Demands are growing for improved safety in tunnels. SENSYS® Traffic AB has developed a non intrusive tunnel enforcement system, the Tunnel Safety System (TSS), specially designed for installation in tunnels which will check wheather a vehicle is travelling above the speed limit. The system is based on SENSYS®' fixed speed enforcement system, the Speed Safety System (SSS).
History and facts
Statistics show that tunnels are generally safer than open stretches of motorway with regard to the number of fatal accidents – although accidents in tunnels do not necessarily only have an impact on persons directly involved in the vehicles concerned.
One example is an accident in 1999 in the Mont Blanc tunnel where 41 people lost their lives when they became trapped further to a fire in a lorry in the tunnel.
Another example is an accident in 2001 in the St Gotthard tunnel where 14 people died when the ceiling collapsed after a collision between two lorries.
Many tunnels are old and not conceived for today’s traffic volumes. The Mont Blanc tunnel was opened 1965 and designed to carry 450,000 vehicles a year – yet in 1997 it was used by 1.1 million vehicles.
There has been an average of 280 injured and 8 fatalities in 600 accidents in recent years, according to a study by the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu) regarding its national road network.
A non intrusive solution
Unlike most traffic enforcement systems, SENSYS®’ solutions are totally nonintrusive, which means that all system components are installed above ground. This results in low installation and maintenance costs with a minimum effect on traffic flow. The SENSYS® Tunnel Safety System is based on
SENSYS® multi-tracking radar. This wide-beam radar unit, capable of tracking multiple vehicles simultaneously, uses a lobe that oversees several lanes up to 150 meters deep. Vehicles moving within that cone are tracked and their movements analysed. Speed is determined through Doppler and checked by distance over time. At the defined report line a picture is taken should there be a speed violation.
Related links
Fixed speed enforcement | Options | Back office solution
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