As Intertraffic Amsterdam opened its doors for the 21st time, five organisations in particular had reason to celebrate, having been put in the spotlight by the jury for the Intertraffic Innovation Awards. During the opening ceremony at Amsterdam RAI, March 27, 2012, the winners of the traffic industry’s most sought-after prizes were finally revealed. Awards were presented in five separate categories: ITS/Traffic Management; Parking; Safety; Smart Mobility and Infrastructure. Intertraffic Amsterdam 2012 runs from 27-30 March 2012 in Amsterdam RAI.

The winner in the ‘ITS/Traffic Management’ category, Peek Traffic/Imtech, was also recognised as the ‘Overall Winner’ for its ImFlow policy-based adaptive urban traffic control system that is easy to configure and builds directly on city policies. The uniqueness of ImFlow is its real-time adaptive algorithm that automatically translates newly-configured policies into optimal flows. The judges saw it as a simple tool for controlling urban traffic management on the basis of policy priorities, so closing the gap between decision-making urban authorities and the operators of their control systems.

The winner in the ‘Smart Mobility’ category was DTV Consultants with its mobility ‘game’ From5to4 that stimulates employees to commute one working day in an alternative, smarter way. By travelling and working more smartly, employees can secure points. This new way of approaching personal mobility choices has had positive effects on the travel behaviour of contestants and raised awareness, as well as generating a travel behaviour database..According to the jury this innovative idea integrates serious gaming technology and social media into the mobility decision-making process. Using peer pressure within and between companies and departments, it encourages people to be imaginative in changing their travel behaviour.

The winner of the ‘Safety’’ category was Kapsch TrafficCom AG, with ACC. Automatic Incident Detection (AID) specialists at Kapsch have introduced ACC as a new and easy way of calibrating on-highway cameras, in tunnels or open-road tolling contexts, for Kapsch’s Incident Detection System. Calibrating AID cameras has traditionally been a complicated, lengthy and costly process. Not only is this system much quicker (10km of tunnel can be calibrated in just two hours as opposed to 35-40 hours), but accuracy is claimed to be 10 times greater. The jury felt that this affords significant speed, accuracy, cost and safety benefits in the calibration of incident detection cameras, particularly in hazardous locations eg tunnels. It involves mounting specially-developed equipment, capable of fitting into a flight case-sized container, onto a vehicle running through the road section being calibrated,

The trophy in the ’Parking‘ Category went to the SCANaCAR ScanScooter system for

enforcement of parking regulations by scooter. It gives reliable scans of 600-1,200 cars an hour, regardless of how they are parked (eg left or right of the ScanScooter. The solution is ideal for enforcement in inner cities as well as outer areas, and for immediate follow-up by parking staff who are visible and accessible to the public. The jury found this a worthy winner enabling greater efficiency in parking enforcement and enhanced safety for enforcement personnel, affording easier access and real-time connection with central databases, and reflecting current developments in enforcement regulation.

The ‘Infrastructure’ category award went to Langmatz GmbH with their Bluemove light pole. This e-mobility charging point is installed directly onto a street lighting system, the result being that no brickwork or additional housing is required. The system contains intelligence to connect to an outside charging pole management system and is able to manage the light on-off settings where needed. A power enhancement tool for increased electric power distribution via the lighting infrastructure is also available. For the jury, it addressed the challenge of developing sufficient EV charging infrastructure to meet the anticipated growth in EV production. Installation into existing roadside furniture is cost-effective, and avoids planning regulation issues and visual impacts on the urban environment.

The prizes were presented to the winners by Awards chairman Fred Wegman, managing director of SWOV, the Dutch national traffic safety research institute, The international awards jury, meeting on Monday 26 March, put the five winners at the top of a shortlist of 14 exhibitors from ten countries, which it selected in January.

About Intertraffic

Intertraffic is the world’s largest and most influential trade event for infrastructure, ITS traffic management, safety and parking, providing a comprehensive overview of the very latest products, services and total solutions offered by suppliers. It also showcases the latest trends and developments. Intertraffic is intended for policymakers, specialists and operational personnel from government authorities, engineering consultancies, and the industry at large.