How do ITS solutions improve people’s lives?

At Clearview Traffic, we’ve focused on our blog in demonstrating and highlighted ways in which our products deliver a positive impact on people’s lives.

For example, in previous blog posts below we’ve demonstrated some of the possible benefits:

• How Smart Parking can streamline journeys and reduce congestion
• How does an LED prevent road fatalities in the UK?
• Why is the Smart Cities vision so important for the future?
• Making better use of traffic data is key to more efficient journeys

The importance of data

It’s worth stressing that data and the use of data will be the key to realising the benefits above in the future.

As we move closer to an era of Smart Cities, buzzwords such as ‘big data’ and ‘data analytics’ are rising to prominence, and new professions such as Data Scientist, Information Architect and Data Analyst are becoming sought-after skillsets.

But why?

The volume of data being produced is increasing at an exponential rate, and there are some incredible infographics highlighting this – such as this one from IBM.

Where do ITS solutions fit?

ITS solutions from roadside devices such as in-road sensors, IR cameras, radars, and inductive loops all provide a wealth of data, which can potentially improve people’s lives – in the following ways:

• Reliable, accurate information can be shared in real-time via travel information services, such as a smartphone apps, information kiosks at petrol stations, radio updates – all designed to help the road user,empowering them to make informed decisions about their journey on-the-move.
• Data from sensors can monitor pollution and build-up of harmful gases such as CO2 and NO2, and enable traffic managers to divert traffic: this prevents the situation worsening, whilst also allowing pollution levels to reduce, improving air quality and helping to prevent the onset of negative health effects.
• Data collected from roadside devices can improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness, in terms of how road networks can be operated: this provides sufficient data to plan for key events, minimising disruption, and enabling road traffic managers to reduce congestion and alleviate road user frustration.
• As well as actively reducing congestion, proper management and analysis of this data also helps to understand hotspots, and enable swifter interventions – in some cases, providing complete preventative action to be taken. Road safety and the perception of road safety are increased into the bargain.

If you’d like to discuss how we might be able to make some of these benefits a reality for you, please feel free to contact us here.

Author: admin | Date Published: September 2013
Links: Congestion, Road Safety, Journey Predictability,