Intelligent transportation systems can make roads safer

An expert says the Middle and North Africa region needs that kind of technology the most.

ABU DHABI // Improved road policies, including public transport and road tolls, can help ease congestion in the region, an expert says.

Intelligent transportation systems, or ITS, could also help reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, and make roads safer and keep traffic flowing smoothly.

“Out of all other regions where I worked, I find that the Mena region needs ITS the most,” said Zeina Nazer, director of smart mobility at Transpo Group, a US engineering and technology consultancy firm.

“It’s because you need to optimise your resources, and ITS gives you a more effective and efficient system.”

ITS technologies have offered solutions to transportation mobility, safety and environmental challenges.

“But it’s not necessarily about technology,” she said. “ITS is more about education, awareness and public acceptability.”

In the Middle East, the main concern is road fatalities.

“But congestion is everybody’s concern,” she said. “You can just imagine that per year you waste an equivalent of more than a week of your holiday stuck on the road.”

Ms Nazer, a transport engineer, favours road pricing as a tool to reduce congestion and manage traffic.

“Simply because it does cost money to build or maintain roads,” she said. “And as a road user, you are causing damage to the road. You have to pay somehow.”

From a socio-economic viewpoint, public acceptability is key.

“You need to be fair when it comes to pricing,” she said. “It can’t be too low because everybody will use it, and not too high because it would be unfair.”

Over the past four years, Transpo Group has worked with the Department of Transport and Abu Dhabi Municipality in their traffic management centres . The group advises and assists in managing the road patrol services, towing and recovery services, traffic signal operations, and traffic data collection.

“Over this short period, we have witnessed an improvement year-on-year in response and clearance timings, resulting in improving safety and reducing the probability of secondary accidents,” she said.

In the future, much of the information needed to manage congestion and enhance road safety will come from vehicles themselves. It would involve vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communications, allowing cars to communicate with other vehicles equipped with similar technology and motorway infrastructure such as traffic lights.

Car manufacturers such as BMW and Lexus are working on their navigation systems and in the next few years, cars will communicate real-time information.

Audi is working to provide real-time parking information to reduce the time spent in traffic looking for parking, she said.

“The bottom line is something needs to be done to reduce congestion and prevent road fatalities, and it must be taken seriously because people’s lives are at stake,” Ms Nazer said.