Features

Variable message signs continue to deliver travel information

February 2, 2012

Arguably the 'face' of ITS, variable message signs are far from being a passing solution

Signal optimisation reduces congestion, improves travel times

February 2, 2012

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County's Department of Public Works(MPW) identified seven corridors in the County that experience heavy traffic congestion and needed traffic signal timing improvements to improve traffic flow as well as air quality and fuel consumption. The seven corridors included a total of 223 signalised intersections. To conduct this study, termed the Traffic Signal Optimisation Study for the Metro Nashville Signal System, MPW received funding from the Federal Conge

Growing ITS capability, a way to increase infrastructure capacity

February 2, 2012

Iteris's Greg McKhann makes the case for policymakers to look more seriously at the use of ITS as a means of increasing existing infrastructure capacity

Free-flow tolling needs classification technology rethink

February 2, 2012

The move to all-electronic fee collection should be encouraging tolling authorities to look again at whether their vehicle classification criteria and technologies remain at all appropriate. Bob Lees of Idris Technology writes

Green requirements of traffic video systems

February 2, 2012

Traficon's Head of Product and Application Management Robin Collaert offers up a discussion of the likely future green requirements of traffic video systems. At the most basic levels, ITS has the potential to significantly reduce the amounts of time which vehicles spend waiting at intersections, and less time spent waiting means less in the way of vehicular emissions. All of that will hardly come as news to most laypeople, let alone transport professionals. However, the reality is that even today too many r

Valuing ITS

February 2, 2012

Politicians, policy- and decision-makers need no-nonsense, non-technical answers on which to base investments in ITS. The International Benefits, Evaluation and Costs (IBEC) Working Group can provide them, says its Chair, Richard Harris

Automating seat belt compliance a priority for road safety

February 2, 2012

Finland's VTT is developing a mobile, automated seatbelt compliance system. Here, the organisation's Matti Kutila discusses progress

Growing use of video monitoring in traffic management

February 2, 2012

The county-wide expansion of CCTV coverage in Florida Department of Transportation's District Four is detailed by Citilog's Eric Toffin

ANPR developments in the Spanish market

February 2, 2012

Gonzalo García Palacios, R&D engineer with Quality Information Systems, writes about ANPR developments in the Spanish market In an increasing number of countries, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems are a growing market. They have become a fundamental part of many ITS systems, whether publicly or privately owned, and essential to any user which looks seriously to give the best services to its customers or wants to improve its facilities' performance.

Is Europe's Galileo project value for money?

February 2, 2012

Philippe Hamet discusses the progress of the European Union's Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System Project

Gothenburg to implement congestion charging

February 2, 2012

Gothenburg, which is line to become Sweden's second major city to implement congestion charging, will not enjoy the pre-deployment trials and referendum which Stockholm did. But, says the STA's Eva Söderberg, this is less of an issue than might be imagined

Cross-border enforcement close to becoming a reality

February 2, 2012

TISPOL Director Ad Hellemons offers the organisation's perspective on the issue of cross-border enforcement of traffic penalties, the progress that has been made and the potential hurdles yet to be overcome

Making the case for ALPR in enforcement

February 2, 2012

Federal Signal's Brian Shockley uses examples from around the world to make the case for the greater use of automatic license plate recognition technology in the US. It is time, he says, to consider the possibilities of a national network and the use of average speed enforcement

Need for performance standards for road user charging systems

February 2, 2012

GNSS-based road use metering systems need performance metrics, as well as ways to test and reliably compare them. Bern Grush and Joaquín Cosmen write about the function of the GNSS Metering Association for Road-use charging (GMAR), recently set up to address this issue

Financing the US road infrastructure – road user charging?

February 2, 2012

In the US, the National Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission's report to Congress will state that a national, distance-based charging is the only long-term solution to the country's infrastructure financing problems. The Commission's Chair, Rob Atkinson, talks to ITS International