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Among the transport announcements made by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, in his Autumn Statement, he promised tax relief for motorists, including a freeze in fuel duty for the remainder of this Parliament. He also confirmed the abolition of the paper road tax disc, ‘removing an administrative inconvenience for millions of motorists’ from October 2014. This move is expected to save the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) around US$5 million a year. It will also save fleet own

Existing equipment used in Australian emergency vehicle ‘green wave’ trial. Despite the lights and sirens, accidents between the motoring public and emergency vehicles on their way to/from the scene of an incident are relatively frequent. Figures from various sources indicate that road accidents are the second most frequent cause of death for on-duty fire fighter fatalities and that more than 90% of ambulance and fire engine accidents occur when the lights are on and the sirens wailing. Other studies indica

The FOTsis project addresses the imbalances between the vehicular and infrastructure sides of cooperative ITS infrastructures and looks to ensure road operators can help to enrich future technology applications. By Jason Barnes. Several developments have conspired to push the vehicular side of cooperative infrastructures/cooperative ITS to the fore in recent years. The automotive industry’s rather shorter product development and lifecycles combined with economic slowdown in many regions gave rise to the not

The increasing capability of satellite navigation is helping vehicle manufacturers and local authorities as well as individual drivers and fleets. In comparison to the physical ITS infrastructure in towns and cities and on motorways and highways, satellite navigation (satnav) systems have come a long way in a short time. Many (if not the majority) individual drivers and fleets use or have access to a satnav and now the vehicle manufacturers and even local authorities are beginning to utilise satnav derived

MarketsandMarkets’ report, "Smart Railways Market [Passenger Information Systems, Freight Information Systems, Rail Traffic Management, Operations Management, Security Monitoring, Communications, Ticketing, Rail Analytics]: Worldwide Market Forecasts and Analysis (2013 - 2018)", defines and segments the Smart Railways Market into various sub-segments with in-depth analysis and forecasting of revenues. It also identifies drivers and restraints of this market with insights on trends, opportunities, and challe

New York’s state Thruway Authority has installed Doppler radar-enhanced LED signs to alert wrong-way drivers before they enter exits in Buffalo and Nyack, Rockland County, where wrong-way derivers have been involved in crashes. The radar can detect vehicles travelling the wrong way, setting off the LED sign and alerting the rest of the Thruway system. “New York is the first state in the nation to utilise this sophisticated technology to enhance traffic safety and save lives,” Governor Andrew Cuomo sai

Iteris has appointed Walter “Chuck” McBride as chief financial officer, effective from 3 December 2013. McBride joins Iteris from audio technology engineering company SRS Labs, where he was CFO from 2011 to 2012 and where he played an instrumental role in strategic and operational planning, international and domestic compliance, and mergers and acquisitions. McBride directed the successful merger and acquisition process when SRS was purchased by DTS in July 2012 at a significant premium. Prior to SRS,

The Spanish city of Madrid has been unanimously elected to the presidency of the Polis network in 2014, taking over the role from the city of Perugia in Italy. The cities of Budapest, Perugia, Rotterdam and Stuttgart were elected to Polis management committee. Madrid has been promoting sustainable transport for many years, both locally and through cooperation across borders. Outstanding initiatives in the Spanish capital include the city's ambitious Air Quality Plan, the promotion of cycling and walking,

Research by KPMG has revealed that the Russian road infrastructure market is growing by an average ten per cent per year. The market may total US$43.62 billion by 2020, compared with US$9.9 billion in 2007. According to analysts, only large federal road construction companies are able to achieve the highest profitability. However, such companies will have to reduce costs because contracts are becoming bigger and more complex and include construction of artificial structures, for example. Consolidation of co

Following a nine-month field test, Denver, Colorado-based E-470 highway authority is to use Confidex’s 18000-6C UHF RFID windshield tags in their all-electronic ExpressToll toll collection system. E-470 processes on average 3.5 million ExpressToll transactions monthly, requiring a high level of reliability for the non-stop, electronic tolling system at highway speeds. The OmniAir-certified18000-6C UHF tag is a reliable and tamper evident solution that is attached to the car windshield to automatically id

