Enforcement

Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has developed new vehicle safety standards which it claims will save 25,000 lives and assist European countries in the development of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Matthias Seidl, senior researcher - vehicle safety & regulation at TRL, says the advanced safety measures will protect all road users. “Intelligent speed assistance and drowsiness and distraction recognition will support drivers in their ongoing tasks, autonomous emergency braking and emergency lane keeping wi

The European Parliament and Council Romanian Presidency negotiators have agreed to strengthen the road infrastructure management rules to help improve road safety in the European Union. The rules require road safety audits to be carried out during the design and construction of infrastructure projects and when roads are in use. The agreed rules extend these requirements beyond the Trans-European Transport Network roads to motorways and primary roads. Rapporteur Daniela Aiuto, member of the Europe of

Tonnjes Card is to build a production plant for vehicle number plates to help authorities in Senegal identify drivers. The €1 million plant will be in the West African country’s capital, Dakar. Tonnjes will work under the name of Afriplaque to produce and supply blank plates in the local area. Once finished, the number plates will be issued by 20 licensed printing shops. Tonnjes says its reflective security number plates contain a machine-readable code to make the supply chain traceable and to help remov

Parkopedia has integrated its service into Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in China to provide drivers with information on parking garages. The company says the service offers information on garage prices, opening hours, precise location and dynamic space availability. Parkopedia’s service is available with new A-class Mercedes Benz cars equipped with the Command Online Navigation system. The Mercedes Command Online Navigation System controls a range of vehicle functions such as the sat nav and ste

Videalert is launching a refit service for mobile enforcement vehicles (MEV), which it says will allow UK councils to extend the operational life of existing assets. The firm claims that the service will allow councils who obtain MEVs from suppliers such as TES and SEA to replace analogue technology with high-definition cameras which offer capture rates up to 98%. The vehicles achieve this capture rate by making a single pass at normal road speeds rather than having to make multiple passes at speeds

Drivers who ply their trade on apps such as Uber could be under greater scrutiny as part of proposals being put forward by the UK government. The potential risk to passengers from the explosion of ride-hailing apps, as private-hire drivers are perceived to receive less thorough vetting – for example, to flag up past convictions – has long been argued. Incidents such as the murders of passengers by a Didi driver in China heightened such concerns - although critics point out that a US Uber driver who ad

Indra says its Davaq free-flow identification system has scored the highest overall accuracy rate – 88% - in a US trial to detect high-occupancy vehicles. The real-world test was set up by the by the San Francisco Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission to look at automatic detection of such vehicles on the I-880 – a vital precursor to implementing lane restrictions or new dynamic pricing strategies such as smart tolling. Davaq picks up the vehicle type and its front and rear occupants in r

Speeding causes many road crashes – and this is the motivation behind a new, free digital tool from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). The Speed Management for Safety interactive website provides an overview of available resources for evaluating, designing, implementing and enforcing safe speeds, and covers such areas as creating a speed management initiative and road design. It also hosts a community portal where transport professionals can post questions and case studies or just talk to p

Austria imposes the highest fines in Europe for violating diesel bans and low-emission zones, according to new research. Austrian authorities charge up to €2,180 for violators – the next highest is the UK, with fines up to £1,138. Auto parts company Kfzteile24 based its findings on data from UrbanAccessRegulations.eu and its map offers a comparison between 350 cities across Europe. The overview outlines examples of vehicles already affected by low-emission zones and driving diesel bans - and those likel

Vietnam’s deputy prime minister Truong Hoa Binh is calling on government ministries to better enforce traffic safety following deaths caused by drink- and drug-driving. Binh says the Ministry of Transport needs to scrutinise procedures for re-issuing driving licences, and to inspect the training and examination process for drivers at training centres nationwide. He is urging the Ministry of Public Security to direct traffic police units to increase checks and to deal with drivers who are over the blood-