Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is the application of technology to the management of surface transportation systems in order to increase their efficiency and safety, whilst providing travellers with mobility options based on real-time information. Relatively small investments in ITS can produce significant savings in total system costs. ITS reduces the time required to clear traffic incidents. The number of secondary accidents is thereby reduced. There is less queuing and congestion, less fuel consumption and therefore less air pollution. Efficiencies in traffic management are enhanced through techniques such as ramp metering to smooth peak traffic flows. Advanced traffic management systems along arterial roads, using computerised traffic signal systems, improve signal progression and synchronisation - contributing further to reduced delays, fuel use and pollution. Many sub-systems are integrated into ITS: CCTV cameras, dynamic message signs, vehicle detectors, highway advisory radio, ramp metering, telecommunications, software/hardware, management centres, automated vehicle identification systems, weigh-in-motion stations - and electronic toll collection systems. Toll collection systems are a large part of the story, in themselves. They include vehicle-mounted transponders, where the vehicle can travel at highway speeds through an existing toll plaza; open road tolling, where an overhead gantry registers tolls along the main roadway; toll plazas along the outside of main roadways to collect tolls from motorists without transponders; and cashless tolling, where all toll collection is conducted using overhead gantries - thus dispensing with the need for plazas. Successful ITS applications are to be found in most major cities that have implemented such programmes. Success is readily measured in reduced accidents, reduced incident response times, reduced travel times, reduced emissions, reduced vehicle operating costs, increased traffic speeds, and increased on-time transit performance. The future for ITS is bright. We will see increased application of existing systems and further integration of those systems, in addition to new technology. Vehicle infrastructure integration will see vehicles communicating directly with roadside devices and other vehicles, resulting in crash avoidance. Integrated corridor management will entail highways, arterial roads and transit systems within a corridor operated more closely as a single system, to optimise people throughput within the corridor. Then, there are security applications, managed lanes and, on the finance side, PPPs. This is the fourth IRF Bulletin on the pressing road issues of the day, in less than a year (following on from the Environment, Safety, and PPPs). (Author/publisher)
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