Traffic safety is of the up most concern for protection of drivers, construction workers, pedestrians and more. Safety equipment is always a great idea to help guide and divert flowing cars.

Now, there are traffic cameras which do the job of many and contribute to making the streets safer for all. This system consists of a video camera that observes vehicular travel on a designated road.

Usually, they are put along major roads or intersections that involve highways, freeways, motorways, auto routes and expressways, as well as arterial roads. They are connected with optical fibers which are buried alongside or even under the road.

Then, a monitoring center receives the live video in real time, and serves as a dispatcher if there is an automobile accident or some other disruptive incident which concerns safety. Internet users can often view individual frames posted to a website every few minutes, and can then determine whether they would prefer to take an alternate route due to travel issues.

The traffic cameras are a major part of most intelligent transportation systems and are especially valuable in tunnels, where safety equipment can be activated remotely based upon information provided by them and other sensors. On surface roads, they are usually mounted on high poles or masts, even along with street lights sometimes.

On less significant roads, they are often found on light poles at intersections where problems are most likely to occur. This way, they hope to knock out the bulk of the traffic problems with fewer cameras.

Typically, they are different from road safety cameras which are placed in specific places to enforce rules of the road. Those take still photos in a much higher image resolution upon a trigger.

On the other hand, traffic cameras are simply for observation and constantly take lower resolution full motion videos. Online cameras are linked to online websites that enable the public to view real time conditions online.

These web-cams usually refresh every 60 seconds and can be viewed from most government authorized websites. This provides access to almost all with the use of technology.

The concept of the speed camera can be dated back to at least 1905 though Popular Mechanics reports on a patent for a Time Recording Camera for Trapping Motorists that enabled the operator to take time stamped images of a vehicle moving across specific start and end points of a measured section of road.

The timestamps enabled the speed to be calculated, and the photo enabled identification of the driver. The technology has come a long way since its early start.

The Dutch company Gatsometer BV, which was founded in 1958 by rally driver Maurice Gatsonides, producer of the Gatsometer. The device was described as a revolutionary speed measuring device by many.

Gatsonides wanted to improve the monitoring of his speed around the corners of a race track and came up with the device in order to improve his time around the circuit. The company later started supplying these devices as police speed enforcement tools.

The first red light camera was introduced and demonstrated in 1965 which used tubes that were stretched across the road. The first radar Levitra that was used to measure traffic was developed in 1971, and the world’s first mobile speed traffic camera was finished in 1982.

The company is currently the world’s largest supplier of speed camera systems. The name has also, through colloquial usage, become synonymous with all brands of speed cameras.

The first systems introduced in the late 1960s used film technology to take their pictures. From the late 1990s, digital cameras began to be introduced which can be fitted with a network connection in order to transfer images to a central processing location automatically in no time at all.

So, this way, they have advantages over film cameras in speed of issuing fines, maintenance and operational monitoring. However, film based systems may provide superior image quality in the variety of lighting conditions encountered on roads.

They are usually required by courts in some jurisdictions for further proof. Many new film based systems are still being sold, but digital picture systems are providing greater versatility and are now significantly more popular with law enforcement agencies.

Author Bio: Tom Selwick is a public safety representative for 25 years and has authored hundreds of articles relating to public safety and road signs. He has worked in public safety for years promoting safe transportation practices.

Contact Info:
Tom Selwick
TomSelwick09@gmail.com
http://www.interwestsafety.com

Category: Culture and Society/Social Issues
Keywords: road signs