June 11, 2007
License Plate Cloning
More than 40,000 sets of number plates were stolen in 2006, a rise of almost 25%, according to police estimates.
Acpo wants a central issuing body for the registration numbers, and all cars to have tamper-proof plates fitted.
Posted by rshah at 10:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 08, 2007
NYC Congestion Plan
From Lauren Weinstein's Blog:
Privacy activist Weinstein points out potential privacy issues with the NYC congestion plan.
Of course, such a system is also dandy for building and maintaining a massive database of driver activities for a range of other purposes. This is likely (regardless of any claims of data privacy) to become fodder for all manner of officials and clever attorneys -- just as "FasTrak" toll data in the San Francisco Bay Area already has.
. . .
This is the kind of invasive technology -- with massive "data creep" potential -- that privacy-conscious people should really be concerned about today, not services like Google's existing Street View application.
It's time to get our priorities straight, folks.
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May 08, 2006
Smart Traffic System in Dubai
From AME Info:
A smart traffic system is going to be installed in Dubai. It will consist of cameras, sensors, and electronic signboards. The motivation is that this system should initially reduce traffic congestion by 15%. The article states that in other countries these systems have reduced traffic jams by 30%. Here is one very cool application of smart systems:
To ensure that emergency vehicles like ambulances reach accident sites in the least possible time, the Smart Traffic System will detect the presence of such vehicles and inform the center that controls traffic signals, which will time the automatic signals in a way that will give priority to emergency vehicles.
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April 18, 2006
Smart Traffic Signals in Chicago
From the Chicago Tribune:
A very nice article on how Chicago is trying to deal with traffic congestion. For background on this topic, see these two posts from last year, 1 & 2.
It mentions a number of different strategies they are using. They include:
1. Installing bus-priority signal systems on CTA buses. Examples of these systems are MIRT, 3M Opticom, and Tomar Strobecom. This technology has resulted in improvements of running times from 17% to 20%, as well as ridership, according to Michael Bolton of the CTA.
2. Changeable message boards to prompt motorists to take alternative routes
3. Synchronizing traffic lights to reduce travel times
- There are 400 intersections and 60 more planned in 2006 are interconnected and synchronized
- 2000 traffic intersections synchronized out of 2800
- Interconnection allows for cameras and other technologies to monitor and modify traffic flow. This can result in a 15% improvement in travel times.
- The holy grail is "being able to adjust traffic signals in response to situations, rather than changing signal timings only at predetermined hours each day, will improve traffic flow around accidents, crime scenes and special events."
4. They realize that sometime smart traffic technology doesn't work:
In 2001, Chicago tested self-setting traffic signals at about a dozen River North intersections. The signals were designed to gauge congestion and automatically adjust based on the traffic flow. But the experiment was stopped after several months because the system could not process the high volume of traffic data quickly enough to relay instructions back to the traffic lights in a timely manner, Montazery said. "The concept is very promising, but there are still technology issues to be resolved," he said.
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February 28, 2006
Lake County Smart Traffic System
From ABC7Chicago.com:
Lake County in Illinois is using an Intelligent Transportation System to reduce traffic congestion. They have two sets of cameras. One focuses on detecting traffic to time traffic signals and the another set monitors traffic.
For instance, a camera at Aptakisic and Buffalo Grove Road automatically shifts positions to check for congestion or crashes. The camera detects the speed of the traffic and computes traffic density. If heavy traffic is detected, the system can automatically adjust the signal timing at several intersections until traffic flow is back to normal.
This information is linked to 911 centers and regional traffic centers. By spring, there will be 74 traffic detections cameras and 24 with pan, tilt and zoom capability. The system is integrated with other information systems, such as highway advisory radio and message board signs.
