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

  • Improving urban traffic control in Atlanta
    January 27, 2012
    Hugh Colton, Georgia DOT details move to improve urban traffic control in the Atlanta area. With a significant proportion of traffic using freeways and toll-ways, along with a significant investment in roadway infrastructure, urban arterials are often the poor relation when it comes to ITS investment. Hitherto the primary means of Urban Traffic Control (UTC) has been the ubiquitous traffic signal. Many traffic signals still operate in a standalone mode and traffic detection is often broken, leaving the sign
  • Towards common standards for cooperative road infrastructures
    July 23, 2012
    Michael Noblett of Connexis discusses international progress towards common standards for cooperative road infrastructures. Will vehicle safety communications standards be able to support ITS on the international level, or will we settle once again for regional interoperability only? The answer lies in the current status of the draft standards themselves, and the requirements users and authorities are placing on the people who draft them.
  • Arizona picks Teledyne Flir thermal cameras for wrong-way detection
    June 5, 2023
    New system also institutes countermeasures such as flashing warning signals
  • Trans-Pennine road tunnel routes shortlisted, may include special lighting, caverns
    August 19, 2016
    Five routes have been shortlisted for the Trans-Pennine tunnel – the most ambitious road scheme undertaken in the UK in more than five decades. The Trans-Pennine tunnel study was launched by the government in autumn 2015, one of a number of studies aimed at addressing some of the biggest challenges facing the road network in the UK. The latest interim study shows the continued strong case for the tunnel which could provide safer, faster and more reliable journeys for motorists. All five routes join th