Skip to main content

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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Over-height vehicle detection system implemented on New York City Parkways
    November 9, 2016
    A US$4.8 million over-height vehicle detection system has just been completed on two New York City parkways in a bid to minimise truck collisions, improve road safety and protect highway infrastructure. The infrared system identifies and alerts over-height vehicles illegally using the parkway to prevent the vehicles from striking low-clearance bridges, which are found on most parkways in New York. The system was installed at four locations on the Hutchinson River Parkway in the Bronx and one location on the
  • Arup and Amey to design Australian smart motorway project
    September 28, 2016
    Arup, working with Amey, is to deliver the M4 Smart Motorway project, said to be the first of its kind in New South Wales, Australia. The commission includes all technology and civil works, spanning from detailed design through to construction support services.
  • New system to prevent Hazchem and over-height vehicles entering tunnel
    August 20, 2015
    An impending move to free-flow charging prompted a search for automated dangerous goods identification and over-height detection systems at the Thames Crossing to the east of London. Manned toll booths are increasingly being consigned to history by the onslaught of all-electronic charging. However, a secondary function of the traditional manned plazas has been to prevent non-compliant vehicles using the facility or to tell a driver that that they need to use a specific lane or wait for an escort. Automating
  • Sony cameras and video analysis advance road tunnel safety in Sweden
    May 16, 2012
    Road tunnels are a particularly dangerous environment. Not only do fires burn more violently in enclosed environments, as happened in the 1999 Mont Blanc tunnel disaster, the low lighting and confined reaction space mean accidents are more likely to happen. Authorities must, therefore, be easily and quickly alerted to accidents, breakdowns and equipment must be working at all time.