Intertraffic innovation award 2010: jury selects 17 candidates

An international jury has scrutinized over 80 potential candidates and after careful analysis and intense consideration has shortlisted 17 final entries. Acknowledging the widening scope of Intertraffics traditional remit, sectoral awards will now be presented in six categories Parking, Traffic Management/ITS, Environment, Infrastructure, Safety and last but by no means least Cooperative Systems.

Shortlisted companies for the Infrastructure category

BAM Infratechniek, Covering destinations on traffic signs using laser technique (The Netherlands Stand 11.409)

As opposed to a black or yellow tape, a laser light is beamed to mask specific destinations on traffic signs during road works or route diversions. This simple yet effective tool provides many benefits, not least the reduced interruption to traffic as lanes do not need to be closed. Simultaneously, it enhances safety for road workers who no longer have to climb ladders or board man-lifts (cherry pickers) to manually apply masking tape onto signs.

Crown International, VMC Pole (UK Stand 11.930)

Able to mount a variety of traffic components, including VMS, CCTV, speed cameras, etc, this new pole (which can be configured in a wide variety of sizes) is a wind-up/wind-down cantilever system that enhances safety and reduces the cost of maintenance to access equipment, as well as ensuring inspections can take place within 90 seconds without ever interrupting traffic flow.

Ramböll Sweden AB, Road marking tester (Sweden Stand 11.226)

This real-time analysis tool allows road authorities to test road-marking performance at speed, with the ability to collect data such as retro-reflectivity in the dry/wet, luminance coefficient, friction, thickness, and width/length/gap/design. Faster and more wide-ranging measurements allow more kilometers to be covered at a much lower cost. Such a collection method also negates manual and potentially hazardous methods of data collection.

Shortlisted companies for the Safety category

Badennova, BIV (Spain Stand 11.721)

This soon-to-be-launched speed hump contains a special fluid that deforms when vehicles traveling at the appropriate speed pass over the top, therefore providing no resistance and not damaging vehicles as a consequence. For cars moving at excessive speed, however, it provides the same resistance as any standard hump. Its manufacturer suggests the fluid and hump design can be calibrated for any speed limit or road type.

Potters Europe, C-Me-2 (France Stand 05.220)

The C-Me-2 project sees the retro-reflective benefits of high-visibility glass beads in road markings transferred to a paint designed for application to bicycles. Just like a road marking, the bicycle will be much more visible at night and in wet conditions, which are among the most high-risk conditions for these vulnerable road users.

Transpo Industries, Sonoblaster (USA Stand 04.410)

Mounted onto barricades, cones, drums and delineators, this simple yet ingenious safety solution sounds a 125dB audible alarm when triggered by errant vehicles in work zones, potentially providing road workers with enough warning to get out of harms way. There are also resultant safety benefits for the driver, who may be able to take evasive action.

Shortlisted companies for the Parking category

Circontrol SA, CirCarLife (Spain Stand 03.203)

CirCarLife addresses a major concern surrounding the implementation of electric vehicle charging points in car park infrastructure. The product enables the control of different parameters of the electric grid, KWh consumption, management of RFID users, interface with the paystation and/or P&D systems, balance of power to handle many recharging points, and filtering of harmonics caused by the electrical noise produced by the EVs, etc

Lidror, Biopark (Israel Stand 02.115)

With many disabled parking spaces being occupied by fraudulent parkers, Biopark is a portable parking permit equipped with an electronic fingerprint identification system designed to prevent the abuse and/or forgery of mobility-impaired permits. Consequently, this innovation allows authorities to recover lost revenue, while keeping mobility-impaired parking spaces free for those who really need them.

WPS Worldwide Parking, WPS Park & Recharge (The Netherlands, Stand 03.102)

Using an intelligent energy infrastructure, the WPS Park & Recharge solution distributes the required energy to the different charging stations based on capacity, which ensures the parking facility power grid will not be overcharged, even when all charging stations are used at the same time.

