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Parsons Brinckerhoff has named Greg Kelly to the newly created position of global chief operating officer (COO). Clifford Eby succeeds Kelly as president of Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Americas Transportation operating company. “The COO position is being created to ensure the continued success of each of our operating companies and to enhance their abilities to work together across our expanding global operations,” said George J. Pierson, president and CEO of Parsons Brinckerhoff. “Greg Kelly has led our large

Bosch has received the Global NCAP Award 2012 for developing and launching the electronic stability programme (ESP). The award, which is conferred by the Global New Car Assessment Programme, was presented during the consumer safety organisation's annual meeting in Malacca, Malaysia. Global NCAP’s rationale for this award was ESP’s high level of effectiveness and its ability to significantly reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities – thereby supporting the aims of the UN Decade of Action for Road S

International Road Dynamics (IRD) has been working with the Washington State Patrol (WSP) and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to support delivery of a customised weight enforcement and commercial vehicle inspection solution which integrates vehicle identification, credential screening and data collection for the Spokane Port-of-Entry (POE) Weigh Station on I-90. Yesterday, the station’s grand opening was held at the POE which is located on Interstate 90 one mile west of the Washing

The number of insurance telematics users in Europe will grow from 1.5 million in 2010 to 44 million in 2017, initially driven by the UK and Italy, according to ABI Research. Despite aggressive efforts from Progressive, North America will continue to lag behind the European UBI market, it says. Vice president and practice director Dominique Bonte comments, “While insurance telematics or usage based insurance (UBI) is far from a recent phenomenon, renewed interest in this market has been observed from both es

The US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will host a two-day summit on 26-27 June on advancing the culture of traffic incident management (TIM) throughout the country. US Department of Transportation (USDoT) Secretary Raymond LaHood and Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez will welcome the group and provide opening remarks demonstrating the commitment of FHWA and USDoT senior executives in support of safe, quick traffic incident responses on the nation's roadways. Those attending this summit incl

Euro NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) has published the results of its survey on the availability of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems in Europe and reveals that its vehicle safety rating assessment programme will include AEB technologies in its star rating from 2014. Real world performance data suggests AEB systems can reduce accidents by up to 27 per cent. Although the introduction of these active safety technologies is reducing road deaths and injuries, the availability of AEB in Europe is fa

Wabco has expanded its long term partnership with Kögel through a new supply agreement for the company’s TrailerGuard system, a state-of-the-art telematics technology for trailer fleet management. Kögel, one of the largest manufacturers of commercial trailers in Europe, is headquartered in Burtenbach, Germany.

The Intelligent Transportation Society of New York (ITS-NY) has announced the 2012 ITS-NY Project of the Year Winners at its Nineteenth Annual Meeting and Technology Exhibition in Saratoga Springs, NY. “These winning projects feature ITS and technologies at work in New York State to improve traveller mobility and safety, as well as the efficiency of New York State’s transportation system across all modes of travel,” said Dr Isaac Takyi, ITS-NY president. Winning Projects were announced in the following ITS

Jenoptik is strengthening its activities in the South American market with the formation of Jenoptik do Brasil which will be located in São Paulo. The Industrial metrology division is expanding its service offering as a first step and positioning itself more closely to its South American customers in the automotive and automotive supplier industry. ”By opening up another key region we are consistently pursuing our approach of being close to the customer through having our own local presence,” said Jenoptik

Cellcontrol, a leading developer of distracted driving solutions, has launched what it claims is a first-of-its-kind programme with specialist member-owned insurer Pure (Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange) to help prevent distracted driving incidents caused by teenage drivers. As part of the pilot, Pure has offered complimentary devices and a full year’s subscription to Cellcontrol’s technology to drivers under the age of 18, and will be providing the technology at a discounted rates to the entire P

A team of experts funded by an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant has provided government leaders with initial recommendations for a more effective and efficient public transport system in Rabat and nearby Sale and Temara, in Morocco, by 2020. Rabat won a Smarter Cities Challenge grant from IBM which sent some of its top employees to work and live in the city for three weeks. There, they studied the area's transportation opportunities and created a plan to improve the urban public transport system.

New York City officials have this week launched a request for qualifications for possible private firms to operate parking meters in the city. The meters cover over 80,000 parking spaces in five boroughs. Spokesperson for the city's mayor, Julie Wood, said that the privatisation would allow for innovative methods to improve quality and efficiency of the city's parking services. She added that the city will proceed cautiously with the plan, stating that any possible deal would see the city maintaining full c

Econolite has announced that ITS New York, at its annual conference, awarded the Outstanding ITS Project of the Year to Econolite and its partner, Century Business Horizons (CBH), along with NYC DoT, KLD Associates, and TransCore. Econolite and CBH were honoured for the remote traffic microwave sensor (RTMS) non-intrusive radar detection systems used in the Midtown in Motion project.

Stockholm has set a target to use renewable fuels for 75 per cent of its public transport by 2016, as part of a range of new measures for social responsibility and climate impact set by Stockholm County Council (SLL). The measures also include a 75 per cent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2020, compared with 1990, and a 10 per cent reduction of particle emissions by 2016, compared with 2011. The council also aims to raise the level of material recycling to a minimum of 25 per cent and for its IT op

IBI Group, a provider of toll and traffic management solutions for government agencies, highway operators and concession companies, and Cellint Traffic Solutions, a provider of real-time road traffic information based on cellular data, have announced a cooperation agreement that builds on their current regional traffic data system project in Vancouver, Canada, funded by TransLink, the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure, and Transport Canada. Cellint's TrafficSense provides traffic

Tangier in Morocco has announced that at the end of 2012 the first calls to tender should be launched for an aerial tramway transport system in the city, where the streets are often on steep slopes. It will require an investment of around nearly US$23 million, less than an underground rail system as the city is on sandy ground making such a system expensive to build. It will have a capacity of 2,800 passengers per hour, or 32,000 per day, the equivalent of 50 buses. It will be the first of its kind in Moroc

Streetline, a provider of smart parking solutions for cities, airports, universities and private operators, has unveiled ParkSight Portal, an integrated, web-based application suite providing real-time and historical insight for cities and universities to better understand and manage the parking ecosystem. "Smart parking is about new data and new insights for action," said Zia Yusuf, the company’s president and CEO. "Streetline pioneered the market for smart parking sensors that has sparked innovation in t

Hybrid and electric cars are neither clean nor green according to a new environmental book, Green Illusions, written by University of California - Berkeley visiting scholar Ozzie Zehner. It exposes numerous hidden side effects of new hybrid and electric cars. The analysis considers mining impacts, toxins, energy use, suburban sprawl and carbon footprints of production. From an environmental perspective, Zehner argues that hybrids and electric cars are no better than conventional internal combustion engined

Xerox Chairman and CEO Ursula Burns will deliver the keynote address at the opening plenary of ITS America’s 2012 Annual Meeting in May. She talked to ITS International about the acquisition of ACS, its rebranding and the importance of the transportation sector to Xerox

This issue of ITS International contains a feature article based on interviews with leading figures of the ITS associations of the United States, Europe, Japan and Malaysia. A key point made is the importance of political leadership or policy direction in driving take up and implementation of ITS technology. This industry actually need not complain of a lack of drive on the part of politicians, or so it seems from other projects reported in this issue. True, the US would welcome a new transport bill and the