 253 284 8000 Email: heidi.burmeister@pexco.com Web: www.davidsontra c.com
Prisma Teknik (page 131) Prisma Teknik has 20 years experience of developing and manufacturing unique, high-quality products with advanced and reliable technology. Its three product areas are pedestrian signals, de ection indicators and push buttons. Contact details: Tel: +46 504 400 40 Email: contact@prismateknik.se Web: www.prismateknik.se
Open Tra c Systems (page 149) Open Tra c Systems is a company dedicated to the study and development of engineering solutions in di erent spheres of the industrial sector. Its mission is to participate in the continued success of its customers by producing high-quality and innovative solutions by listening to and understanding their requirements. Contact details: Tel: +34 934 544 573 Email: comercial@opentra c.net Web: www.opentra c.net
PDSystems (page 91) PDSystems specialises in tra c safety solutions. The companys goal is to produce and deploy systems for tra c smoothing and increasing safety in a way that provides drivers and other participants in the road tra c sector with key information in time. The company has been successfully operating across the whole of the Czech Republic for many years. Contact details: Tel: +420 724 542 775 Email: vondrus@pdsystems.cz Web: www.pdsystems.cz
Reklamid (page 49) Reklamid of Sweden is an expanding company that provides consultancy, problem-solving and patented products for the sign industry worldwide. Products include the RollsRoller Flatbed Applicator and EZ System. The RollsRoller Flatbed Applicator is a new production technology that removes bottlenecks in the production chain. All companies that work with self-adhesive foil can bene t from using a RollsRoller. Almost 1,500 companies worldwide have already discovered this, and have made RollsRoller part of their business concept. The RollsRoller creates its own capital and pays for itself by doing the job in one-third of the time required for manual application. Contact details: Tel: +46 54 770 70 00 Email: emma@reklamide.se www.rollsroller.se
ADVERTISERS DIRECTORY | 181
RSM (page 99) RSM (Road Safety Management) was founded to address the software needs of the road industry, with the belief that the future of the sector lies in software development and automation. Its agship product, Fuzzy logic Intelligent Tra c Systems (FITS), is a step towards full automation. RSM has o ces in Finland, Ireland and the UK, and FITS is presently being piloted in Tampere. Contact details: Tel: +353 1 627 3529 Email: mmantalvanos@rsm.ie Web: www.rsm.ie
SGGT (page 41) SGGT is one of the most important European manufacturers of road safety products, with more than 35 years of experience. The companys products are marketed either directly from its head o ce in Germany, through associated companies abroad, or by quali ed national distribution partners. The companys production plant holds EN ISO 9001 certi cation. Contact details: Tel: +49 682 430 8211 Email: export@sggt.de
Schick Electronic (page 159) With 40 years experience, Schick Electronic develops and manufactures tra c and parking electronics products and software. To ensure it o ers only the most advanced technology, the company mainly works on its own products. It has marketing, development, manufacture, sales, installation and maintenance departments. Based in Switzerland, Schick is represented or directly involved all over the world, and has equipped 300,000 spaces worldwide over the past decade. Contact details: Tel: +41 216 350 612 Email: maya.achache@schick-sa.com Web: www.schick-sa.com Web: www.swarco.com Schro (page 164) Park2Power is a new, unique charging station for e-vehicles. As a combination of parking area ticket machine and charging station, it allows the simultaneous sale of parking time and electricity with one device. The system is both a means to support eco-friendly e-mobility and a sustainable source of income. Contact details: Tel: +49 7225 6403 Email: parking@swarco.de Web: www.swarco.com/sts
Simetryx (page 84) Simetryx o ers a range of solutions that the company describes as ITS for the logistics world. These solutions include the YourView software platform for the logistics and tra c industries as well as WIM solutions, tra c controllers and RFID access control. Contact details: Tel: +598 2 902 10 66 Email: info@simetryx.com Web: www.simetryx.com
SVS-VISTEK (page 87) SVS-VISTEK, with headquarters in Seefeld near Munich, Germany, is an innovative company that develops, manufactures and distributes professional machine vision components and systems. Since 2001, the company has been supplying industrial CCD cameras in accordance with the latest technologies available. With production, distribution and software development under one roof, SVS-VISTEK is able to o er its customers reliable and e cient all-in-one or customised solutions not found on the market. As an o cial distributor for several manufacturers, the company also o ers numerous other machine vision products and accessories. Contact details: Tel: +49 (0) 8152 99 85 0 Email: sales@svs-vistek.com Web: www.svs-vistek.com
