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Police in Annapolis, Maryland, USA, are to begin using speed cameras around local schools on weekdays between six in the morning and eight at night. For the first thirty days, only warnings will be issued; after that motorists caught driving as twelve mph or more over the speed limit will get a US$40 citation in the mail. Initially, the cameras will only patrol two schools, but more will be added every two weeks, with the goal of all of them being patrolled by May. Not all of the designated areas will have

Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has replaced the old high-pressure-sodium (HPS) lighting system along Highway 101 with the state’s first light-emitting-diode (LED) lighting system. “This is the first time we’ve used LED lights on a state highways and for most drivers, it will be quite a change,” said John Nisbet, WSDOT state traffic engineer. “LED lights appear whiter and brighter than our standard lights. And those who travel the area late at night will see some lights dimmed or shut

The fifth and final webinar of the AERIS Fall//Winter 2012-2013 Webinar Series will take place on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 1:00 pm EST. The webinar will describe the results of a recent connected vehicle field experiment performed in two locations (University of California at Riverside and the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center). Complementary modelling results will also be described. The field experiment was conducted in August 2012 and was based on the AERIS Program's Eco-Approach and Departure a

Gatso’s T-Series based Millia in-vehicle speed enforcement solution has been type approved by the French Laboratoire national de métrologie et d’essais (LNE) for use in France. According to Gatso, its Millia solutions reduce speed related crashes by enforcing the speed limit. For in-vehicle use, the system components are integrated into an enforcement vehicle without altering the appearance of the vehicle. Depending on the chosen strategy, the operator can choose to enforce approaching or receding traffic o

Two new managed toll lanes being built on nine miles of the César Chávez Border Highway Loop 375 in El Paso, Texas are expected to increase capacity and reduce traffic congestion in the area thanks to a managed lane free flow tolling system to be supplied by Schneider Electric. The company has been selected by the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) to provide tolling system integration and maintenance services on the two new managed lanes. In order to operate and support the additional toll la

Version 2.3 of Horizons, Yotta DCL’s highways asset management system, provides new features and functionality across three of its modules: Explorer, Analysis and Management. The Horizons web platform integrates GIS, pavement and asset management and is used by highways authorities and agencies to manage their highway assets. Horizons is claimed to clear the IT and data bottlenecks, giving full visibility in graphical format and enabling users to reach informed decisions and make cost-effective recommendati

Hard shoulder running is on the increase – and the detection and monitoring of incidents on affected roads is occupying the minds of experts across Europe and the US

Canadian manufacturer of high-performance digital cam­eras Point Grey has begun producing its new Blackfly cam­era, which the company says is suited to applications in open road tolling and machine vision. The first model, the BLFY-PGE-13E4, features a 1.3MP, 60fps, CMOS global shutter sensor available in both monochrome and colour, and consumes less than two watts of power in what the company claims is the world’s smallest and lightest GigE Pow­er over Ethernet (PoE) camera package. Future Blackfly models

Connected Car, Delphi’s plug-and-play connectivity device, connects into an OBDII port on any vehicle sold in the US from 1996 onwards and allows consumers to quickly lock and unlock their vehicle’s doors, as well as locate, track and even monitor their vehicles through a smartphone app or the internet. Delphi has teamed up with Verizon Wireless to ensure data transmitted through the device and via the internet remains secure and encrypted, allowing users to safely lock their vehicles remotely, track their

A new frontier in the quest to monitor road traffic is opening up… but using airborne drones to reduce the jams comes with some thorny issues. Chris Tindall reports. Imagine if you could rely on a system that provided all the data you needed to regulate traffic flow, route vehicles and respond swiftly to emergencies for a fraction of the cost of piloting a helicopter. That system exists, but as engineers and traffic managers start to explore the potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – more commonly k

