Traffic levels in Russia have grown significantly over the past 20 years. And although both city planning and
interurban roads are essentially well designed, the sheer length of the road network places huge demands on maintenance resources, subsequently leading to a maintenance backlog that has proved difficult to resolve.
But when compared with the increasing number of road users, this is a relatively small problem. Russia is a massive country and driver behavior varies from region to region.
Speed violations are problematic in some areas. On country
roads, for instance, distances are lengthy with much less dense traffic than in urban areas – an implicit invitation to drive just that little bit faster than the signs on the roadside tell you.
Within city limits, though, congestion has the effect of reducing average speeds, while on free sections of major roads the signed speed limits are often violated. Indeed, statistics show such infringements are one of the main causes of traffic incidents resulting in casualties.
To combat this scourge, road authorities in the Russian
Federation are applying numerous technologies to enforce speed limits. Radar based speed cameras manufactured by Olvia, for example, are already widely used. Among the features highly valued by Russian police forces are robust construction, advanced radar technology (developed in-house), high resolution cameras with smart integrated ALPR, and user friendly violation-processing software. Such systems are also deployed in many other countries where both accuracy and reliability are sacrosanct.
The Arena stationary system is based on Doppler radar technology, which allows for installation without much disruption to the traffic. Systems not based on loops also
require far less maintenance that directly impacts the road
surface and consequently the traffic flowing upon it.
Both automatic and fined-on-the-spot speed enforcement are deployed in Russia. Automatic systems have integrated ALPR that allows the license plate number to be embedded as
binary data in addition to the vehicle image itself. In a central control room, the plate number is analysed to trace the owner of the vehicle before issuing a fine. The measurement data – generated by the Doppler radar and the graphical image – is used to provide legal evidence
of the infraction. Automatic speed enforcement has proved
to be highly effective way of reducing speeding.
However, the fact the systems are fixed means the driving
public eventually becomes familiar with their location, which ultimately limits their effectiveness after a certain
period of time. Both overt and covert mobile enforcement systems are thus also utilised.
In addition to this, Olvia’s handheld radar guns, Vizier, are used for enforcement where the speed violator is stopped
on the spot and presented with an accurate video recording of their infraction.
As well as handheld or, if preferred, tripod-mounted use,
Vizier can be used from within moving vehicles.
Although Olvia is not the sole manufacturer of speed
enforcement devices in Russia, its solutions have over the years proved to be among the most popular with the Russian
police force. The company is therefore looking forward
with anticipation to Traffex – to be staged at the NEC, March 29-31, 2011 – to showcase its range of solutions to a wider international marketplace.