Traffic congestion has been a constant problem on the road, especially in urban areas. In China alone, the number of motor vehicles has already exceeded a whopping 290 million as of September 2021. With this massive number of cars, traffic congestions or even road accidents are inevitable without an effective traffic management solution in place.

In context, traffic congestion is associated with the contradiction between supply and demand, that is, the growth of the number of motor vehicles and road resources is unbalanced. So how can we mitigate traffic congestion? The solutions can be attributed to 4 aspects: urban planning, traffic network planning, traffic travel structure, and the construction and development of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

Traffic congestion is associated with the imbalance between the amount of motor vehicles and road resources.

An intelligent transportation system, like the Dahua Smart Traffic Management Solution, employs robust communication technology and captured transportation-related data to improve safety and efficiency of traffic management, and reduce traffic problems. According to the assessment of international ITS organizations, an effective intelligent transportation system can help reduce traffic congestion and accidents by 20% and traffic delays by 25%.

The Dahua Smart Traffic Management Solution includes specialized solutions to help mitigate traffic congestion. It aims to achieve "early detection and early dispatch", in order to avoid the spread of congestion and prevent accidents on the road. It primarily revolves around these main processes: perceiving congestion, handling congestion, optimizing traffic and evaluating effects. Let’s discuss them here one by one.

Perceiving Congestion

For this phase, the Dahua Smart Traffic Management Solution offers AI-powered cameras like the ITC431-RW1F-L model. It has 4 MP resolution with Starlight technology that can capture clear traffic information. It can cover up to 4 lanes and collect 5 types of traffic parameters (e.g. traffic flow, queue length), providing an accuracy rate of over 95%.

Moreover, to address problems caused by environmental factors, Dahua also developed products equipped with various advanced technologies such as radar, electronic gyroscope, GPS, etc. They can realize highly accurate traffic information collection at an ultra-long distance of 250 meters, unaffected by rain, fog or even light changes.

Handling Congestion

There are different methods in handling traffic congestion. First, traffic control platforms can be combined to instantly dispatch command to relevant personnel. The other method – which is the core of Dahua Smart Traffic Management Solution – is to optimize traffic signal control, upgrade and replace traditional non-intelligent signal controller, and carry out remote visual control to solve traffic congestion. Latest traffic information can also be displayed via the traffic guidance system to inform travelers about nearby traffic congestions. Signal control timing optimization based on real-time traffic flow will be further elaborated in the succeeding sections of this article.

Optimizing Traffic

In the process of traffic optimization, it is necessary to comprehensively consider the causes of traffic congestion and deal with them separately. If it is a short-term temporary congestion like those caused by traffic accidents, traffic congestion will ease up eventually. If it is a periodic and frequent traffic congestion, it is most likely caused by the underlying bottleneck in the overall road network design. In this case, carrying out a comprehensive traffic management solution is of paramount importance.

Aside from traffic enforcement, another aspect of the Dahua Smart Traffic Management Solution is signal control timing optimization based on real-time traffic flow. It is based on the lane-level traffic flow detection system that can cover large scenes to detect multiple parameters such as lane flow, occupancy rate, queue length, traffic density, etc. With real-time data captured and analyzed, the traffic lights will automatically switch based on the time of the day and actual road traffic conditions, easing up urban traffic congestions. Green wave can be carried out during regular hours to realize quick passage of vehicles. Also, these collected traffic data can help city operators in optimizing road network planning.

To see Traffic Flow Data Collection in action, check out this video clip:

In a country in Central Asia, this solution has been applied at an intersection where vehicle traffic reaches 170,000-250,000 cars per day. Dahua have built an adaptive traffic signal control system that collects a complete traffic data in real time using AI-powered cameras. It also realizes effective timing scheme for the traffic signals based on the current traffic flow. Overall, this solution significantly reduced waiting time, improved traffic efficiency by about 25%, helped enhance traffic flow, and lessened the effects of traffic congestion in the surrounding areas of the intersection.

Evaluating Effects

This phase mainly refers to the comprehensive evaluation of the improvements achieved after traffic congestion control and optimization solutions have been implemented. It also includes accumulation of relevant successful cases, experience and knowledge that can be applied to other similar scenarios.

In Latin America, for example, one-way roads are common (accounting for more than 85%), and roads with signal control are not that many. For this region, Dahua developed a highly economical traffic solution tailored for small roads. For more than one year, professional tests were conducted at Lesko Laboratory (Argentina) and Buenos Aires intersections to fully verify the safety and stability of this solution. It has since generated great results and positive feedback after its implementation. Based on this successful solution, relevant traffic management solutions can be designed for other countries with similar transportation infrastructure.

It’s a wrap!

This article concludes our very first Solution Spotlight blog series featuring Dahua Smart Traffic Management Solution. We hope we have piqued your interest about this intelligent solution through this 3-part blog series. The next Dahua blog article is just around the corner. Don’t miss it!