Skip to main content

Traficon incident detection technology deployed in Dartford tunnel

Traficon has been awarded a contract to provide 70 VIP-IP video image processing boards for installation in the Dartford tunnel on London’s M25 orbital motorway. The technology will be installed in collaboration with Vital Technology Ltd, and will provide extensive automatic incident detection (AID) capabilities, including the detection of stopped vehicles and smoke detection. The Dartford - Thurrock river crossing is one of Europe's most heavily used crossings and complex traffic management systems. An ave
June 26, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
5574 Traficon has been awarded a contract to provide 70 VIP-IP video image processing boards for installation in the Dartford tunnel on London’s M25 orbital motorway. The technology will be installed in collaboration with 6028 Vital Technology Ltd, and will provide extensive automatic incident detection (AID) capabilities, including the detection of stopped vehicles and smoke detection.

The Dartford - Thurrock river crossing is one of Europe's most heavily used crossings and complex traffic management systems. An average of 140,000 vehicles a week pass through the crossing, which comprises two dual-lane tunnels carrying traffic to the north and a four-lane cable-stayed bridge carrying traffic to the south.

“This award demonstrates Traficon’s strong market position in video based automatic incident detection systems and our client’s confidence in our solutions,” said Sukhdev Bhogal, business development director at Traficon. “By detecting incidents fast, secondary accidents can be avoided and traffic congestion reduced dramatically.”

The Traficon VIP-IP is a multi-functional video image processor for traffic control using network cameras. It integrates automatic incident detection, data collection, vehicle presence detection, digital recording of pre and post-incident video sequences and streaming video in one board for a variety of traffic management applications such as tunnels, highways and bridges. The board makes use of field-proven Traficon algorithms that were implemented in other boards like VIP-T video detection board for analogue cameras. The company claims this ensures high reliability and a low false alarm rate of this new IP version right from the start.

Data, events and alarms generated by the VIP-IP detector boards are handled by Traficon’s Flux management system. The main goal of Flux is to manage and control all traffic information generated by these various detectors and to make it useful, meaningful and relevant to the user.

Traficon has been awarded several AID tunnel projects in the UK over the past few years, with the Tyne, Hatfield and Medway Tunnels as the major examples. Last year, the company successfully commissioned 40 VIP-T AID detector boards in the northbound Blackwall tunnel, which is set to be a crucial traffic gateway towards the Olympic stadium in East London during the upcoming Summer Olympic Games.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ITS asset management matters
    April 26, 2013
    Maintenance of on-road ITS kit needs to become more sophisticated; while new technologies can deliver better road maintenance. David Crawford investigates both sides of the issue "Good information is key to effective ITS asset maintenance,” says Ian Routledge of the Ian Routledge Consultancy (IRC), whose Imtrac (Information Management for TRAffic Control) system is poised for European expansion. Developed as an ‘intelligent filing cabinet’ for storing information about on-road equipment, the online database
  • Citilog’s early detection prevents tragedy in Alpine tunnel
    July 23, 2025

    Citilog will be showcasing the real-world power of its automatic incident detection (AID) technology by highlighting how it operated in a real-world situation when the system helped prevent a potential tragedy in France’s Vuache Tunnel.

    At 10:33 on 11 June 2024, Citilog's AI-powered system identified a stopped vehicle and immediately triggered tunnel closure procedures. By 10:38, when a fire broke out on the truck, the tunnel was already sealed, preventing other vehicles from entering what could have been a catastrophic situation.

  • Sony helps Rio get a better view of the Olympics
    June 29, 2016
    With the Olympics approaching, Sony’s Stephane Clauss examines how the latest camera technologies can help cities cope with the huge crowds attending major events. This August will see more than 10,000 athletes head to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics Games. Alongside them will be their coaching staff, a hoard of logistics teams, thousands of volunteer marshals (London 2012 had 70,000) and millions of spectators. All such major events have nervous jitters on the way to the opening ceremony. This year has see
  • Flir to showcase dual vision and C-ITS technology
    February 16, 2018
    Flir ITS will use Intertraffic Amsterdam 2018 to showcase Dual Vision Technology (DVT), combining best-in-class thermal imaging detection and HD visual imaging to provide a complete traffic monitoring solution for road and tunnel operators. Moreover, DVT has the exceptional functionality of detecting fire at an early stage, together with see-through-smoke capabilities. Flir’s C-ITS technology promises major benefits in mobility applications, such as traffic signal priority for public transport and