African Countries Advised to Adopt Intelligent Traffic Systems
African countries have been advised to adopt intelligent and integrated traffic systems so as to unleash their full potential. Vice President for Mobility at Siemens Africa, Mr. Kevin Pallay gave the advice in an article made available to THISDAY. According to him, intelligent mobility involves the electrification, automation and digitalisation of existing transport infrastructure, and gives every citizen access to safe, reliable and efficient modes of transport.
Pallay said the need and demand for intelligent mobility in Africa has never been greater as World Economic Forum competitiveness data revealed that only three African countries feature in the top 50 globally for quality of roads, quality of rail and quality of ports infrastructure respectively.
He said: “World Bank data also indicates that the Sub-Saharan African railway network has declined to 59,634km, down from 65,661km in 1980 with only about 70 per cent of the railway network in operational state. Many African cities have traffic infrastructure plagued by unreliable power supply. To the frustration of motorists, timing of traffic lights stays the same regardless of actual conditions, and many are faulty and take weeks to repair. This means that the road infrastructure can’t handle peak traffic, not because of technology but because of the lack of proper technological investment. The challenge is partly that these traffic systems have grown in an uncoordinated way, with lots of different suppliers and systems cobbled together. Speeding and traffic light violations are a problem, and there is limited technology deployed to support effective traffic law enforcement.”
He therefore said that the adoption of intelligent traffic systems (ITS) will keep Africa’s busiest cities as fast-moving investment destinations.
“ITS includes deployment of smart sensor systems with intelligent algorithms to automatically adapt to improve traffic flow. Two-way communication can be enabled by running fibre between traffic junctions and a central control centre to gather information from intelligent networked systems, sensors and cameras at every junction. This allows traffic lights to be adjusted according to demand,” he said.
He explained that as part of the integrated solution, motorists and commuters will be informed about travel times, weather conditions and traffic jams on radio or online.
“With all traffic management systems automated and digitalized, technology like automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras can be utilised to efficiently enforce traffic rules. Average speed over distance (ASOD) technology captures the time when a specific vehicle enters and exits the ASOD zone. The journey time is compared against the distance travelled and authorities are automatically notified if the prescribed speed limit was exceeded. This improves the safety of drivers, passengers and pedestrians. It also minimises the risk of corruption, while promoting best practice among traffic enforcement officers who are exposed to a new skillset when trained in operating these new systems,” Pallay said.
He explained that another effective means of reducing congestion on overburdened and under maintained roads in Africa is through greater investment in upgrading passenger rail networks.