Smart Parking Systems (page 173) Smart Parking Systems is the exclusive dealer of the FL200 systems, designed and manufactured by Intercomp, which have revolutionised the management of on-street pay parking. The systems use a series of wireless sensors underneath the road surface in any parking bay, which communicate to the parking meters the presence of vehicles. The parking meter sends all data collected from the sensors, along with payment data, to a central server, which processes and displays it on a website for consultation in the dedicated o ces and on PDA with internet connection for parking supervisors. Contact details: Tel: +39 045 851 0919 Email: l.ciscato@smartparking.it Web: www.smartparking.it
Swarco (page 121) The Swarco Group, headquartered in Austria, provides the complete range of road safety and tra c management products, systems, services and solutions. These include adaptive urban and inter-urban tra c control, static and dynamic signage, parking, public transport, infomobility, LED street lighting as well as re ective road-marking systems and contracting. Its 2,400 employees in 80 companies in 26 countries help customers to manage mobility and improve tra c safety with high-quality, environmentally friendly solutions. Swarco is the number one in LED-based tra c signal production and a system integrator for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and urban and inter-urban tra c management. Contact details: Tel: +43 5224 5877 0 Email: o ce.ag@swarco.com Web: www.swarco.com
Sentry Protection Products (page 170) Sentry Protection Products is a USA-based company o ering unique products designed to reduce costs due to vehicle collisions. Sentrys Park Sentry product introduced in 2008 wraps around columns in multi-storey car parks, preventing collision damage. Sentry has production facilities in the USA and Europe as well as distributors worldwide. Contact details: Tel: +1 216 228 3200 Email: info@sentrypro.com Web: www.sentrypro.com
Stemmer Imaging (page 96) Stemmer Imaging is Europes largest imaging technology provider with its headquarters in Germany (Puchheim near Munich) and subsidiaries in the UK (Tongham near London), France (Suresnes near Paris), and Switzerland (Pf kon SZ near Zurich). Contact details: Tel: +44 1252 780000 Email: s.hearn@stemmer-imaging.co.uk Web: www.stemmer-imaging.co.uk
Tra ko (page 81) Tra ko is an innovative intelligent transportation solutions company that provides a wide range of advanced tra c applications, including Smart SaaS web-based applications for car park management, journey time analysis, on-street and o -street tra c-related enforcement, access control, tracking, video analytics, tra c scene analysis and revenue management, based on an integrated platform. Its products are in use in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Australia, with more than 650,000 active user accounts worldwide. Its mission is to provide a modern and holistic solution to transportation that can be deployed easily and reliably. Contact details: Tel: +356 79 64 64 64 Email: angelo.dalli@charonite.com Web: www.charonite.com
Tra con (page 78) Tra con is a global leader in video image processing for tra c analysis. Tra cons intelligent technology makes tra c safer and more e cient. All over the world, tra c managers use the companys eld-proven solutions for automatic incident detection, tra c data collection, vehicle and pedestrian presence detection, and management in highways, tunnels, bridges and smart intersections. Contact details: Tel: +32 56 37 22 00 Email: tra con@tra con.com Web: www.tra con.com
advances are contributing to a better environment on earth. Contact details: Tel: +46 8 6267350 Email: info@triplesign.com Web: www.triplesign.com
road weather technologies to assist in road weather decision making. The latest tools include non-invasive sensors, remote cameras, complete mobile weather systems, and the most advanced decision support software solutions. Contact details: Tel: +358 9 894 91 Email: info@vaisala.com Web: www.vaisala.com
Triple Sign System (page 32) All VMS in the Triplesign range are developed, produced and controlled by the company in Sweden. Triple Sign System was founded in 1998 by the owners of the Swedish 3-message sign producer, World Sign International. After more than 30 years at the forefront of quality and technology for the 3-message sign business, the company is pleased to announce its new innovations for VMSs. To summarise: drastically decreased costs, a new PLC-based internet control system and lower power consumption have developed new markets for future VMS solutions, but most importantly, these
TSS (page 61) TSS-Transport Simulation Systems markets, develops and supports Aimsun tra c simulation software. Aimsun fuses microscopic and mesoscopic hybrid simulation with static and dynamic modeling and now includes full four-step tra c demand modeling support; Aimsun Online o ers real-time decision support for tra c forecasting and management. TSS has o ces in Barcelona, New York City, Sydney and Paris and services thousands of users in 65 countries worldwide. Contact details: Tel: +34 933 171 693 Email: info@aimsun.com Web: www.aimsun.com
