News

The organisers of the 14th Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australia (REAAA) being held from 26-28 March, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, have issued a call for papers from local and international authors, with a deadline for abstracts of 1 June, 2012. The theme of the event (www.14reaaaconf2013.com) is “The road factor in economic transformation” and as the organisers point out, roads are the arteries of a nation facilitating the transportation of the required synergy for economic transformation.

TransCore has been selected by Cobb County Department of Transportation, Atlanta, to expand its Scats (Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System) adaptive traffic signal control technology with an additional 75 intersections, nearly doubling its use of the technology and making it the second largest deployment in the United States. The first phase of 26 intersections in the town centre area are now in operation with the remaining intersections expected to be fully operational by October 2012.

Honda Motor Company has announced the successful development of what it claims is the world’s first technology to detect the potential for traffic congestion and determine whether the driving pattern of the vehicle is likely to create traffic jams. The company developed this technology while recognising that the acceleration and deceleration behaviour of one vehicle influences the traffic pattern of trailing vehicles and can trigger the traffic congestion.

The Mineta Transportation Institute has released its newest research report, Ecodriving and Carbon Footprinting: Understanding How Public Education Can Result in Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Use, which provides a review and study of ecodriving. The report found that exposure to ecodriving information influenced people's driving behaviour and some maintenance practices. While not everyone modifies their behaviour after reviewing this information, even small behavioural shifts due to inexpensive

On 16th May 2012, Savoy will be joining with TRL, Autodesk and Design Pro Software to give a live demonstration of the revolutionary BIM workflow for roundabout design that allows simultaneous design and analysis in 3D. It is claimed the new workflow is many times faster than traditional methods and allows users to assess multiple design alternatives very quickly leading to better designs, quicker and cheaper.

According to a 495 Express Lanes survey of law enforcement officers serving in Northern Virginia, texting while driving is the most dangerous behavior in construction zones, ahead of speeding, aggressive driving and not obeying changing traffic patterns. Yesterday, in conjunction with National Work Zone Awareness Week in the US, partners on one of the largest highway construction projects in the region released these findings in a new distracted driving report.

Autonet Mobile, an application and connectivity platform for vehicles, has announced a strategic partnership with Bosch's Car Multimedia Division to manufacture its IP-based telematics control unit (TCU). The company’s automotive-grade device is built to be factory-installed and to access the vehicle's CAN Bus to drive the development of in-vehicle applications including key fob, parental control and fleet offerings.

McCain has announced the successful use of its QuicNet advanced traffic management system (ATMS) central control technology by the city of Carlsbad, in California, to identify the illicit use of red light preemptive technology. Using QuicNet, the city was able to identify how, when and where the illegal use was taking place.

Telvent GIT has announced the completion of the company’s SmartMobility Road Suite, on King Abdullah Road in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Claimed to be the first smart transportation system to be implemented in Saudi Arabia, this solution manages interurban expressway traffic through a centralised platform. It controls and manages the four tunnels and the entire range of field devices in place along the expressway’s six kilometre length, increasing user safety and security and improving infrastructure maintenance.

The European Commission is keen to boost road safety and analysis of road accident statistics. A key component of this move will be improving transparency over the safety of road infrastructure, in accordance with their obligations under European law. So far 11 European member states have been warned by the European Commission to be more open about the safety on infrastructure networks.

Siemens Industry has been awarded a US$17.2 million contract from Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), on behalf of the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, to provide Atlanta with four new streetcars. The first car is expected to be delivered in September 2012 with revenue service beginning in early 2013. These will be the first streetcars in Atlanta since 1949 and will mark Siemens entry into the streetcar market in the United States.

TRW Automotive Holdings has unveiled its new 'bag in roof' airbag system which replaces passenger airbags typically mounted in the instrument panel. The company claims the new airbag can help to mitigate passenger injuries and can allow for improved interior design aesthetics, ergonomics and functionality while saving space in the instrument panel. In addition, TRW claims this new design concept enhances development efficiency: by eliminating the need to package a passenger airbag in the instrument panel, t