Videalert Adds Clean Air Zone Enforcement To Hosted Digital Platform
Videalert, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of traffic enforcement and management solutions, has added Clean Air Zone (CAZ) and Low Emission Zone (LEZ) enforcement to the range of moving traffic contraventions supported by its DfT Manufacturer Certified hosted platform. This will be of particular interest to the five Defra-nominated cities where CAZs will be created by 2020, providing cost effective enforcement to reduce pollution from toxic gases, including nitrogen dioxide which is estimated to cause the premature deaths of 40,000-50000 people each year.
According to Videalert: “The number of pollution-related illnesses and deaths resulting from traffic on our roads is a massive issue for governments around the world. Whilst London, Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton now have the powers to begin tackling this issue, hundreds of other town and cities across the UK are in breach of their EU emission targets. Enforcing these zones further extends the capability of our hosted Digital Video Platform which supports multiple civil traffic enforcement, traffic management, crime prevention and community safety applications simultaneously, enabling councils to deliver more with less.”
Videalert’s hosted platform automates the management and enforcement of CAZ and LEZ contraventions. With real-time identification of vehicles including make, model, colour, gross weight, engine type, Euro rating and CO² emission band, the system can determine whether an offence has been committed and/or whether the correct tariff has been paid for entry into the restricted zone. To minimise bandwidth requirements, these checks are carried out prior to evidence files being sent to the back office system for issuing PCNs. The system also provides real-time intelligence to determine the extent of contraventions in any target location.
The intelligent digital video platform at the heart of Videalert’s hosted service supports multiple civil traffic enforcement, traffic management, crime prevention and community safety applications simultaneously using the same infrastructure. It can be delivered as a fully managed service, including the planning, supply, installation, commissioning and ongoing maintenance of all necessary on-street equipment with the latest digital cameras and associated communications connectivity.
According to Bridget Fox, sustainable transport campaigner at the Campaign for Better Transport: “The need to act on air pollution is urgent as the UK already breaches legal air quality limits causing tens of thousands of deaths each year. So while we welcome the creation of Clean Air Zones to help bring down already dangerous levels of pollution across our most polluted cities, we still need more to be done.”