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November 10, 2005
Smart Streets, Smooth Traffic
From InformationWeek and Government IT
A combination of video surveillance and road sensors is being used to monitor and manage traffic. This is part of larger project, I-580 Smart Corridor, which aims to use IT to improve traffic. An example of what the system can do:
Information generated by the sensors and cameras will feed into Naztec Inc.'s Streetwise software, which runs on a central computer at the Dublin Traffic Operations Center. Engineers will use the data to make quick traffic-management decisions. If there's an accident or congestion, for example, they can analyze the problem on the fly and change the timing of traffic lights to alter traffic patterns. The data also can be archived for future analysis.
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October 11, 2005
Cell Phones for Traffic Monitoring
From The Newspaper:
The Newspaper, which incidentally seems like a useful resource for those interested in the intersection of cameras and traffic, writes about a program in Missouri to use cell phones to track cars:
Delcan NET, a Canadian company, developed the system which triangulates the location of each driver by monitoring the signal sent from the cell phone as it is handed off from one cell tower to the next. Each phone is uniquely identified and the information is compared with a highway map to record on what road each motorist is traveling at any given time. The system also records the speed of each vehicle, opening up another potential ticketing technology.
Missouri rejected the simpler solution used by other states of embedding sensors in the pavement that record how many vehicles pass over a stretch of pavement without uniquely identifying them. Missouri wanted a program that required less equipment."The traffic community has been really excited for quite some time about the possibility of being able to use cell phones to track vehicles," Valerie Briggs, program manager for transportation operations at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials told the Associated Press. "Almost everyone has a cell phone, so you have a lot of potential data points, and you can track data almost anywhere on the whole (road) system."
A pilot program in Baltimore only tracks Cingular cell phones on 1,000 miles of road. AirSage Inc. has contracted with Sprint to spy on motorists in Norfolk, Virginia and Atlanta and Macon, Georgia.
Update: the NY Times has a article on using cellphones to address congestion.
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May 10, 2005
Common Sense and Privacy
KnoxNews: Traffic:
A story on the traffic monitoring system for Knoxville provides some clear insights into handling law enforcement and privacy issues with traffic cameras.
Despite the plethora of cameras that can be swung around 360 degrees, TDOT officials emphasize they are not spying on motorists and will not use the system for law enforcement. Dahlinger said TDOT doesn't record the camera images. "We don't record anything because, if we did, we'd be bombarded with requests from attorneys for videos of crashes," he said.
Knoxville also has a policy on personal or corporate messages on traffic message boards. "It can't be bought"
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May 06, 2005
Cameras and Intelligent Transportation Systems
Links from David Fletcher's blog:
In Salt Lake city, their new Advanced Management Traffic System (ATMS) in 2000:
the ATMS provides instrumentation on 70 miles (112 km) of area freeways. The system includes closed circuit TV (CCTV) camera coverage every 3,300 ft (1,000 m), traffic monitoring systems that entail embedded loop detectors and microloops approximately every 2,640 ft (800 m), 31 variable message signs (VMS) located on the freeway, four weigh-in-motion stations on the I-15 corridor, seven roadway weather information stations (RWIS), and a fully redundant, self-healing fiber optic backbone communications system. (Link from Jan 2000)
Commonly referred to as the largest single highway construction contract in U.S. history, the ATMS equipment within the area’s infrastructure costs about $70 million (US). "It should be noted that only a small portion of this amount was within the reconstruction area of I-15 itself," said Mike Holling, vice president of TransCore, UDOT’s ATMS systems manager. " Funded by a combination of state and federal funds, the total cost of the I-15 reconstruction plan is $1.318 billion. Seven public agencies provided funding for the CommuterLink project. These agencies include: UDOT; Salt Lake City; Salt Lake County; the Federal Highway Administration; Utah Transit Authority; Wasatch Front Regional Council; and the Department of Public Safety. Built for a cost of $80 million, of which nearly 25% was federal aid funds, the TOC functions 18 hours a day, 7-days a week with two operators on duty.
