Oxfordshire uses Siemens’ traffic weight enforcement system to protect bridge

Siemens’ Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras have been deployed to enforce weight restrictions on one of the oldest river crossings on the River Thames at Newbridge, UK. The new traffic enforcement system has been introduced by Trading Standards in Oxfordshire whose officers will monitor the bridge and enforce the limit. Vehicles exceeding 18 tonnes maximum gross weight can be fined up to £1000 ($1,300).
November 30, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
189 Siemens’ Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras have been deployed to enforce weight restrictions on one of the oldest river crossings on the River Thames at Newbridge, UK. The new traffic enforcement system has been introduced by Trading Standards in Oxfordshire whose officers will monitor the bridge and enforce the limit. Vehicles exceeding 18 tonnes maximum gross weight can be fined up to £1000 ($1,300).


The solution operates on the A415 between Abingdon and Witney, and is designed with the intention of maintaining an enforcement schedule and permitted vehicle lists. Its schedule will provide selected enforcement periods required for other types of restriction, with the permitted lists identifying council vehicles that are permitted to use the route irrespective of their weight limit, such as refuse collection, emergency response or road maintenance vehicles.

In Newbridge, the cameras have been installed onto existing CCTV columns with the intention of minimising disruption and cost. The equipment uses 3G communications and only requires a power connection, aiding the installation and flexibility of camera deployment.

Joe Moxham, UK product sales manager at Siemens ITS, said: “Evidence downloaded from the cameras can be used to demonstrate that drivers have committed an offence, allowing the Trading Standards team to investigate with knowledge and a reliable witness of events, providing enforcement quality images of the vehicle in contravention during any time of the day or night, and in all weather conditions.”


Councillor Judith Heathcoat, deputy leader of Oxfordshire County Council said: “The County Council is committed to protecting this irreplaceable historic bridge and this technology allows us to do just that. We are responding to concerns from the local community and are alerting drivers of heavy vehicles so they can find other routes.”

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Siemens shows new Sitraffic sX at Intertraffic
    March 25, 2014
    A ‘game changer’ has been unveiled on the Siemens stand in the form of the Sitraffic sX, a new generation traffic lights and detectors controller, which can be updated remotely from internet enabled devices without interrupting normal operation. This enables the system to be remotely controlled and managed in real-time using devices such as a tablet while still ensuring intersection safety and reducing downtime.
    Read More
  • Gothenburg’s year of congestion charging
    April 9, 2014
    A year after it went live, Colin Sowman examines the technology used for Gothenburg’s congestion charging system and the effect the scheme has had on commuters. When it comes to long-term planning, the Scandinavians take some beating.The West Swedish Agreement is a case in point. Introduced in 2009, the Agreement runs through to around 2027 and aims to create an attractive, sustainable and growing region, and over that timescale the number of journeys is expected to increase by a third. Therefore the Agreem
    Read More
  • More Than: over half of Britons in test support car crash images used as speeding deterrent
    November 20, 2017
    58% of Britons who took part in a More Than (MT) visual deterrent speed sign test support its new proposal for speed limit signs to be accompanied by images of car crashes to deter drivers from speeding. The test follows a recent study from the campaign group, which revealed that 62% of drivers regularly ignore speeding signs along with 25% who stated that the threat of having to attend a speed awareness course isn't enough of a deterrent. Upon the reasons behind the effectiveness of the images in causing
    Read More
  • Queensland extends emergency vehcile priority system
    December 18, 2014
    Following encouraging results from an initial small-scale trial of an emergency vehicle priority system in Queensland, Australia, the scheme is now being extended. In an emergency every second counts. Nowhere is this more graphically illustrated than by the survivability statistics for the time to cardiopulmonary resuscitation of pre-hospital cardiac arrest: at four minutes the survival rate is 22% but by 14 minutes the survival has dropped to 5% - as can be seen from the graph below. There is a similar tre
    Read More

Highlighted Content