During a joint presentation at last week’s ‘Smart Cities Transport Masterclass’ event held in London, UK, Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions (ICES) and Videalert announced an important new collaboration to deliver a comprehensive clean air enforcement system for urban authorities.
Harnessing the respective technologies and expertise of both companies, the new end-to-end system is fully integrated to avoid any risks of compatibility or configuration issues. The new approach is based on the use of Imperial’s virtual permit system for vehicles entering designated clean air zones, which features an automated tiered pricing tariff to reflect different vehicle types and emission bands.
Permit enforcement is provided by Videalert’s ALPR (automatic license plate recognition) camera technology and dedicated digital video review platform, which also gather invaluable real-time intelligence for the hosting authority. All verified contraventions are then automatically uploaded to Imperial’s back office processing system. The presentation also highlighted the close cooperation between the two companies in permit management and enforcement work for the London Borough of Barnet and other local authorities around the country.
The new system features ICES’ PermitSmarti system, which provides unlimited tiered pricing options, simplified administration, and full self-service functionality. The system uses virtual permits and benefits from a seamless interface with Imperial’s 3Sixty back office notice processing software. The enforcement system comprises Videalert’s latest digital ALPR cameras and the company’s dedicated digital video review platform to provide an automated system for managing and enforcing contraventions within Clean Air Zones and Low Emission Zones.
The system provides real-time identification of vehicles, including make, model, color, gross weight, engine type, Euro rating, and CO2 emission band. Using this information, it automatically determines whether an offence has been committed and/or whether the correct tariff has been paid for entry into the restricted zone. When a contravention has been identified and verified, full evidence packs are then uploaded to Imperial’s back office processing system for issue of the appropriate Penalty Charge Notice and subsequent progression to payment recovery.
“There is no magic wand that will extract the pollutants from the city air, so the answer has to focus on behavioral change by discouraging vehicles with the highest emissions from entering designated areas of the city,” said Tim Daniels, Videalert’s sales and marketing director. “That’s where our new joint approach can make a very real and immediate difference; ensuring compliance with emission policies to deliver significant improvements to air quality.”