Vitronic (page 133) Vitronic, headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, is among the worlds leading machine vision companies. The companys core competence is the enforcement of vehicles in free- owing tra c. State and local authorities as well as private service providers use Vitronic products for increased safety. Tolling system operators, meanwhile, use these technologies for automating toll collection and enforcement. Contact details: Tel: +49 611 7152 0 Email: sales@vitronic.com Web: www.vitronic.com
Vaisala (page 66) Vaisala has more than 40 years of experience delivering the most accurate and sophisticated
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Wavetronix (page 50) Global acceptance of Wavetronix technologies has skyrocketed! The company o ers high-resolution radar detection for ITS and intersections; complete, customisable tra c cabinets that ship ready-to-use; and a suite of data management appliances that work right out of the box. When accuracy counts, the world detects, connects and directs its data with Wavetronix. Contact details: Tel: +1 801 734 7200 Email: sales@wavetronix.com Web: www.wavetronix.com
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Zehntner (page 45) For more than 40 years, Swiss company Zehntner Testing Instruments has been developing and producing high-quality electronic and physical measuring and testing instruments for the road sector that are used worldwide. The company always implements innovative visions and the latest technologies in an e cient manner to meet customer requirements. Contact details: Tel: +41 61 953 05 50 Email: zehntner@zehntner.com Web: www.zehntner.com
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3. Interoperability Another user-driven initiative. We would never accept a credit card that worked in the Netherlands but not Austria and we are now requiring our transport services to operate without interruption when we cross national or even international borders. For the freight industry these solutions are long overdue. 4. Smart cities This is the tough one managing cities with strategies and policies that link together transport, energy, water and waste, health and land planning. 5. Social media We are still lagging in some aspects. The use of social intelligent incentives to reward good behaviour rather than penalising bad is an attractive solution and a way to catch up. 6. Modernising our evaluation of benefits We need more data on the evaluation of projects whether very successful or less so. And we need to develop ways to value soft benets such as time saved, reduced disruption to a network and reduced environmental impact. In some areas, lack of benets data is slowing the development of business cases, and that slows deployment. 7. Electromobility Everybody thinks fully or partially electric vehicles are a good idea, but very few people make a clear case why. There is much to do here understanding the links between vehicle characteristics, driver behaviour, energy supply grids, the overall emissions patterns and costs and then staging well-planned large-scale trials to test our theories. 8. Cloud computing Many see using the cloud as a means of limiting security risks and cutting costs. But transport is all about mobility and mobile access to the cloud relies on telecoms services. Its not yet clear that these are sufciently resilient and secure, especially for safety functions. 9. A bigger role for smartphones This is being driven by two factors: the increasing adoption of open data policies by governments that have given raw material to hundreds of app developers; and the realisation that something millions of us carry is a nomadic communications channel to vehicles of every description. 10. ITS for older drivers We have barely started to explore how we can supply highly personalised services to help support an ageing population with safe and affordable mobility. n
Eric Sampson would like to acknowledge the assistance of ERTICO in the production of this article
The internationally renowned transport expert, Professor Eric Sampson, recently revealed his hot 10 topics to watch for 2013. And here they are...
1. Connected vehicles Connected vehicles offer a major opportunity to change transport. There are separate initiatives worldwide and discussions about the development of global standards and specications. We also await results from the large Michigan trial. But there are still many unresolved issues about the ultimate safety and security (in the sense of resilience against attack) of connected systems as well as the question of liability. And then theres the ultimate connected vehicle automation that is now openly discussed as a medium-term solution to human failings. 2. Integration Single-solution products are declining as users prefer their services to talk to each other and exchange information. We are getting better at this and at creating bigger systems. However, we still need to do more to integrate people, modes and institutions, as well as projects, programmes, products and devices.
Stop parking from driving people crazy!

