Showing posts with label HOV Cameras. Show all posts

France & Australia's Speed Cameras Under Attack

Angry drivers in France took out a half-dozen speed cameras last week while motorists hurl objects at Australian photo radar vans.

High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes are an essential part of modern transportation systems, designed to encourage carpooling and reduce traffic congestion. To ensure compliance with HOV lane regulations and maintain their effectiveness, transportation authorities rely on HOV cameras. In this article, we will delve into the intricacies of how HOV cameras work, shedding light on their technology and benefits.

Understanding HOV Lanes

California Deploys Cameras to Catch Carpool Cheaters

One of those expenditures is $30 million for an HOV electronic enforcement pilot. According to the letter, the pilot will “deploy permanent car occupancy-detection equipment at strategic locations along freeway HOV and/or Express Toll Lanes” along I-405. This pilot is intended to reduce carpool violations – or people who try to cheat the system and use the toll lanes for free.

carpool lane only 2 or more person per vehicle

No tickets or warnings are being issued, but that could change if Bay Area transportation officials are convinced that the technology is the next-generation enforcement answer to a growing number of scofflaws who, despite the risk of a heavy fine, use the region’s restricted carpool lanes to shave time off their commute.

PhotoEnforced.com has a database map of toll & HOV road camera locations that could be used to enforce carpool lane cheating in the future.

Intelligent transport systems are increasingly being used to reduce traffic congestion. In a rush of unobtrusive technology, manufacturers are developing vehicles equipped with systems for recognizing vehicle occupants. These include standard infrared cameras that can detect human skin and systems that illuminate the images to make them easier to read. The camera captures the cars in front and back, including the license plate, driver's seat, and front passenger seat.

These intelligent toll collection systems have now been developed in some locations. This version can use multiple cameras at different points in the vehicle to take multiple images to determine the number of passengers. In addition, the computer system can analyze the images provided in real-time using computer vision, using a combination of image processing algorithms and human-machine interaction to determine the number of passengers currently in a vehicle.

This method combines surveillance cameras with infrared laser technology to take a photo of the vehicle as it passes. The system uses a variety of tools to enable a vehicle to look through dark-tinted windshields and count the occupants. This method is designed to allow the detection of vehicles with multiple cameras at different points on the road, such as front, rear, and side.

Some lawmakers have tried to change the law because the technology requires a picture of the face to count the number of passengers in the vehicle and whether the occupant is a real passenger. To address concerns that the camera is looking into the vehicles, reading the license plate, and recording the occupants, the video must be collected to identify the actual occupants of a vehicle, not just the driver's seat.

California law limits the use of automated cameras to issuing tickets to red-light drivers and toll avoiders, but no legislation is required to extend the use of cameras to the number of people. Current state law on automated speed cameras in road traffic does not allow images of the vehicle or its license plate to show the faces of drivers or passengers in the car. The identity of the passengers cannot be determined from the images of the cameras.

The California Highway Patrol has increased enforcement, assigning dedicated strike teams working overtime shifts to catch the cheats, but the agency has been unable to abate the problem. Lanes created to move at a decent clip are sometimes as sluggish as the regular lanes, triggering rising frustration in drivers legitimately using the carpool lane and in those stuck in the slower lanes watching cheaters pass them by.

This camera technology is also be used to identify who has parked the vehicle by taking a snapshot of the person parked in the car. By combining number plate recognition and occupant recognition, you can track which car occupies which space.

What Do License Plate Reader Cameras Do?

Traffic Monitoring Cameras

License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras originated in Europe where it is called Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR). In North America, they are called “license plates” instead of “number plates”. Mobile ALPR is a vehicle-mounted solution primarily used by law enforcement, asset recovery (stolen vehicles), and parking management. Fixed ALPR cameras are mounted on traffic poles and used for law enforcement and asset recovery.

Here are the laws in 50 States regulating automatic license plate readers.

10 questions to ask to confirm if your photo enforcement database is complete and up-to-date?

