LIDAR-based speed enforcement catches more speeders

Wiesbaden. PoliScanspeed users around the world report convincing results through the use of the laser-based system for speed enforcement by VITRONIC. Thanks to modern technology, a significantly higher number of speeders are caught than with conventional technology.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the use of PoliScanspeed resulted in a drop of 38 percent in the number of traffic fatalities within just four months in 2010, while the number of accidents declined by 21 percent. Abd Al-Rahman ben Abdallah, Traffic Manager for the Riyadh region, described the results as "an entirely new safety achievement in traffic surveillance".

Remarkable results were also recorded in a district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The installation of a stationary PoliScanspeed system in the city of Luedenscheid resulted in more than 13,000 cautions and fines totaling EUR 400,000. In comparison, 25 of the old conventional stationary speed cameras resulted in fines totaling EUR 120,000.

In Dubai too, the 27 PoliScanspeed systems currently in use generate nearly 40 percent of the overall cases in the region - although more than 500 other "speed traps" from other manufacturers are in use in Dubai.

In Stuttgart, Germany, PoliScanspeed systems caught almost 33,000 speeders in just four weeks. "The numbers surprised us. We had estimated about 40,000 violations per year", says Joachim Elser, Director of Traffic Surveillance in the Stuttgart Public Affairs Office. The use of these systems has resulted in the desired traffic calming on the three-lane road.

What is the reason for these tremendous differences between PoliScanspeed and other enforcement systems?

Conventional radar equipment for speed enforcement emits an electro-magnetic wave. They measure the frequency changes that result when the wave overlaps with the wave reflected by a moving vehicle. (Doppler Effect). The device uses this to calculate the speed of the vehicle that reflects the wave back. If more than one vehicle is in the measuring area, they cannot be measured individually and thus the measurement becomes invalid. False measurements can also result when multiple reflections, for example caused by guard rails, are created or when the measuring device is set up incorrectly. All this significantly limits the benefit and efficiency of these devices. Therefore, these devices are only approved for attended use in Germany, meaning that an observer must verify that individual measurements were not influenced by such effects.

Improvements could have been expected from so-called "tracking radars" (not approved in Germany) that were to deliver not only measured speeds, but also an angular position for the vehicle. However, several comparison tests also showed that the number of evaluable cases was significantly lower than with a LIDAR based system.

In comparison, the LIDAR technology used in PoliScanspeed allows for simultaneous surveillance and enforcement of virtually any number of vehicles in multiple lanes. As well, it is possible to take an image of the vehicle at a moment ideal for the image to document the violation. This is made possible by a high resolution laser that captures the current positions of individual vehicles at all times without precision being influenced by guard rails or other vehicles. Thus, a measurement data set is created from the position of each vehicle, comprising the road and the speed traveled at any specific time within the tracking zone. It therefore allows a clear allocation between the captured vehicle and its speed. Even if multiple speeders are traveling at close proximity to one another,
PoliScanspeed captures them all. Up to four speeders can be documented within one second.

This added value in exploitable measurements therefore generally concerns serious cases, for example, speeders in dense traffic, speeders that do not maintain an appropriate distance to the preceding vehicle, or those that try to drive next to another vehicle as closely as possible in an enforcement area in the erroneous assumption that they can escape a penalty in this way. However, significantly more important is the selection of enforcement locations. PoliScanspeed makes it possible to measure in bends, road work areas or anywhere where many vehicles park or stop briefly (kindergartens, schools) - in short, in places that are particularly dangerous - and where other technologies fail.

It is thus no coincidence or magic when PoliScanspeed is significantly more efficient, but rather it is the overcoming of restrictions by using this unique technology.

In 2010 PoliScan was approved in Germany to use the same principle to simultaneously monitor intersections for red light violations and vehicle speeds. Now it is no longer necessary to install and maintain fixed road-side installations in order to penalize red light violations; speeders can now be captured even in heavy intersection traffic.

All this will make streets around the world safer for everyone, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists, who are vulnerable road users that are not protected by seat belts and airbags.

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Since its foundation in 1984, VITRONIC GmbH with its headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany, offers machine vision systems for four core areas: industrial automation, logistics, traffic technology and bodyscanning. The spectrum covers everything from standardized solutions to systems that are individually tailored to customer specifications. All products are developed, designed and produced by VITRONIC.

In the field of traffic technology, VITRONIC's core competence is the enforcement of vehicles in free-flowing traffic. Agencies, state authorities and private service providers contribute to improved traffic safety with VITRONIC products. Toll system operators utilize these technologies in order to automate toll checking and toll collecting.

In the meantime, the company with about 340 employees is represented on five continents and VITRONIC products are currently in use in 40 countries.

VITRONIC Dr.-Ing. Stein Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH
Hasengartenstraße 14
65189 Wiesbaden
Germany
www.vitronic.com
Julia Stolle
Tel.: +49 (0)611/7152-0
julia.stolle@vitronic.com

This release was published on openPR.