News

UK company Symology has completed the implementation of its cloud-based Insight for street works solution at Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) well in advance of the EToN 6 deadline of 1 April 2014, including the migration of data from GCC’s existing system to the new street works traffic management system. Insight for street works provides comprehensive functionality for the coordination of all activities which could potentially cause disruption on the highway, including utility and highway authority

Volvo Car Group (Volvo Cars), the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen) are joining forces in a pilot project in which road friction information from individual cars is shared within a cloud-based system. The pilot uses 50 Volvo cars; when the test car detects an icy or slippery patch of road, the information is transmitted to Volvo Cars’ database via the mobile phone network. An instant warning is transmitted to other vehicles ap

The Mayor of London and Transport for London (TfL) have published the capital's first Motorcycle Safety Action Plan designed to directly reduce the number of collisions involving motorcyclists and scooter riders. One of TfL’s top priorities is to reduce by 40 per cent the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSI) on London’s roads by 2020. Recently, the Mayor and TfL published six commitments which, working with a range of partners, are guiding a range of work to deliver this. In particular, ac

Fontinalis Partners and Econolite Group are to be sponsoring investors for Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s (ITS America) inaugural Transportation for Tomorrow Investor Matching Event at this year’s World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, 7-11 September in Detroit, Michigan. The Investor Matching Event will bring together premier financial and strategic investment groups with young and dynamic companies, whose entrepreneurs have cutting-edge technologies and ideas in the fields

The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has launched a series of monthly Twitter chats, #TranspoChat, that will focus on a range of transportation issues, including tolling, funding and investment. The first of these chats begins on Tuesday 25 March 25 at 3:00PM EDT with an hour of discussion, debate, and learning moderated by Patrick Jones, IBTTA’s executive director and CEO, and featuring special guest, Lloyd Brown, communications director with the American Association of Sta

Scania has signed an agreement with Ghana’s Ministry for Transport to supply buses and equipment for the bus rapid transit system under implementation in Accra. Scania will supply 300 buses and ancillary equipment and services such as ticketing machines, workshop services, operational support and infrastructure. Accra, the capital and largest city in Ghana, is facing a severe traffic situation that needs to be addressed by the use of high capacity buses. The BRT solution provides an answer to the proble

Vantage Pegasus, the latest addition to the Iteris video detection range, is a wireless broadband communications system for the demanding requirements of transportation system communications networks. According to Iteris, agencies now have the ability to safely connect remote intersections to a centralised monitoring/management location, avoiding the need for costly fibre optic cable installation. Vantage Pegasus wireless systems built with carrier grade radio components that deliver the high bandwidth

Research by price comparison website Confused.com shows that 1 in 14 motorists (seven per cent) admit to having taken a photograph while driving, and four per cent also use the social media app of the moment, Snapchat, to send photos to friends while at the wheel. In addition, 36 per cent of motorists admit to using their mobile phone when driving, mainly to make or answer calls (75 per cent) and send or check texts (43 per cent). Yet, despite so many flouting the law, only eight per cent say they have

Abu Dhabi Department of Transport has completed a US$2.45 million system that will provide real-time information on traffic congestion, route guidance and other conditions via smartphones, the internet and navigation devices in cars. The Integrated Transport Information and Navigation System (i-TINS) collects real-time data from different sources – road side systems such as traffic counting systems and travel time measurement systems and central sub-systems such as taxi and bus GPS-based tracking systems

Following extensive testing, Queensland Police Service (QPS) in Australia has opted to buy Vitronic Lidar-based PoliScan mobile laser speed enforcement systems to modernise its current mobile fleet of wet-film radar systems. The PoliScan systems will be installed in QPS vehicles, with integration into QPS’ existing PoliScan connect case processing software. PoliScan systems for speed and red light enforcement utilise Lidar (light detection and ranging) to detect violations. A scanning laser records the

ITS United Kingdom has introduced a new membership category to support start-up companies in the sector. The UK public sector’s rapid uptake of open data principles and the restructuring of large ITS employers during the recession has prompted the growth of small, innovative companies. This new category allows small companies that have been trading for less than two years to join the Association for a third of the cost of the standard fee. Graeme Scott of IBI Group and the membership director of ITS (UK) s

With momentum building towards 2016 and hosting the ITS World Congress in Melbourne, ITS Australia has appointed a new board of directors with John Hawkins, Manu Hingorani and Michael Watts elected for two-year terms. ITS Australia’s president Brian Negus said efficient and environmentally sustainable transport is a goal for all communities and having been voted the World’s Most Liveable City, it is appropriate that Melbourne will host the 2016 World Congress. He said the World Congress Organising Co

ITS Ireland will begin its 2014 seminar program with an examination of the changes being made to the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) as part of a major revision being carried out by the National Roads Authority. The revision will be in three-stages (Infrastructure, Devices, and Procedures) first of which has been published and the second is currently in production. ITS Ireland said the focus of the presentation in its seminar will be on the documents issued by the NRA and the package that

Some 500 delegates from around the world are expected to attend the 2014 Asia-Pacific Intelligent Transportation Systems Forum which will be held between 28-30 April in New Zealand. It is the first time in its 13-year history that the Forum has been held in New Zealand and it is being staged by ITS NZ. Delegates will hear 80 specialist papers delivered over 20 sessions by local and international ITS experts from Europe, the United States and Asia including Taiwan, Korea and Japan. Some notable topics

Following the announcement in Vienna by Deputy Minister of Transport Alexey Tsidenov, Russia is bidding to host the 2018 ITS World Congress in Moscow and the 2016 European ITS Congress in Kazan. ITS Russia and the GLONASS/GNSS Forum are part of an organising committee that includes the representatives of the Ministry, Federal Road Agency and city administrations. The committee aims to bring the World and European congresses to Russia for the first time and will start by preparing the Russian business da