1) How many locations have been deleted in the last 5 years?
2) Do you have school safety zones and speed camera locations?
3) Are you interested in toll road and HOV camera locations?
4) Are you interested in the bus lane and stop sign camera locations?
5) Are you familiar with the new red light sensors on traffic lights?
6) How many of your locations are actually traffic monitoring cameras?
7) Which States have removed the most red-light cameras in the last few years?
8) Which Cities have added the most red light camera locations?
9) Which States, Cities, & Counties have banned red-light cameras?
10) Which States have increased fines recently?

Here is our most recent database count.

Email us if you are interested in licensing our red light camera database.

Vehicle Occupancy Detection Cameras Are Coming

These Cameras Detect The Number of People in Car

Cal Trans is in trial with these cameras now.

San Rafael Bridge has a trial

5 fwy and Barranca Pkwy Carpool Lane Exit trial

495 Capital beltway toll lanes trial

John Chambers of Cisco Systems describes the network problem

FasTrak Toll Road Lanes Now Charge a $1 Per Month Maintenance Fee?

In a push to make toll lanes permanent fixtures on two of Los Angeles County's most congested freeways the 110 and 10, local transportation officials approved a $1 monthly fee Thursday that will apply to all drivers with electronic tolling accounts, even carpoolers and infrequent users. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 8-3 vote signals a shift in the agency's approach to drivers who use the 25 miles of experimental toll lanes that link the South Bay and El Monte with downtown Los Angeles. Previously, the agency rewarded drivers who used the lanes more than four times a month by waiving their monthly fees. Each driver's $12 in annual fees will be assessed in addition to per-mile tolls, which start at 25 cents and can go up to $1.40, depending on how crowded the toll lanes are at the time. More than 253,000 Angelenos have opened tolling accounts.

Metro owes the project's contractor $3 a month in maintenance fees for every tolling device put into service. "There are people who just want to go to the airport once or twice a month," Molina said. "But for every transponder out there, whether it's used one time or 55 times, that cost is still $3." That totals about $9.1 million a year in fees.Metro staff said that by charging every driver $1 a month, the agency would make about $700,000 more a year toward maintenance fees. Metro collected more than $23 million in tolls over 14 months, the report said, and will reinvest the money in pedestrian, transit and vanpool improvements in the areas surrounding the freeways.

Here is the Email I received

As a valued ExpressLanes customer, we would like to make you aware of an upcoming change to the Terms and Conditions of your account. Effective June 1, 2014, ALL Metro ExpressLanes accounts will be charged a $1 monthly account maintenance fee. There will no longer be an option to have the monthly account maintenance fee waived with four one-way trips per month nor will there be a waiver for LA County residents. This monthly fee will continue to be waived for Equity Plan customers ONLY. Here is a copy of the letter.

Comments Read On FasTrak Facebook Page

So it is a complete lie that we would be able to continue using the 10/110 left lane as a carpool lane free of charge. Before it was "well it's just a $40 deposit for the transponder", now it's "just $1 per month", what's it going to be next year or the year after when you decide you need more money to keep the program going? I don't think you understand what "completely free of charge" means.

In addition, what exactly does the "monthly maintenance fee" cover? I might be able to understand if you need to print paper statements and pay someone to mail them, but you already charge for that. What company provides your database services that you need to pay per additional account? It sounds like you are being ripped off, wasting our taxpayer money, or are not making enough money from the program and therefore penny pinching to appear to be worth the investment.

By charging a minimum monthly fee to be able to use the HOT lanes at all, people that would consider paying occasional for their travels to LA will likely not bother at all as it is too complicated and requires a commitment they don't need on a regular basis, or will take surrounding freeways to avoid taking the 10/110. So yes, you might be clearing up traffic on the 10/110 by shifting traffic to surrounding freeways, but is that really the goal of the program?

In addition to be clear, your lawyer logic behind getting around AB2405 is that the $1 fee is not explicitly a toll fee, even though it is required to ride toll free? See Legislature Assembly Bill

Are you planning on dealing with the fact that the 110S to 105 connector completely stops traffic in the HOV lane on the 105 every single day to a complete standstill? Or is that outside of the scope of your funding therefore you don't care? Do you plan on using the funds to create a HOT lane connector from the 110N to the 105? Or the 110 to the 91? What corridor improvements do you plan on using the funds for?