Prague councillors sanctioned a project’s intention of going by the name Innovative Technologies Testing for Traffic Signs Administration. The realization is trusted to the city company Operátor ICT, a. s., (OICT). The project aims to test loT technology which is to provide for instance GPS position information or about the location change when compared to the initial state of already used or newly installed traffic signs.
Another benefit of this technology is intelligent signs testing with changing display of supplementary table with the possibility of remote settings. The extracted information will be displayed to the primary users which are city companies – Prague Servies, a. s., (PS) and Technical Road Administration Prague, a. s. (TSK). At the same time, they will be integrated and displayed suitably in The Data Platform of The Capital City of Prague – Golemio.
‘‘During spring and autumn maintenance the Prague Services employees will install mobile traffic signs which draw attention to the no stopping in the supplement table cleaning term. Regularly, every day seven days before the cleaning commencement the employees will check whether the mobile traffic signs are at proper spots and visible so as the citizens would know about the planned cleaning well in advance,“ explained The Mayor of the Capital City of Prague Zdeněk Hřib in that the total year-long entering of all vehicles which perform these checks during block cleaning of the streets, is almost 56.5 km.
According to his words checking would be newly done only in those traffic signs in which sensor sends a piece of information about state change from the initial/installed, thus for example when turned, deviated by the cause of wind, vandalism or movement caused by other reason. The total entering within the checks could according to estimations be decreased by 70 to 80%. It should also come to considerable time-saving of employees commissioned to do the checking. The total financial saving is estimated up to 1 million crowns annually with the technology’s lifespan surmised 5 years at least.
‘’This technology will be tested in different cases of mobile traffic signs installation as well, for instance in case of unplanned closures and traffic restrictions in Prague caused by road accidents. The information about these unplanned closures and traffic restrictions could subsequently be available for drivers via mobile applications,“ added OICT General Manager Michal Fišer.
According to the TSK statement, it is currently very arduous to find out about missing or damaged traffic signs. This can considerably decrease safety, awareness and smoothness of the traffic at the roads.
‘’In the are of the capital are nevertheless spots regularly getting to damage or loss of the traffic signs, be it because of vandalism or for instance being damaged by lorries. Also in these cases, this technology can contribute to the increase in efficiency of the processes, safety and awareness and generating of financial and economic savings,“ specified OICT Deputy Chairman Matej Šandor.
