Vigilans looks to sensors and big data to replace bollards

You might think that a static metal or concrete bollard would be a cheap way of marking off a restricted area or car park. But it can cost up to €30,000 to install a bollard. And costs continue to be incurred, as bollards will typically be damaged by vehicles five or six times in a year. In fact, it is five times cheaper to install a camera and link it to licence plate-reading software and a ‘white list’ of vehicles that are allowed to enter the restricted area, says Erik Dijkshoorn, director of Vigilans, w
April 6, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
You might think that a static metal or concrete bollard would be a cheap way of marking off a restricted area or car park.


But it can cost up to €30,000 to install a bollard. And costs continue to be incurred, as bollards will typically be damaged by vehicles five or six times in a year.

In fact, it is five times cheaper to install a camera and link it to licence plate-reading software and a ‘white list’ of vehicles that are allowed to enter the restricted area, says Erik Dijkshoorn, director of Vigilans, which handles the training of municipal authorities or companies that buy the camera system.

Vigilans is owned by 2114 ARS Traffic & Transport Technology, which sells or leases these camera systems and creates the relevant software. There are around 7000 bollards in the Netherlands and ARS believes that 80-90% of them will be replaced with cameras in the next four years.

“It’s all about big data now, and sensors,” says Dijkshoorn. “A camera system is a type of sensor and, in future, governments will buy data.” Vigilans and ARS are in talks with several countries over purchasing their system.

Related Content

  • January 19, 2012
    ITS industry needs more effort to get to the future
    Eric Sampson, visiting professor at Newcastle University and City University London and ambassador for ITS-UK, provides a retrospective on the last couple of decades and takes a look at what the ITS industry still needs to do to get to where it needs to be
    Read More
  • May 30, 2013
    Communication: the future of machine vision
    Jason Barnes asks leading machine vision industry figures what they consider to be the educational barriers to the technology’s increased uptake by the ITS sector. The recent rush by some organisations within the ITS sector to associate themselves with the term ‘machine vision’ underlines just how important the technology has become in a relatively short space of time. However, despite the technology having been applied in certain traffic management applications for some years, there remains a significant s
    Read More
  • May 3, 2017
    Countering truckers’ parking conundrum
    Colin Sowman hears about a new truck parking information system being piloted across eight states. Legislation limits truck drivers’ hours with the result that they are often caught in a situation where they need to stop either for a break or an overnight rest. But as truck parking is in short supply, truck drivers spend an average of 56 minutes a day searching for available spaces and are often faced with the choice of driving beyond their permitted hours or parking illegally.
    Read More
  • July 26, 2012
    Technology advances improve enforcement
    Across the board, technology is being brought to bear to improve the efficiency of enforcement. Bus lane monitoring, parking and controlled access have all benefited from systems introduced in recent months. While speed and red light infringements tend to attract the most attention, there remain several other areas of enforcement where automation can bring significant operational and efficiency benefits. Lane monitoring and access control also continue to benefit from technological development.
    Read More

Highlighted Content