New digital CCTV system to monitor traffic flow in Aberdeen

A new US$386,000 (£300,000) network of digital CCTV and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, including automated alert systems, are being installed on key routes around Aberdeen, Scotland to monitor traffic flow and journey times.
May 31, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
A new US$386,000 (£300,000) network of digital CCTV and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, including automated alert systems, are being installed on key routes around Aberdeen, Scotland to monitor traffic 8243 flow and journey times.


The City Council’s traffic control centre will use the information gathered to respond in real time to incidents, reducing the impact of delay to road users particularly at key locations beside the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).

Installed by Video Watchman Systems, the system will comprise of cameras and communications, linked to a central monitoring and control system at the traffic control centre.

The camera system will provide extensive coverage of all the key routes to quickly identify congestion and allow traffic control centre operators to implement remedial measures. This could include changing traffic signal timings, issuing traffic information on electronic messaging signs, traffic bulletins to media outlets and information on travel web pages. There is the potential to divert traffic on some heavily congested routes onto less congested routes.

The 16 new CCTV cameras are located at the optimum sites on the road network for monitoring traffic conditions, primarily at the busiest junctions or junctions with the greatest visibility of the corridor and at points where incidents would have the greatest impact on traffic 8243 flow.

In addition to these CCTV cameras for traffic network monitoring, ACC also intends to install ANPR cameras on key traffic routes in and around Aberdeen for journey time monitoring. The journey time information will be used to alert operators when and where journeys are being delayed, which could indicate incidences on the roads network such as a vehicle collision, breakdown or general congestion.

Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Measuring vehicle lengths with a single loop - promising results
    July 27, 2012
    District 7 of Caltrans has been conducting trials to see whether the use of a single inductive loop to measure vehicle lengths and so identify heavy trucks is feasible. So far, the results have been very promising, according to Lead Transportation Engineer Steve Malkson. Between them, the adjoining ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the US's two biggest, cover some 10,700 acres (43km2) and 68 miles (109km) of waterfront.
    Read More
  • Camera technology a flexible and cost-effective option
    June 7, 2012
    Perceptions of machine vision being an expensive solution are being challenged by developments in both core technologies and ancillaries. Here, Jason Barnes and David Crawford look at the latest developments in the sector. A notable aspect of machine vision is the flexibility it offers in terms of how and how much data is passed around a network. With smart cameras, processing capabilities at the front end mean that only that which is valid need be communicated back to a central processor of any descripti
    Read More
  • Caltrans trials Xerox’s Passenger Detection System
    October 30, 2015
    Xerox’s Passenger Detection System has been trialled in California and compared with the state’s team of human counters giving some interesting results, as Colin Sowman discovers. Like others adopting high-occupancy and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for congestion management, Caltrans has faced challenges with compliance in what has been effectively an ‘honour system’ with drivers trusted to set their tags correctly or comply with the multi-passenger requirement.
    Read More
  • Priority boosts ridership and cuts congestion
    May 4, 2016
    Transit priority is proving a win-win in Europe and Australia. David Crawford reports. Technology that integrates with the Australian-originated Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) is driving bus signal priority and performance analysis initiatives on both sides of the world; in its homeland, with a major deployment in 2015, and in the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
    Read More

Highlighted Content