Inherent weaknesses in satellite communications are leading several countries to re-evaluate terrestrial-based backup systems. There is a tale frequently told in satellite navigation circles, of how landing systems at Newark Airport were disrupted by a truck driver using GPS jamming equipment as he drove along the New Jersey Turnpike. While there was no threat to flight safety as the interference to GPS reference stations being tested, the story highlights how apparently benign threats have the potential t

Kapsch’s Arno Klamminger and Wolfgang Fleischer consider the need for an agnostic approach to technology for charging and tolling. Periodically, given the march of technology, it is worth pausing and taking stock of where we have got to and where we go next. Such reflections are necessary if we are to take full advantage of what we have at our disposal and, potentially, avoid decisions which push us down technological culs de sac. A look at the use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based technol

Jenoptik’s TraffiStar S350 speed and red light enforcement systems has been type approval by Germany’s Physical Technical Institute (PTB) for the German market and won a major order for the Ministry of the Interior in Qatar. The contract will see Jenoptik Traffic Solutions and its local partner Telco International install more than 60 stationary speed and red-light enforcement systems in Qatar as part of the country’s initiative to improve road safety. TraffiStar systems use noninvasive sensors instead

Clearview Traffic Group has expanded its M300 wireless occupancy detection range to provide solutions for both on and off-street parking with the M301, a surface-mounted sensor for parking bay monitoring, and the M302 which is a flush mounted sensor that is embedded into the road surface. Clearview also offers a version of the sensors for detection of larger vehicles such as HGVs, trucks and coaches. The sensors use technology that has been designed to accurately detect the presence of a vehicle in a def

Image Sensing Systems (ISS) has added two new products to its range of video detection products with the Autoscope Sn-500 and Autoscope Sn-510. Both optimised for markets outside of North America, they provide a complete and cost-effective vehicle detection solution for intersection control applications and offer fast set-up, minimal maintenance, and high performance. These processing cards help to reduce congestion, providing real time vehicle detection to keep traffic flowing through an intersection.

Rand McNally’s latest fleet management offering, TrueTrack, is a web-based solution designed to provide fleet managers with the ability to improve driver safety, enhance customer service with more accurate arrival time information, and reduce fuel usage by curtailing out-of-route driving.

US manufacturer Elsag has enhanced the data and access security for its automatic licence plate recognition (ALPR) systems. The new Elsag Operations Management 5 (EOC 5) data management software can manage a network of mobile and fixed ALPR systems. The company says the enhancements will help law enforcement agencies by automatically supporting unique protocols regarding data use and access. The software has multi-level permissions, hot list flexibility, detailed mapping, data merging and extensive rep

Lector Vision’s Highway high performance automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system for traffic surveillance and management is specially designed for use on highways, urban areas and free flow roads. The all in one system comprises high resolution five megapixel camera, infrared illumination, processing unit and control electronics to manage camera exposure time, integrated GPS and illumination. Images and data can be transferred via wireless, optical fibre, GPRS or 3G for further processing, and c

LeddarTech, manufacturer of the patented Leddar LED-based detection technology has introduced its new industrial Leddar sensor, a unique detection and ranging product offering what the company says is the best cost/performance ratio on the market. The sensor utilises a 45-degree beam and is specially designed for quick and easy integration into a wide variety of applications. It can detect, locate and measure all types of objects, solid or liquid, even in the harshest conditions. As it contains no movin

LED lighting specialist Raytec has integrated its range of Vario IP network illuminators with Milestone’s XProtect video management system, providing a high level of lighting flexibility, management and control in conjunction with all other network technologies in a security system, from one central platform. The integration uses Raytec Milestone plug-in software, available free of charge from the Raytec website. Controlled individually or in groups, Raytec network illuminators can be easily configu