The new lightweight MT1010 Windows tablet from DAP Technologies blends a large touch-screen with enterprise-friendly qualities including seamless Windows integration and multiple I/O ports for con­necting to peripherals. The Windows operating system enables the tablet to be integrated into existing net­works and its rugged magnesi­um-alloy construction is built to survive heavy use in challenging environments. The 10.1-inch, sunlight-viewable touch-screen supports both handheld and vehicle-mounted use, and

Drivewyze aims to revolutionise the way weighstation bypass systems work with its Pre-Clear system. And it’s not just looking at weighstations, either… Pete Goldin reports. Truck drivers know the drill: pull off the high­way at every weighstation and wait. Carriers know the drill, too: every minute spent waiting there translates directly into dollars lost. Traditionally, the only alternative to this scenario is a transponder-based system, which allows trucks to bypass the sites using technology similar to

Regulating heavy truck weight isn’t all about sensors in the road… this year marks a significant point in the progression of Australia’s Intelligent Access Programme as its administrators attempt to answer the scheme’s critics. Jon Masters reports. Australia’s Intelligent Access Programme (IAP), the country’s telematics-based system of reg­ulating movement of the heaviest vehicles, is now five years old. The IAP is administered by Transport Certification Australia (TCA) whose general manager for strategic d

AMG-Panogenics’ TotemCam360 has been developed specifically as an integrated remote camera and recording system for area and perimeter intrusion. The 5 megapixel re-deployable 360 degree camera system is easy to install and has a built-in recording solution operating over 3G/WiFi for remote area and perimeter detection and, according to the company, is ideal to help prevent asset damage and can act as a deterrent for anti-social behaviour. The TotemCam360 provides multiple electronic pan-tilt-zoom (ePTZ) an

Audi drivers in Europe will soon be able to access accurate train information in their cars, thanks to a partnership between the vehicle maker and software solutions provider HaCon. Audi is integrating timetable data from HaCon into its multi­media system, enabling drivers of Audi A3 models equipped with Audi Connect to access real-time timetable data via an internet connection. The system is already available in Germany. Hacon says receiving time­table data in a car via an inter­net connection is unique in

Swedish producer of contactless smart card readers and terminals Arcontia International has extended its range of smart card read­ers with the new ARC2325 and ARC2335 devices for cashless ticketing and payment applications. Both readers are based on 13.56MHz contactless technology and are fully com­patible with the entire Mifare family, includ­ing Mifare Plus, Mifare DESFire EV1 and Mifare UltraLight C, as well as supporting Smart MX and Calypso. The readers also come with a comprehensive software devel­opm

Difficulties with the apparent accuracy of enforcement systems have been making the headlines in the United States over recent months. Jon Masters investigates the causes and possible cures. Online newspaper reports in the United States over recent months have painted a picture of the authorities struggling to keep on top of their speed and red light enforcement pro­grammes. Among a host of stories put out by the Washington Post and others on the subject of speed cameras during January, there were reports

Transport authorities are increasingly looking to integrate ferry travel into the mix of public transport. David Crawford finds out more. The new A$370m (US$398m) Opal public transport smartcard system being installed by the Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS)-led Pearl consortium in Sydney is geographically the largest in the world to date. The consortium includes the Commonwealth Bank of Australia; Australian retail payment system provider ePay; Australian infrastructure engineering company Downer Group; a

David Crawford reviews an award-winning scheme that delivered a 30% increase in website usage – below budget The German Federal Agricul­tural Show (Bundesgarten­schau, BUGA) runs between mid-April and mid-October every other year in a differ­ent city. The most recent, 2011, edition took place in Koblenz, a medium-sized community with a population of just over 105,000 in the Rheinland-Pfalz region, and was expected to draw an additional 40,000 visitors a day to its central area. Traffic access from the moto

ITS America has raised con­cerns with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the potential use of the 5GHz band spec­trum by unlicensed national information infrastructure devices. It wants to protect the 5.9GHz band for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC)-based systems. These crucially underpin the development of connected vehicle (CV) technologies which could help slash the US’ annual tally of six million road traffic accidents and over 30,000 deaths. Within the US Department of Trans