Several years later the system is described as (note the cost savings!):
A recent advanced transportation management system (ATMS) evaluation identified the benefits that Utah’s Salt Lake Valley system is providing. The study quantified the value that each individual ATMS component provides based on delay, safety and emissions. These individual components included: ramp meter, CCTV, variable message signs (VMS), incident management teams (IMT) and traffic-signal coordination. In the Salt Lake Valley, there are over 900 traffic signals. The system communicates via fiber optics to more than 600 traffic signals, communicating through the three regional transportation operation centers (TOCs). The fiber system cost over $51 million to install, almost half the entire ATMS system costs. The estimated annual ATMS benefit is $179 million. The traffic-signal coordination effort accounts for 87% of the system-wide social benefit. (Link)
Fletcher also mentions the San Antonio system (live data) it comprises of:
The TransGuide system has expanded to include over 140 cameras, 150 Dynamic Message Signs, 150 Lane Control signal Systems, and over 1000 traffic sensors. The communication network is comprised of a fiber optic cable network stretching over 100 miles with over 120 fiber network communication cabinets. (Link)
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March 16, 2005
Chicago's Plans for Addressing Traffic
The Sun-Time has an article with lots of information about Chicago's plans for addressing traffic problems.
Here are some specific strategies the article mentions:
Smart traffic lights at 2,800 intersections that use computerized cameras and sensors to ''self-adjust'' with traffic conditions and turn green for approaching CTA buses. Cost: $75,000 to $250,000 per intersection.
Downtown streets leading to and from expressways with dedicated lanes for high-occupancy vehicles.
Cameras that photograph vehicles using bus lanes for ticketing.
Tow trucks dispatched with police and fire vehicles to arrive within 10 minutes to move disabled vehicles and delivery trucks blocking lanes.
50 permanent message boards to detour motorists around accidents and bottlenecks.
Traffic control aides pedaling to the scene on bicycles.
Construction permits electronically mapped to deny applications when projects conflict with special events.
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March 10, 2005
Chicago's plan for intersections
From the Sun-Times:
With an eye toward "moving Chicago faster," Mayor Daley today will take the wraps off his "Star Wars" plan to use a computerized network of cameras and sensors to reduce traffic congestion. Although the high-tech overhaul will take years to implement, Daley plans to use a $13 million federal air-quality grant to get the ball rolling. The goal is to get the first "pilot intersection" fully equipped within six months.
Ultimately, 2,818 of the 2,900 Chicago intersections with traffic signals will be linked to the new system, automatically adjusting traffic signal times when congestion demands it.
"What we're looking at is a cutting-edge solution that will result in a significant decrease in congestion time. We'll be the first city to have this kind of intelligent traffic system in place," said Ron Huberman, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, which includes the Traffic Management Authority.
"A lot of the technology today is focused on using cameras and sensors to identify a backlog at one intersection and turning the light green when there's heavy traffic. Our solution is much more holistic. It'll simultaneously feed data back from all of the intersections to a sophisticated computer system and make corrections on a global scale. Rather than turning one light and moving a driver a few blocks up, we're looking to install a system that's self-adjusting throughout the whole city."
Last fall, a study by the Texas Transportation Institute concluded the average Chicago area driver frittered away 56 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic in 2002 at a cost of $520 each in time and fuel for all motorists and a whopping $985 for those who travel during rush hour. That's the longest per-drive delay Chicago and northwest Indiana commuters have ever faced and the sixth-worst average delay in the country, the study stated.
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March 07, 2005
Chicago ready for traffic reforms
A nice overview article in the Chicago Tribune on using technology to improve traffic flow.
Besides covering the smart traffic lights in LA, the article talks about the six minute rule in Houston.
The idea behind Houston's six-minute response rule for tow-truck drivers. Since Jan. 1 motorists are no longer allowed to change flat tires or let overheated engines cool off on highway shoulders. Workers monitoring traffic via closed-circuit cameras dispatch tow trucks to clear the accidents or disabled vehicles within minutes. The trucks, assigned to roam specific areas, often arrive before police.
Each minute a disabled vehicle is on the highway results in four minutes of worsening traffic backups, White said. Despite a booming automobile-centered population, commuting times have been reduced as much as 20 percent in Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, officials said.
