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The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) has launched its manifesto outlining the Institution’s proposals and views on key issues affecting the industry. Making the Journey - A Manifesto for Transport highlights the benefits of this sector to the UK’s economy and society and calls for a national transport strategy to provide clear direction and certainty for UK transport policy. It also points out the need for a longer-term view and commitment to future funding for the UK’s transpo

US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx has announced US$100 million in competitive grants to 24 recipients in 19 states to significantly improve bus service and bus facilities in urban and rural communities where residents depend heavily on public transportation. The grants are provided through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Ladders of Opportunity Initiative, which supports the modernisation and expansion of transit bus service across the nation, with the purpose of connecting disadvantaged an

The all-new Ford Mondeo will be equipped with a raft of safety features, including technology that is able to detect people in the road ahead and – if the driver does not respond to warning sounds and displays – automatically applies the brakes. Pedestrian Detection is among a raft of new features and improvements detailed by Ford which enhance the Mondeo. The system is part of the Pre-Collision Assist package that also introduces Active Braking, which can autonomously apply braking to help mitigate rear

The UK’s Southern Railway has extended the use of its ‘the key’ smartcard across the entire Oyster network in London. Passengers on the Southern rail franchise can now use the single smart card from most stations to travel by rail, bus and Tube across the capital. Supplied by Cubic Transportation Systems, ‘the key’ was first trialled in November 2011 on Southern’s Brighton to Seaford line. It was subsequently rolled out across most of their network for journeys outside the Oyster network and those termin

The I-80 Smart Corridor is to use 133 energy-saving, low-light-pollution signs on the 31.4km (19.5miles) route between the Oakland Bay Bridge and the Carquinez Bridge in California. Due to open next year, the US$80m project will see adaptive metering at 44 on-ramps (with bus priority and HOV bypass) and the new signs will be used for lane management and to advise drivers of incidents and variable speed limits. The system will be managed from a centralised control room in Oakland and the traffic signa

Vitronic has won major enforcement contracts in Belarus and Abu Dhabi. Safe Roads of Belarus, the country’s national road safety authority, has awarded Vitronic Nordic East a contract for 60 PoliScan laser-based speed enforcement units, which use Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology to detect violations. According to Vitronic, the readings obtained are more reliable and fairer to drivers than those from conventional radar systems. The automated enforcement management system across the whole

In recognition of the growing importance of machine vision techniques in traffic management technology, ITS International’s publisher (Route One) is working with the organiser of the Vision Show (Stuttgart, Germany 6-8 November) to produce a special publication for the show and daily video reports. While machine vision technology is well established in other sectors, applications in transportation have been slow to arrive but are now quickly catching up. The transport-focused publication will be handed

Drive C2X has shown that advanced warning of poor road conditions could cut fatalities, as David Crawford explains. Connected vehicle (CV)-based warning technologies could mean 6% fewer deaths and 5% fewer injuries in road traffic accidents in Europe, according to the final results of the European Commission (EC) co-funded DRIVE C2X project. According to the European Centre for Information and Communication Technologies (EICT) which provided management support, these “prove that CV systems work and can hav

Colin Sowman catches up with the latest moves in the 5.9GHz exclusivity debate. The Wi-Fi Innovation Act, recently introduced to both the US Senate and its House of Representatives, moves into a new phase in the debate over the exclusive right of the 5.9GHz band for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications. If the Act comes into law, it would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct tests across the whole 5GHz band to determine if the spectrum can be shared without interfering with curr

Thatcham, Britain’s leading insurance-related automotive research centre, has given top marks to the self-braking system on Mercedes latest C-Class car saying it will provide major benefits to road safety and motorists’ insurance premiums. During testing for the Euro NCAP rating, the braking system on the latest avoided collisions at speeds of up to 40km/h (25mph) by detecting an object in its path and bringing the vehicle to a halt without any driver input. To date many autonomous emergency braking (AEB)