Availability is a common parking frustration. Some parking facilities are full, while other parking spaces remain empty and unknown to drivers looking to park. Now Nedap offers a solution for motorists to find an available parking spot easily and for parking managers to maximize utilization of their parking capacity. The solution is called SENSIT, a wireless parking sensor system that detects vehicle occupancy in each individual parking spot. What makes SENSIT unique? It is wireless and enables high accuracy levels as well as being easy to integrate with any third party car park and traffic management systems. In short, Nedap offers parking technology that matters. More info? +31 (0)544 471 111 | info-avi@nedap.com | www.nedapavi.com
INTELLIGENT GUIDANCE SYSTEMS SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING URBAN MOBILITY WITH THE CHALLENGE OF MAKING IT SUSTAINABLE
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2013SHOWCASE

From the publisher of

INFR A STRUC T URE TR A FFIC M A N AGEMENT S A FE T Y PA RK ING

THE FUTURE OF TRAFFIC

Where would you like to have your T-Series?

Out of the ordinary

The bigger picture

What lies beneath? Active measures

Back to the future

The power of three Spot on!

Safer by design Upon reection Easy does it On a roll

Break the rules

New thinking A step up

Bang for your buck? Ghost-busters

Start (with) your engine

Annual Showcase 2013 | Intertraffic World

Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2013

CONTENTS SAFETY | 123 |3

Trafc management (cont.) 72 74 76 79 82 85 88

Advance with care Poetry in motion

Out of the darkness Picture perfect

LED there be light Come together Get connected

100 Expert advice

RSMs words of wisdom on how to accelerate the benets of ITS

102 Final countdown 106 New frontiers

Safety 114 Inside information 118 Driving standards

122 Master glass

124 Under the lens

Behind the screens of Gatsos latest enforcement cameras

Annual Showcase October 2013 2009 | Intertraffic World

Parking 136 Presidential debate 140 Aussie rules

154 Charging ahead 157 Swiss guard

160 Around-the-world ticket

162 Park and guide

Wireless parking sensor from Nedap

165 Fitting the bill

Expert advice on recycling bills from Crane Payment Solutions

169 Dude, wheres my car?

171 Pay it forward

174 Divine inspiration 176 Pretty vacant

178 Advertisers Directory 184 Last Man Standing

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Weather front Ghost busters

Pull out the stops

| Heart of the matter

| Rob Gifford, PACTS

Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2013

Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2013

10 | SPECIAL EVENTS PLANNING

Out of the ordinary

SPECIAL EVENTS PLANNING | 11

Annual Showcase 2013 | Intertraffic World

12 | SPECIAL EVENTS PLANNING

Planned special events

Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2013

SPECIAL EVENTS PLANNING | 13

Sometimes, its not the event...

Access and functional needs

Annual Showcase 2013 | Intertraffic World

14 | SPECIAL EVENTS PLANNING

Completing or halting road construction work must be considered ahead of NSSEs