More than 360 traffic-surveillance cameras, panning more than 90 percent of the lanes on area highways, send continuous images to Houston TranStar, a high-tech operations center filled with rows of computer consoles and plasma TV screens that display accidents and traffic knots.
The 9-year-old TranStar facility and traffic equipment deployed on the roads, including about 150 electronic changeable-message signs to alert motorists about problems ahead, cost $24 million annually to operate, said TranStar spokesman Artee Jones. But he said the benefits delivered to motorists total $168 million a year in quicker commutes, less fuel consumed and cleaner air.
"In the past, 10 or 15 tow trucks would rush along the shoulder to be first to an accident scene, creating an even more dangerous situation," she said. "And there was terrible price-gouging. Today, each tow-truck company is assigned to patrol a segment of the freeway, and the pricing is regulated."
The tow and the service to replace the flat with a spare tire from Farrington's trunk were paid for by the City of Houston under a new program called Safe Clear. It costs the city $50 per tow to the nearest highway exit or within 1 mile. Beyond that, motorists are on the hook for towing fees of $75 and up.
Besides Houston, the article also covers possible solutions for addressing Chicago's traffic issues:
THE PROBLEM
Extra hours spent per traveler in traffic annually, during peak times, 2002: 56 hours
Note: Peak travel times are 6-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Examples of traffic-management innovations used in Los Angeles and Houston
- Roadside cameras
Generally placed at intervals along a freeway to identify incidents.
- Bus dispatch
An onboard computer communicates with a traffic-monitoring system and sends data such as the bus' location, number of passengers and fare collection.
- Flow signals
Located on entrance ramps of freeways to provide a consistent flow of entering vehicles.
- Traffic sensors
Collect traffic information such as traffic times and speeds.
- High occupancy vehicle lanes
Designated lanes for vehicles traveling during peak periods with multiple passengers.
- Smart stoplights
Computer-based traffic signals that monitor conditions
- Motorist assistance/vehicle removal
Provide assistance such as changing a flat tire, jump-starting a vehicle, providing fuel to disabled motorists and moving stalled or disabled vehicles that disrupt traffic flow.
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February 09, 2005
Using Cameras in Chicago for Traffic
This story was carried by the Chicago Sun-Times
Los Angeles has long been known for its marathon traffic jams and Star Wars efforts to mitigate congestion.
. . .
Daley is in Los Angeles this week learning about that city's highly-touted traffic surveillance system.
The Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control system is a network of closed-circuit cameras and traffic-detecting devices linked to a central computer that instantly adjusts stop lights at 3,000 intersections when back-ups occur.
. . .
"It has improved traffic . . . and at this point the technology might buy you a 30 to 40 percent reduction in road delay times," he said. "Chicago, with its larger, higher-density downtown, might get a greater benefit."
. . .
The biggest piece of Daley's traffic control plan will rely on replicating the Los Angeles system, which can automatically change traffic signal times on a second-by-second basis when needed.
The system is set up so that if automatic responses don't work, workers can call up any of the system's 200 surveillance cameras to eyeball intersection problems and dispatch police or traffic officers, said John Fisher, assistant general manager of the Los Angeles department of transportation.
The system also includes street-side sensors that keep track of how traffic affects bus on-time performance.
"It works like a scanner. When a bus arrives a little late, it will automatically get an extended green light to make it through the signals and make better time," Fisher said.
. . .
Implementing a new traffic control system will be an expensive process that will take years to install, but Huberman, who oversees the Traffic Management Authority, says he expects it will "significantly reduce congestion in key parts of the city."
. . .
Currently, there are 2,900 intersections with traffic signals. Only 13 percent of them are equipped to be adjusted by a remote computer.
Traffic signals on Addison Street from the Kennedy Expressway to Wrigley Field, for instance, are controlled remotely from the Chicago Transportation Department control center when there is heavy traffic on game days.
...
The city already has 20 red-light cameras and 2,000 surveillance cameras -- soon to be augmented by at least 250 and maybe more, thanks to a $48 million Homeland Security grant -- linked together by a single software network.
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