Over recent years, the expression "intellectual" or "smart" houses, roads, cars and even cities are often heard. Most recently, one of the leading manufacturers of cars presented its new model S60, equipped with unique pedestrian detection system with automatic braking. With this technology, the car can timely react to the appearance of pedestrians and warn the driver. If the driver does not react in time to the warning, the system brakes automatically. But if in Azerbaijan the intellectual cars are not available for everyone because of money, the intellectual roads may become a reality tomorrow.
According to statistics, in 2009 the traffic police in Azerbaijan registered 2,792 traffic accidents, which killed 930 people, and the number of wounded was 3,044.
Automatic detection of traffic accidents is one of the most important and necessary components of the intellectual roads, and given that the number of vehicles and road users in Azerbaijan in recent years has increased dramatically, the country needs new, additional approaches to road safety. A similar system for tracking the traffic movement on the roads has been operating in Baku for certain period, its components are installed at all major intersections and major thoroughfares.
But it is mainly used for responding to potential congestion and identifying the violators of traffic, but in this case, it deals with equipping such systems for the major highways of the country, or those areas that are far from large settlements, in order to respond quickly to emergency situation and have time to assist the victims. It will also require preparation of all emergency services firstly, creating communication infrastructure between them.
There are many varieties of such systems to detect traffic accidents. If not to touch upon technical details, and briefly describe the principle of one such system, it seems to be as: cameras, microphones and control devices connected to remote monitoring of the situation on the roads are installed on highways. GPS-receiver is also connected to the control unit in order to determine the exact time and place of the accident. Audio data (it is interesting that the system is able to classify all recorded audio signals - the creaking of brakes, the sound of blow and various other sounds and noises - and make them exact at 99%) and video of the accident in real time are sent to monitoring center through wireless communications, which are processed by the operator.
The data from GPS are sent there. Then quick decisions are made whom and how many to send to the scene. Doctors say that the medical care of seriously injured during the first hour after the accident is vital and greatly increases the chances of victims to stay alive. Of course, without an immediate response, these systems will not be of great value.
The presence of such systems saves time and money, reduces the burden of litigation and administrative proceedings that are inevitable after the accident, especially because of the possible unavailability of witnesses of the incident, facilitates the work of insurance companies, and most importantly, reduces the time interval between the accident occurred and first aid. In general, the reduction of direct and indirect losses from accidents will have an economic effect. Also, over time, upgraded common infrastructure on roads and around them will improve coordination between all emergency services involved in the process.
Many countries function in this direction. For example, the Accident Response System (ERA GLONASS) started to be devised in Russia in 2009. The system will be able to monitor the situation on the roads and quickly respond to road accidents. It may even detect the smell of alcohol in an automobile.
"This project, titled Accident Response System (ERA GLONASS), has big social importance and aims to reduce the death rate during road accidents," Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov said earlier.
According to Perminov, 56 percent of people injured in road accidents die because of untimely response of emergency services.
"If implemented, the following main results will be achieved namely time of response to road accidents by emergency services will decrease by 30 percent, the severity of injuries and casualties on the roads will be reduced, budget expenditures for the road accident rehabilitation measures will be but by about time and a half to two times," he said. "ERA GLONASS is expected to begin to be introduced in the Russian road transport sector from 2011," Perminov said.
The system will also ensure global control over and security of hazardous and valuable cargoes, reduce the cost of navigation equipment for end consumers by organising mass production of GLONASS receivers, and improve the environmental situation by monitoring set parameters of automobile engine operation.
It will also provide the basis for building intellectual transport systems in regions, Perminov said.
He said 12 new GLONASS satellites would be launched before the end of 2010 to bring their total number in orbit to 24. In addition, three Gonets satellites will be launched by the end of 2010 to increase it to 30 satellites.
For GLONASS signals to be received continuously across Russia, the system needs at least 18 operating satellites, and 24 satellites for global coverage.
It is reported that work is underway to modernise the system. The new GLONASS-M satellites have better signal characteristics as well as a longer design life (7-8 years instead of the current 3 years).
In the future, the system should use low mass third generation GLONASS-K satellites with a guaranteed lifespan of 10 years.
eCall project that is designed for the same goals is in the process of implementation in the EU countries. According to the data provided by the European Commission, At present, more than 40,000 people are killed and 1.7 million injured annually in about 1.4 million traffic accidents on the European Union's roads.
The economic loss, which is caused by road accidents amounts to more than €160 billion per year. For eCall to work, a number of pieces must be in place: Firstly, all new cars will have to be equipped with eCall devices. In 2005, the European Commission and the automotive industry agreed to schedule full-scale rollout of eCall for 2009. eCall devices were to be available as an option for all new cars from September 2009.
Knowing the exact location of the crash site, emergency services' response time will be cut
by 50% in rural and 40% in urban areas. Due to this gain of time, eCall is expected to save
up to 2,500 lives in the European Union each year, and to mitigate the severity of tens of
thousands of injuries. As eCall will also mean speedier treatment of injured people, there
will in consequence also be better recovery prospects for accident victims.
The European commission hopes to cover all territories of the Union with eCall system by 2014. If all cars were equipped with the eCall system, up to €26 billion could be saved annually.
In the U.S., the companies such as IBM and General Electric Co. are no longer satisfied with obtaining data in real time, and believe that it is too late. IBM created a program that can analyze the scheme of movement of vehicles and predict the occurrence of traffic congestion in advance for about 45 minutes. This computer program has been successfully tested in Singapore and has shown results with accuracy of 90%.
Giving a speech recently in one of the regions of the country, the President of Azerbaijan again mentioned the need to implement and use modern technology: "Development should be in such a way that the country can get modernized, Azerbaijan can introduce the most advanced technologies. Azerbaijan should implement the most advanced and progressive technologies that are necessary for us and meet our conditions."
Bringing safety on the roads to a new level with "intellectual" systems is an important task and a great benefit to society.