Skip to main content

Sony cameras and video analysis advance road tunnel safety in Sweden

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.
May 16, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
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.

To manage this process Sweden has implemented camera surveillance systems on almost all large tunnels. The latest to gain this technology is on the Norra Länken (Northern Link), a motorway in Stockholm, between Norrtull and Karlberg. Once complete, almost 500 cameras will monitor the entire tunnel and the surface road network.

To implement the network, Swedish authorities turned to 5572 ISG, a systems integrator and intelligent video analysis specialist, based in the southern, coastal city of Höganäs.

The ISG system, at the heart of which is a 576 Sony FCB vision camera, monitors traffic flow and analyses the video for incidents, such as breakdowns or accidents. Upon detection, the system automatically sends image sequences directly to Trafikverket and Stockholm Stad's (the City of Stockholm’s) traffic management centre, Trafik Stockholm, enabling the operations management team to determine further actions.

ISG is also in the process of upgrading functionality be adding additional, complementary technologies, for example radar detectors. ISG’s solution, which can combine information from different detection systems regardless of the technology and brand, is unique. The company will also supply vandal-resistant emergency telephones which are installed for example in first aid rooms, SOS cabins, at all on-ramps and off-ramps and at the parking slots at the various maintenance areas. When distressed road users pick up the phone, the call will be automatically directed to the operators at Trafik Stockholm.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Centralised traffic control, managing changing traffic demands
    January 23, 2012
    Paul van Koningsbruggen and Dave Marples of Technolution BV describe, using a national example from the Netherlands, how smart add-ons to traffic control centres combine to increase cross-centre capabilities and cost-efficiency. Increasingly, traffic management is becoming the natural partner of the civil engineer, improving flows over existing infrastructure to deliver an alternative to laying more blacktop. As in any emerging market, the first steps towards mature traffic management have not necessarily r
  • Mobinet counters weighty cross border concerns
    November 9, 2017
    A Mobinet pilot is combining onboard weighing with V2X comms to streamline vehicle weight enforcement. David Crawford reports. Pan-European, cross-border weigh-in-motion (WIM) for trucks is now a practical possibility, following successful Scandinavian trials within the EU-co-funded Mobinet (Internet of Mobility) programme. New technology is using strain sensors, located on load-bearing components and routinely installed in truck fleet management systems.
  • Harnessing the power of smart technology
    June 28, 2018
    Keeping the public safe in a changing world requires smart thinking and sensible deployment of technology. Peter Jones of Hitachi Europe examines some available options From human threats, such as terrorism, to digital threats like hacking, the growing sophistication of crime is posing serious challenges to public safety. At the same time, mass urbanisation threatens to exacerbate these problems as there are more people to keep safe. According to a new whitepaper from Hitachi and Frost & Sullivan, Public
  • Navtech Radar’s ClearWay in motorway trials
    March 26, 2014
    Navtech Radar, the world’s leading manufacturer of Radar-based Automatic Incident Detection (AID) solutions for traffic management applications, is supplying its ClearWay radar-based automatic incident detection (AID) solution planned trials on hard shoulder running on strategic motorways in the north of England. The trials are part of a new, all-lane-running smart motorways scheme. For the initial trials, Navtech Radar has supplied ten TS350-X Radars and the sophisticated Witness analytical software. E