News

More than 1.3 million people die in road accidents each year. If nothing is done, this already chilling figure risks to rise to 1.9 million deaths per year. Around 90 per cent of road fatalities occur in emerging and developing countries. Here, the mixture of population growth and higher numbers of vehicles due to rising incomes are proving a deadly combination, as infrastructure and regulatory environment have difficulty keeping pace.

TransCore has won three separate contracts to provide ITS design, construction and integration services for the Nevada Department of Transportation. The projects include a 30-mile extension of the FAST traffic management system along I-15 from outside Las Vegas to the California border; a 15-mile expansion of the FAST traffic management system along I-515 on the eastern side of the Las Vegas metropolitan area; and a 10-mile segment of I-80 in Reno, Nevada, as part of a roadway reconstruction project.

Swindon in the UK is set to trial smart traffic lights which turn to red if approaching drivers are breaking the speed limit. Sensors will detect speeding vehicles and if they are above a preset limit then the signals ahead will turn to red. If congestion builds up then the traffic light phasing will change automatically to allow more traffic through the junction. ANPR systems will detect emergency vehicles and ensure they are not inhibited by the system.

Houston TranStar has been awarded "Most Innovative Use of Technology" by the Centre for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government, for its cutting-edge Bluetooth-based travel time information system. The new deployment, extending north more than 200 miles along the I-45 North corridor to Dallas, gives TranStar the capability to monitor and manage traffic conditions on this major evacuation route.

The International Transport Forum at the OECD, an intergovernmental organisation for the transport sector that comprises 52 countries, has announced the winner of its 2011 Young Researcher of the Year Award. The Award, which is open to researchers under 35 years of age and carries a prize of US$ 7,000, goes to Canadian national Dr. Jonn Axsen of the University of California at Davis, USA.

Capita Symonds’ innovations team has won a contract to supply its web based road traffic accident analysis system (CIRTAS) to the Traffic and Accident Data Unit (TADU) at Tyne and Wear Council in the UK. The contract covers the Tyne and Wear five partner districts - the metropolitan boroughs of South Tyneside, North Tyneside, City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead and the City of Sunderland.

Russian company Tolltec is currently implementing ITS technology to optimise the high traffic volumes on the 115km-long St. Petersburg's ring motorway that stretches around the whole city. As part of this project, PTV software, including the company's TrafficCountManagement and VISSIM, is part of the ITS technology used for St. Petersburg's ring road.

BYD, manufacturer of the first long-range (300+ km), all-electric bus has been selected as the sole eBus provider for the 2011 International Universiade Games which will be held in Shenzhen, China. The company will deliver over 300 eBus-12 units by this coming August. After the Universiade Games, they will be will be incorporated into Shenzhen’s city bus fleet, creating the largest all-electric bus fleet in the world.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have been expensive add-on technical features for luxury vehicles for over 10 years, but during 2011, or perhaps more accurately Model Year 2012, features such as adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and low-speed collision mitigation will finally become available on higher-volume models such as the Ford Focus and Mercedes Benz C-Class.

Trimble has been awarded a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) by the US General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service for its fleet management solution. The BPA will be administered by GSA Fleet and gives fleet managers the option to implement Trimble's vehicle monitoring, maintenance, driver safety, and driver identification products and services.

Swarco has announced that its iTravel traffic data acquisition system has received approval from the Dutch National Data Warehouse Institute (NDW), created by 15 authorities, including the Dutch Highway Authority Rijkswaterstaat, to provide complete, reliable and up-to-the-minute information on the status of the Dutch road network - all motorways and major provincial and city roads - at all times.

Teledyne Dalsa has introduced the Genie TS series cameras which combine advancements in the company’s CMOS imaging sensor technology with a newly optimised camera series that delivers what the company claims is the widest, most powerful feature set ever in a GigE Vision camera. The Genie TS series will include VGA, 1.2, 1.4, 2, 4, 5, 8 and 12 megapixel formats, reach speeds up to 300 fps and be available in both monochrome and colour versions.

Sweden’s National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) is publishing a new report showing ways to improve road safety. Of note is the fact that the report does not recommend a ban on mobile phone use while driving. Instead, VTI believes that a package measures can train and support drivers to manage communications more safety. According to VTI, this will be more effective than a ban on the use of cell phones at the wheel. VTI claims that more information will enable drivers to understand when it is d

The US Department of Transportation has announced the six cities where it will hold Driver Acceptance Clinics for the connected vehicle programme. The first clinic will be held in Brooklyn, MI, near Detroit, in August, while the remaining clinics will be held in Minneapolis, Orlando, FL, Blacksburg, VA, Dallas and San Francisco.

TRL, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory, and Road Safety Analysis (RSA) have announced they will combine capabilities and expertise to support road safety delivery in the UK. Working together, both organisations say they are planning a number of projects to provide new tools and make their joint expertise more accessible to professionals.