29 Oct Six Ways How ALPR Cameras Can Improve Traffic Flow and Safety

What are the leading causes of traffic flow disruptions and safety risks? Of course, we can mention accidents, which certainly disrupt the smooth flow and cause delays. To get to the root of traffic delays and safety risks, we must consider what factors contribute to accidents.

Traffic rules are designed to promote safe and smooth traffic flow. If everyone heeded the rules, we would have many fewer accidents. Violations of the rules are the leading causes of accidents.
How do we reduce violations? That’s where ALPR cameras come into play. Here are some ways they can improve flow and safety:

1. Mobile surveillance
2. Speed Control
3. Establishing a database of repeat violators
4. Automatic detection of violations
5. Hazardous material identification
6. Wanted vehicle recognition

In this article, we’ll explore each of these functions in more depth. We’ll also discuss how Adaptive Recognition’s versatile array of ALPR software and cameras can enable these functions.

Mobile Surveillance

Police cruisers moving through traffic are uniquely positioned to observe driver behavior. Since they come near many vehicles, they also can spot stolen, or otherwise wanted, vehicles. If they’re equipped with an ALPR camera to read license plates and identify vehicles from their plate numbers, their ability to identify wanted vehicles readily is enhanced.

Being able to identify vehicles in a few seconds allows them to take immediate action if necessary. If they need to stop, they can be aware that the driver is known to be dangerous. Alternatively, they can report their observation to the proper authority to notify drivers of a penalty or other appropriate notice.

The MicroCAM mobile ALPR camera from Adaptive Recognition (AR) is the perfect tool to give police the capability to read license plates while both vehicles are moving. ALPR is a massive improvement when an officer first had to suspect a problem and then call in a plate number to an operator who checked a database. By the time the officer got the information back, the alleged car might be long gone.

Speed Control and More

As highways and cars improve, traffic tends to move at higher speeds. When everyone is driving at about the same speed, traffic flows well until someone has a flat tire or some other little disruption. Each little trouble can start a chain of events leading to an accident. At higher speeds, the accident is sure to be more serious, and the chance of its being fatal increases.

One of the things that can lead to the kinds of disruptions that cause accidents is a driver who is driving faster or more slowly than the general flow. It’s even more disruptive if they are passing dangerously or driving erratically in any fashion.

Monitoring speeds and looking at average speeds over a highway segment identify the drivers that cause these problems. AR’s S1 Portable Speed and Traffic Enforcement ALPR Camera is the perfect tool to accomplish all this. It automatically identifies stolen vehicles and those with unpaid insurance. In addition, it’s capable of catching red-light violators (another dangerous behavior.)

The average speed function (integrated with the S1 ALPR function) can help identify speeders who slow down at regular known measurement points and then return to their above-the-limit speeds. The S1 camera can measure speed from up to 600 km away.

What’s Leaking or Burning

If a vehicle is damaged in an accident and something is leaking from it, the substance leaking from it is a significant safety concern. Is it caustic or otherwise risky to people in the area? What if a vehicle is burning – how dangerous are the fumes from the fire?

What’s burning?

If you operate a bridge, tunnel, or another sensitive facility, there are certain materials whose carriage you want to avoid past a certain point. How about an ALPR software option that identifies what’s being carried in a vehicle?

That software, available as an add-on to AR’s ALPR cameras, can identify dangerous goods and give you the information you need for any of these situations.

Who Are the Repeat Violators

To identify repeat violators who may move around over a large area or even internationally, you need an extensive database. AR’s GDS software system, linked to their ALPR cameras, is a middleware application that can manage massive amounts of data.

It allows virtually unlimited storage, depending only on how much storage capacity you connect with it. With GDS, if someone is a repeat violator in Denmark and you find them disrupting traffic in Norway, their record will show up in the GDS database.

Identifying Stolen or Wanted Vehicles With ALPR

When a vehicle is stolen or involved in another crime, its information is entered into a wanted vehicle database. Mobile patrol units in Brazil use the MicroCAM mobile ALPR camera described earlier to scan all the vehicles they encounter.

If the car is stolen or involved in any criminal activity, the officer knows that immediately and can take appropriate action. From these examples, you can see that ALPR cameras and the technology that can be linked to them give authorities many tools to help them in their quest to reduce accidents and improve traffic flow and safety.

What unique situation do you face in working to improve traffic safety in your location? Visit Adaptive Recognition’s website and explore the many options for the use of ALPR technology. Each page provides a contact button so you can discuss your situation with one of their experts.