Transportation
Chicago Transit Authority Using Cameras And Lawsuits To Fight Vandalism
The Chicago Transit Authority is stepping up its battle against vandalism. The city’s public transportation system said it has expanded its network of security cameras at train stations and on train cars. And most importantly, it is using the information obtained from that expanded security network to arrest those responsible for vandalizing CTA property. Also […]
Hawaii: Traffic Camera Blackouts Again
Are copper thieves to blame again? Hitting the same location from less than two months ago. The city believes the culprits are vandals looking for copper. It’s a problem that just won’t go away, and this time 35 cameras on Oahu have gone dark. The barbed wire fence, warning signs and a combination lock didn’t stop vandals from getting to fiber optic cables under the Middle Street viaduct for a second time. The city’s transportation chief, Mike Formby, says he knows what the vandals are looking for. "Clearly there’s no copper, and after they cut the wire they determine there’s no copper and they leave everything," said Formby. Vandals this time left the cut cable neatly wound. "It’s a very odd finding. Normally when you come across a scene like this you wouldn’t expect to find the fiber optic cable coiled and taped," said Formby. At about 2 a.m. Christmas Day, vandals cut into a conduit, then cut a fiber optic cable. The cut cable, cut the connection to 35 cameras affecting views from Middle Street to Ewa and from Kaneohe. That means workers in the city’s traffic management center can’t see what’s going on, and won’t know what changes to make to traffic signals to ease the flow of cars. "We can’t remotely control the cameras and regulate traffic," said Formby. Back in November when the cables were vandalized in the same area it took a week to get the traffic cameras up and running […]
Source www.kitv.com
PSIM Technology For Transport Management Systems
PSIM in use for Traffic Management Integrated control room technology using Physical Security Information Management technology can help traffic run more smoothly in complex urban environments. As surveillance based security systems have become more capable of performing more complex functions with the increased use of IP technology as a platform, so the control and operation of such systems has also become more demanding. Video Management Systems were developed to facilitate this demand for integration and improved manageability and continue to be the main platform on which most IP surveillance systems are built. However, complex environments like major ports and docks, rail terminals and airports require a significant leap in technology to be able to effectively manage all of the different sensor inputs from smoke alarms, intruder detection systems, door status sensors and dozens of other devices that are attached to the security network, both analogue and digital. It was in such environments that the technology of PSIM (Physical Security Information Management) was developed. PSIM goes a step beyond VMS and combines data from surveillance and other inputs to create a holistic overview of a security environment along with the intelligence to provide control room operators with decision paths based on alarm conditions or combinations of events. Some of the workflow can even be automated, further reducing the dependence on human intervention. PSIM for Traffic Management Intelligent Transport Systems ( ITS ) are also benefitting from such advances in technology and provide the kind of challenges that PSIM is designed […]
Source trafficsafe.org
Before The Olympics Sochi Got 78 AvtoUragan ANPR And Video Recording Complexes
AvtoUragan ANPR and traffic video recording systems will watch the safety and respect to rules on the roads of Sochi. Sochi is the largest resort city in Russia, it stretches along the Black Sea coast for 105 kilometers. It is obvious, that such a distance in a modern city cannot be controlled without a reliable, all-weather means of photo- and video-monitoring. On the eve of the Olympics, seventy-eight AvtoUragan ANPR and traffic video-recording complexes was installed to gain control and safety on the roads within the framework of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). AvtoUragan ANPR system for ITS Sochi More than half of installed AvtoUragan complexes are configured to measure and record the speed of vehicles using the video sequence. Other 28 systems identify the vehicles by their license plates at the entrances to the city. At the same time, the license plates recognition rate of AvtoUragan systems in daylight conditions is 97%, and radio scanners cannot detect the installation place and operation of the complex! 5 other systems record the red light violations at the key intersections of the city. Later, during the Games, these AvtoUragan complexes will record the vehicles, which violate the rule of prohibited use of special lanes for Olympic traffic. 78 AvtoUragan ANPR system for Sochi AvtoUragan complexes were selected for Sochi ITS because of the fact that this stationary system is the most reliable and feature-rich. It identifies the license plates in conditions of poor visibility, measures the speed using the video sequence, and […]
Source www.mynewsdesk.com
Iowa DOT Chief Says There’s “Mixed” Info Over Safety Impact Of Traffic Cameras
The removal of a potential safety hazard that could have saved an inmate’s life was halted due to the anticipated closure of the Sarnia Jail, a jury heard Thursday at the ongoing inquest into the hanging deaths of two inmates. Sarnia Jail superintendent Kim Wright told jurors she believed the elimination of possible anchor points for nooses on bed frames was stopped after the closure of the jail was announced. In April, inmate Daniel Mitchell was found with a shred of bed sheet around his neck and tied through a bed frame hole. In 2011, Darcy Rice, the second victim in the ongoing inquest, was discovered with a shred of bed sheet around his neck and tied to a horizontal bar of the cell door. However, jurors at an eerily similar inquest into another hanging death back in 2009 had already recommended holes in jail bed frames and horizontal bars on cell doors be eliminated. A weekend inmate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he wasn’t surprised to hear the jury’s recommendations weren’t followed through on back in 2009. “I’m more aggravated that they aren’t keeping an eye on the inmates,” he said. “They come around every once in a while. There’s times in there that they don’t come around for a good hour.” He believes the solution to preventing jail suicides is simply to increase the patrols of the cells. In the last six years, three of the 17 suicides at Ontario’s 29 jails have happened in […]
Source www.theobserver.ca
Speed Traps? No: New Spy Cameras In Palm Coast FL Aimed At Overweight Trucks
FlaglerLive | November 11, 2013 Crews last week installed video cameras on both sides of U.S. 1 between Royal Palms Parkway and Whiteview Parkway to monitor the weight of large trucks. (© FlaglerLive) Crews last week installed video cameras on both sides of U.S. 1 between Royal Palms Parkway and Whiteview Parkway to monitor the weight of large trucks. (© FlaglerLive) Not to worry: the ominous-looking spy cameras that have just gone up on both side of U.S. 1 between Royal Palms Parkway and Whiteview Parkway in Palm Coast, are not speed cameras. They’re not even trained at most vehicles. They’re aimed at heavy trucks only, to catch overweight truckers trying to evade the weigh stations either on U.S. 1 or on I-95. The cameras on U.S. 1 went up last week. Another set will be built further north, by the northbound lanes of U.S. 1, opposite the weigh station, as part of the Florida Department of Transportation’s $1.2 million virtual weigh station system that’s been rigging up selected points around the county since last year. Similar cameras have been in place a year at the on-ramp of I-95 north and State Road 100, and at the off ramp from I-95 southbound, onto Palm Coast Parkway. That part of the system cost cameras cost $632,000. A crew at work on U.S. 1 last week. Click on the image for larger view. (© FlaglerLive) The cameras are linked to sensors in the road that are triggered only by heavy trucks, […]
Source flaglerlive.com
Minuteman Gets $7M Mobile Video Surveillance Project
Within a year, hundreds of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) buses will be equipped with what Minuteman CEO Joseph Lynch calls “one of the most advanced multiband wireless IP video systems ever installed in mass transit.” The first group of buses will start transporting passengers the second week in November. “The contract is for the […]