Shortlisted companies for the Traffic Management/ITS category

Skymeter Corporation, Skymeter (Canada Stand 09.216)

This cost-effective onboard unit utilizes GNSS technology and can be used for the metering of road usage, insurance, parking and even emissions monitoring. Proved successful in terms of accuracy, reliability and privacy in Seoul, Korea and California, USA, the Skymeter OBU even addresses a very common problem associated with using satellite technology in built-up areas, so-called urban canyons.

TomTom International, TomTom HD Flow (The Netherlands Stand 09.212)

Following on from TomToms introduction of High Definition Traffic for consumer customers in 2007, this variant for the B2B and B2G market delivers similar benefits and more. Maximizing coverage through wider penetration, TomTom HD Flow combines information from GSM and GPS devices and intelligently combines the data with fusion logic to deliver much more accurate travel time information. Over time, as the number of probes increases, the availability and quality of traffic information is expected to reach new levels.

Trinité, BlueTracking (The Netherlands Stand 10.322)

Designed on the premise that most cell phones feature Bluetooth technology, the signals emitted from this wireless feature can be utilized for the gathering of data to be used in accurate and real-time traffic information. BlueTracking boasts benefits such as mass penetration, anonymity, minimal maintenance and accuracy.

Shortlisted companies for the Cooperative Systems category

DTV Consultants, Odysa In-car (The Netherlands Stand 11.126)

The goal of Optimisation through Dynamic Speed Advice (Odysa) is to increase overall network performance by minimizing the number of stops at traffic lights through dynamic in-car speed advice to car drivers. If car drivers comply with the given advice, they are rewarded with a free-flow situation across a signalized network.

Gevas Software, Travolution (Germany Stand 11.717)

The Travolution system improves synchronisation and phasing of traffic light networks to reduce stopping times, and has the potential to reduce the number of actual stops needed by creating a communications link between cars and the traffic light network. The genetic algorithms were developed by Gevas software in cooperation with Technische Universität München.

Shortlisted companies for the Environment category

Gatsometer BV, Amsterdam Environmental Zone Project (The Netherlands Stand 01.314)

An ALPR-based enforcement system has superseded human wardens and enables the city of Amsterdam to keep out the most polluting trucks from the city center, or impose fines on those unclean trucks that do enter, in doing so helping the city to meet its European standards obligations in terms of NO2 and particulate pollution levels. The 95% hit rate and 0.02% maximum margin of error have reportedly been met with ease.

Open Traffic, OTS Open Parking System (Spain Stand 01.133)

This paperless system is built around a centralized control of vehicle license plates, and reduces pollution by decreasing the time taken to park. The use of solar power, bicycle sharing, and electrical vehicle charging stations adds to its environmental credentials.

SES, Optima Variable Message Sign (France Stand 11.517)

Powered by both solar power and/or fuel cell, the Optima energy-free DMS brings the benefits of dynamic message signage to areas that might be some distance away from electrical supplies. As well as the potential savings in relation to the installation of cabling, this solution also ticks the right boxes in terms of the environment.

The jury

The 2010 jury consists of:

Fred Wegman (chair), managing director of the Dutch National Road Safety Research Institute SWOV, the Netherlands

Christophe Desnouailles, ITS Project manager at SETRA, France

Helen Riddervold, vice chairman, Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories (FEHRL), Norway

Peter Martens, corporate director, R&D, Q-Park; also chairman of the Policy & Strategy committee at European Parking Association, the Netherlands

Rainer-Michael Rudolph, director, Park-Bau-Gruppe, Germany

David Crawford, contributing editor, ITS International, UK

Nick Bradley, editor, Intertraffic World/Traffic Technology International, UK



AMREF (African Medical & Research Foundation) Flying Doctors

The world of traffic and transportation is always looking for new opportunities. Innovations are crucial to this, which is why Intertraffic supports the organization via the Innovation Award. We are also committed to improving the wider world, and are therefore donating a substantial part of the Innovation Award registration fee to AMREF Flying Doctors.

About Intertraffic

Intertraffic is the worlds largest and most influential trade event for infrastructure, traffic management, safety and parking, providing a comprehensive overview of the very latest products, services and total solutions offered by suppliers. It also showcases the latest trends and developments. Intertraffic is intended for policymakers, specialists and operational personnel from government authorities, engineering consultancies, and the industry at large.