Traffic Congestion Pricing Methods and Technologies

This paper reviews the methods and technologies for congestion pricing of roads. Congestion tolls can be implemented at scales ranging from individual lanes on single links to national road networks. Tolls can be differentiated by time of day, road type and vehicle characteristics, and even set in real time according to current traffic conditions. Conventional toll booths have largely given way to electronic toll collection technologies. The main technology categories are roadside-only systems employing digital photography, tag and beacon systems that use short-range microwave technology, and in vehicle-only systems based on either satellite or cellular network communications. The best technology choice depends on the application. The rate at which congestion pricing is implemented, and its ultimate scope, will depend on what technology is used and on what other functions and services it can perform. Since congestion pricing calls for the greatest overall degree of toll differentiation, congestion pricing is likely to drive the technology choice.Road pricing; Congestion pricing; Electronic Toll Collection technology

IRISS (Increasing Resilience in Surveillance Societies) FP7 European Research Project, Deliverable 3.2: Surveillance Impact Report

External research report produced for the European Commission as part of the FP7 IRISS project: Increasing Resilience in Surveillance Socieities, containing European case studies on the varying formats of neighbourhood watch, including the cultural and historical factors which may influence the creation of neighbourhood watch groups in the first instance. Overview of neighbourhood watch in the United Kingdom and analysis of the changing role of the police in relation to community policing and the impact which this has had on the primary purpose of neighbourhood watch organisations.This deliverable was written as part of the IRISS project which received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement No. 285593. Additional co-authors: Alessia Ceresa, Chiara Fonio, Walter Peissl, Robert Rothman, Jaro Sterbik Lamina, Ivan Szekely, Beatrix Vissy, Wolfgang Bonß, Daniel Fischer, Gemma Galdon Clavell, Reinhard Kreissl, Alexander Neumann, Nils Zurawsk

Automated Number Plate Recognition: Data Retention and the Protection of Privacy in Public Places

This article considers the legal regime related to the use of Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) by reference to Article 8 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and Article 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Charter). This area is problematic in that it involves the extent to which we can claim privacy in public spaces. The article argues that the right to privacy is engaged both because of the systematic storage of data by public authorities and because of the impact of location privacy. Locational privacy is a concept that has not been addressed directly in domestic literature and the article explains its nature and how it relates to ANPR. The article then considers whether the regimes in place satisfy the three stage test found in Article 8(2) ECHR and the analogous provision in the Charter bearing in mind the recent case on mass surveillance in the communications sector. The article concludes that the regime is open to challenge as it lacks a clear legal base and most likely would fail a proportionality assessment. A legislative regime specifying adequate safeguards and oversight mechanisms would seem, therefore, desirable

The role of automatic number plate recognition surveillance within policing and public reassurance

This Thesis examines the role that Automatic Number Plate Recognition surveillance plays within policing and public reassurance. The thesis is improvement orientated, exploring how ANPR could become a more effective policing tool and highlights implications for future policies and practice. The first two chapters set the context for the research, explaining what ANPR is, its place within criminology and gaps in research addressed in the Thesis. The literature review calls for a better understanding of ANPR’s potential and role as an investigative tool and an examination of the public’s views about ANPR surveillance. In the third chapter, reference is made to available methods used to address such objectives. Chapters Four, Five and Six present the results emerging from the empirical work in this Thesis. Chapter Four is concerned with police perceptions regarding current ANPR practice. The thesis highlights the complexity of translating policy into practice in the current political and economic climate, where objectives and priorities dictated by the government are constantly shifting. Continuing its improvement orientation, Chapter Five covers public perceptions about ANPR and outlines ways to address the balance between privacy and security without endangering both. The potential impact of ANPR on crime and ways to measure it is the topic of Chapter Six, which argues that establishing a causal link between ANPR and crime is not a straightforward process. The concluding chapter talks about the implications of the study and any interesting future avenues for research. The emerging findings from this research sit uncomfortably with the opinions and predictions of both supporters and opponents of ANPR alike and shed light not only on the management and use of ANPR by the police in Britain, but also on many of the ethical issues raised by the emergence of new surveillance technologies

Driving offences

Copyright @ 2010, Taylor & Francis Group. This material is posted on this site with the permission of the publishers.This chapter on driving offences will largely follow the template of earlier chapters except that owing to their vast number, a limited selection only will be examined based on their high volume, seriousness and public concern. The first section will define what driving offences are, how they developed alongside the emerging car culture, and it will consider the contemporary landscape. The second section will give a general overview of patterns and trends, those most likely to engage in road traffic offending, and kinds of explanations voiced by drivers and theoretical approaches used. The next three sections will follow a similar pattern and focus on speeding, bad driving – mostly dangerous and careless offences, and impaired driving – mostly drink-driving but mentioning drug-driving and fatigued driving. In addition, contemporary debates and key issues concerning each will be considered, along with official responses to each offence category comprising court-based penalties and other measures. The final section will draw the key threads and themes together, noting the danger of work-related driving. Given that up to a third of all road traffic collisions involve somebody at work at the time accounting for up to 20 fatalities and 250 serious injuries every week (DfT and HSE, 2003), the importance of reducing traffic offending is clear

Traffic Congestion Pricing Methods and Technologies

This paper reviews the methods and technologies for congestion pricing of roads. Congestion tolls can be implemented at scales ranging from individual lanes on single links to national road networks. Tolls can be differentiated by time of day, road type and vehicle characteristics, and even set in real time according to current traffic conditions. Conventional toll booths have largely given way to electronic toll collection technologies. The main technology categories are roadside-only systems employing digital photography, tag and beacon systems that use short-range microwave technology, and in vehicle-only systems based on either satellite or cellular network communications. The best technology choice depends on the application. The rate at which congestion pricing is implemented, and its ultimate scope, will depend on what technology is used and on what other functions and services it can perform. Since congestion pricing calls for the greatest overall degree of toll differentiation, congestion pricing is likely to drive the technology choice

"Not the Usual Suspects": A Study of Factors Reducing the Effectiveness of CCTV

Previous research on the effectiveness of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) has focused on critically assessing police and government claims that CCTV is effective in reducing crime. This paper presents a field study that investigates the relationship between CCTV system design and the performance of operator tasks. We carried out structured observations and interviews with 13 managers and 38 operators at 13 CCTV control rooms. A number of failures were identified, including the poor configuration of technology, poor quality video recordings, and a lack of system integration. Stakeholder communication was poor, and there were too many cameras and too few operators. These failures have been previously identified by researchers; however, no design improvements have been made to control rooms in the last decade. We identify a number of measures to improve operator performance, and contribute a set of recommendations for security managers and practitioners. Security Journal (2010) 23, 134-154. doi:10.1057/sj.2008.2; published online 6 October 200

Analogical study of Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Neural Network in Vehicleas Number Plate Detection

Formal grammars, studied by N. Chomsky for the definition of equivalence with languages and models of computing, have been a useful tool in the development of compilers, programming languages, natural language processing, automata theory, etc. The words or symbols of these formal languages can denote deduced actions that correspond to specific behaviors of a robotic entity or agent that interacts with an environment. The primary objective of this paper pretend to represent and generate simple behaviors of artificial agents. Reinforcement learning techniques, grammars, and languages, as defined based on the model of the proposed system were applied to the typical case of the ideal route on the problem of artificial ant. The application of such techniques proofs the viability of building robots that might learn through interaction with the environment