Canadian highway traffic management technology company International Road Dynamics (IRD) has announced that its president for the last 32 years, Terry Bergan, is retiring from the business.
A highly-respected ITS industry veteran, Bergan has been president of IRD since 1986 and the company’s chief executive officer since 1984. As part of a planned leadership succession process, IRD’s current chief operating officer and executive VP, Randy Hanson, will succeed him as president and CEO. A fellow graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Hanson has been with IRD in the position of EVP and COO since 2000. Previously he held numerous senior leadership positions at several technical engineering organizations and sits on various industry boards. In his role as COO, he directed corporate operations during its substantial change and growth.
“IRD has grown to be a recognized world leader in the ITS industry,” said Bergan. “Over the years, we have persevered during substantial market challenges, while continuing to advance with our world-renowned technologies. The company is poised to move forward in the world of data management, and I believe it is the right time for me to retire.
“While I will deeply miss the people that have made the company successful, I am looking forward to spending time with my family; I do so knowing that IRD’s path forward is full of opportunities and I’m confident that our employees will get us there with the leadership of Randy Hanson and our senior management team. I am also confident that Randy will ensure the consistency of IRD’s customer-driven focus, providing continued value and quality.”
In one of his first duties as CEO, Hanson has announced that IRD has been awarded contracts valued at US$1m by its partner in the Philippines, Total Innovative Security Solutions Inc., (TISSI) to provide weigh-in-motion (WIM) and data collection equipment. Under terms of the contracts, IRD will supply the equipment for overloaded vehicle control and road monitoring projects. This equipment includes Portable WIM Axle Weighers and High-Speed Virtual WIM systems.
The data collected from the permanent high-speed WIM systems will include axle and gross vehicle weights, axle spacing, vehicle classification, vehicle side-view images, license plate images, and vehicle speed information. Additionally, the contracts include the supply of traffic counters and classifiers for data collection in permanent and temporary applications across the Philippines.
Hanson commented, “We have been a long-term products and systems supplier to the Philippines, and these new contracts underline our ongoing commitment and longstanding positive relationship with TISSI.”
IRD has also reported that the Netherlands National Road and Water Management Agency (Rijkswaterstaat) has installed its Tire Anomaly and Classification System (TACS) on the A16 Motorway, south of Rotterdam. The TACS system detects tire anomalies including low air pressure and flat tires or potentially unsafe tires on trucks, and is installed in the main lanes monitoring tires at highway speeds.
In the next phase of the project, wireless communications will be added to the TACS system to immediately and automatically inform registered trucks with tire anomalies of their potentially unsafe condition. The intent is to facilitate quicker corrective action thus improving road safety and decreasing the potential of traffic flow disruption.
