Golden River Traffic pioneers new congestion-busting equipment

As British road users brace themselves for the traditional August holiday tail backs and following the announcement by Transport for London that congestion levels in the capital are at their worst since 2002, there is at least one piece of good news for beleaguered motorists. Bicester-based company Golden River Traffic is pioneering new congestion-busting technology that can be installed and maintained without the need to close roads.

Although the Highways Authority does restrict roadworks over the Bank Holiday period, existing sites with ongoing roadworks still cause delays. In a recent survey for the DfT, 87% of respondents felt congestion was a serious problem and over three quarters believed it important that Government tackles congestion. Golden River Traffic is working on one solution.

For the last two decades traffic lights at busy intersections and pedestrian crossings have been increasingly been controlled by ‘inductive loop’ sensors. Normally seen as dark square outlines on the road surface, they detect a passing vehicle by using a magnetic field to detect the metal components in the passing vehicle. They then send information on location and speed to the computer controlling the traffic signals.

One drawback of the inductive loop system is the need to close a section of road to install the system and its associated wiring, inevitably adding to congestion. In addition, inductive loops are often damaged when water pipes, gas lines or electrical wires are being laid. This again means more road maintenance, more cost and more congestion.

In their recent report on rising congestion in the capital, Transport for London blames utility company roadworks as the prime cause of hold-ups. They have returned journey times to 2002 levels despite the number of vehicles entering the city’s congestion charge zone falling by 21%.

The Golden River wireless vehicle detection system provides a more reliable, lower cost and easier to install alternative to the use of inductive loops. The system uses flush-mounted magnetometer sensors in the road surface. The sensors wirelessly transmit real time data via secure radio technology to a nearby Access Point, which in turn feeds either locally-placed or remote, traffic management controllers to ensure optimum traffic flow at a junction.

As well being less time consuming and cheaper to install, the Golden River wireless vehicle detection system has many other advantages over the traditional inductive loops. Its small size and lack of wires allows it to be positioned in the middle of a lane making its data generation highly accurate. It is also less likely to be disrupted by other road works.

“The system is designed to work with all the proprietary traffic management systems in use across the UK and Europe and it is proving to be a major step forward in the replacement of inductive loop systems” says Martin Rodgers, the Golden River Sales and Marketing Director. “It has already proved a great success, with significant benefits in reducing maintenance costs and traffic congestion.”

Golden River Traffic, a leader in the field of automated traffic counting and classifying, is one of three industry respected brands which form The Clearview Traffic Group. The vision of John Madejski OBE DL, Clearview Traffic’s major shareholder, has been to integrate the three industry-leading companies which all assist in the planning, development and implementation of cost and energy-efficient use of our transport infrastructure.

In addition to Golden River Traffic, Astucia is best known as the market innovator for intelligent solar-powered road markings. Count On Us is the largest UK provider of transportation data collection and analysis services.

The integration of these individual centres of leadership has created a true ‘one-stop’ source of expertise in an otherwise fragmented marketplace. It provides ‘smart solutions’ to reducing accident risks and delays, along with the desire to increase the efficiency of our ever more congested highway system.