Australian enforcement company Redflex has scooped two major orders in the Antipodes. RedflexPoint-to-point cameras are now providing average speed enforcement on two major carriageways leading into the city of Adelaide, South Australia; in both directions on the 13km stretch of the two-lane Dukes Highway, with a further two on 51km of the dual carriageway Port Wakefield Road. The cameras installed on Dukes Highway not only monitor traffic in both directions on the two-lane road, they are capture images

With the Sencity Road MIMO, Huber+Suhner is extending its portfolio of rooftop antennas for buses, commercial vehicles, trams and underground railways. The new Sensity Road MIMO is able to achieve a far higher data rate than a standard antenna, supporting applications with very high data rates, such as passenger information systems, passenger monitoring or internet on board. Depending on the version, this compact omni-directional antenna includes two broadband radiating elements for 2G/3G/4G mobile c

Premier Electronics’ Cygnet 17mm (2/3-inch) sCMOS camera provides full HD up to 60Hz. The use of Scientific CMOS (sCMOS) technology allows it to simultaneously deliver extremely low noise, fast frame rates, wide dynamic range, high quantum efficiency, high resolution and a large field of view. The 2.1MP Scientific CMOS sensor is said to provide ultra sharp image resolution with a quantum efficiency of over 63% in the visible spectrum (at 500nm) and greater than 34% with inferred (at 850nm) and is availab

According to Nedap, its recently-introduced automatic numberplate reader, ANPR Access HD, provides powerful licence plate reading in challenging vehicle access control situations and is easily be integrated into third party security, parking and traffic management systems. ANPR Access HD is an all-in-one system, comprising high definition camera, analyser, six high power infrared illuminators and embedded ANPR processing software. With a reading distance of four to ten metres, the camera identifies all

According to Nedap, its recently-introduced automatic numberplate reader, ANPR Access HD, provides powerful licence plate reading in challenging vehicle access control situations and is easily be integrated into third party security, parking and traffic management systems. ANPR Access HD is an all-in-one system, comprising high definition camera, analyser, six high power infrared illuminators and embedded ANPR processing software. With a reading distance of four to ten metres, the camera identifies all

Visiongain’s report, Automotive Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Communications Market 2014-2024, looks at vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, which encapsulate it says a truly connected vehicle - able to communicate with other vehicles, traffic lights, toll gates, pedestrians, and even the owner's home - the automotive sector's answer to safe, clean and ultimately autonomous/self-driving vehicles. According to the report, in 2014, the V2X market is still in its infancy, comprising only vehicle-to-veh

According to Mattar Al Tayer, chairman and executive director of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the authority is planning at least another 35 mega projects in the future after spending about US$19.8 billion so far in upgrading services in the city. Speaking at InnoTrans 2014 in Berlin, Al Tayer said work was progressing on projects related to Expo 2020. He said these would include the extension of the Red Line of the Dubai Metro, upgrading roads and junctions surrounding and leading to t

Power management company Eaton’s Cooper Lighting division converting the parking garage lighting systems at Denver International Airport (DIA) with light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires. Replacing more than 5,400 parking garage fixtures, the DIA conversion will include almost 5,000 McGraw-Edison Valet LED luminaires, helping the airport to save approximately US$327,000 annually or US$6.5 million over 20 years. By making the parking garages brighter and more uniformly lit, the new luminaires will increase

ITS America’s last symposium event of 2014 is the Complete Streets Symposium, to be held in Atlanta, Georgia, on 20 and 21 October, co-hosted by ITS Georgia. The two-day event focuses on how safety, redevelopment, urban freight movement and ITS technologies enhance a complete streets network and the transportation experience as a whole. Keynote speaker is Keith T. Parker, general manager and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's (MARTA), the nation’s ninth large

Vicon Industries has introduced a new series of HD surveillance monitors that replaces all previous models. The new line of monitors are said to offer cost-effective, enhanced LED technology, 24/7 usage and superior HD performance, backed by a three-year warranty. The new monitors come in a range of sizes from 470 to 1,070mm (18.5 to 42-inch) and use 40% less power due to LED backlighting. The 470, 546 and 546mm (18.5, 21.5 and 23-inch) models can be rack mounted and all models, except for the smallest