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.

Related Content

  • Integrate systems to reduce roadside infrastructure
    January 27, 2012
    David Crawford reviews promising current developments. Instrumentation of the road infrastructure has grown to become one of the most dynamic sectors of the ITS industry. Drivers for its deployment include global concerns over the commercial and environmental pressures of traffic congestion, the importance of keeping drivers informed throughout their journeys, and the need to reduce accident rates and promote the safety of all road users, for example by enforcing traffic safety rules.
  • TrafiBot Dual AI camera has tunnel vision
    September 23, 2024
    Multispectral system automates incident detection and delivers early fire detection
  • AMG transmission system used in Blackwall Tunnel refurbishment
    May 18, 2012
    AMG Systems has announced it has been selected to supply the transmission solution for the refurbished Victorian-built Blackwall Tunnel under the river Thames in London. The three-year refurbishment programme, costing over US$113 million, is being undertaken by Transport for London (TfL) to bring the tunnel up to European safety regulations. P. Ducker Systems (PDS) is undertaking the task of supplying the tunnel systems for the project.
  • London's new Silvertown Tunnel set to open
    January 13, 2025
    TfL says average peak journey times expected to be 20 minutes quicker