In order to improve traffic monitoring and create safer traffic intersections, in the autumn of 2019 LMT's smart red light enforcement solution was installed on one of the intersections in Liepaja, a town in Latvia.
The smart solution consists of a special camera that reads and records a car’s license plate number if it runs a red light.
LMT’s solution uses computer vision technology, which, by analyzing the video feed from the camera in real-time, accurately determines when a car crosses a stopping line and passes through the intersection with the red light. This red light enforcement solution is easy to install on any existing traffic light pole that has access to electricity and is located in a place with mobile internet coverage.
As noted by Ingmārs Pūķis, the Vice President of LMT, in EU countries every hundredth driver on average ignores the red light signal. Liepāja is a city with less than 69,000 inhabitants, but even there the smart solution records an average of 400 violations per month, or about 15 cases per day. In EU cities with heavier traffic and larger populations, LMT’s smart solution, even if installed on just one traffic light, could record several thousand red light violations a day.
"The LMT system has proven that it is able to detect the car's registration plate even if at a really impressive speed - 130 km/h. Therefore, we see this solution as an important road safety improvement in dangerous places,"
says Ingmārs Pūķis, Vice President of LMTStatistics show that violations at junctions and intersections, which include non-compliance with a red light signal, often leads to serious consequences. According to the European Commission’s Road Safety report, the proportion of fatalities occurring at junctions and intersections varies between 8% and 35% across the EU.
Like speed cameras, red light enforcement solutions motivate drivers to be more cautious when at the wheel and to follow traffic regulations, that way making traffic safer for everyone.
The main innovation of LMT’s red light enforcement solution is its smart camera’s ability to read data independently – the camera does not need to be connected to a traffic light control system. It recognizes traffic lights, as well as the car number plate, and tracks car movement, all of which are recorded in the system for violations processing.
This camera can be installed in less than a day, requires minimal interference into existing infrastructure, and incurs comparatively low costs. While it currently operates on a 4G network, the 5G network will be used in the future instead. The smart camera’s ability to process data independently makes it not only an effective solution for improving road safety but also an important step towards a safer and smarter urban environment.