TelOne develops digital traffic management system
TELECOMMUNICATIONS operator, TelOne, has developed a digital traffic management system, which will help in monitoring of traffic in major cities, record road violations and curb reckless driving.
The new technology is expected to assist local authorities to fine those who park in undesignated areas nd help the police to capture motorists who drive while on their phones or without seat belts.
The ‘smart city’ technological solution will also cover traffic monitoring and control, violation detections, smart parking, local council’s revenue assurance, crime detection traffic fines collection and reporting platforms.
Dubbed ‘TelOne Smart City/Safe City Solutions’, the technology is set to be implemented in major cities such as Bulawayo, Harare, and Mutare.
The intervention is set to help the country develop smart cities in line with Vision 2030 ideals.
A smart city uses Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to improve operational efficiency, share information with the public and provide a better quality of Government services and citizen welfare.
President Mnangagwa has emphasised the need for the country to implement the smart city concept in line with the recently launched climate policy.
President Mnangagwa
Zimbabwe has also shown its commitment to implementing the smart city concept with President Mnangagwa’s last year sending a team led by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, July Moyo, to the United Arab Emirates to study how best the concept can be fully implemented in the country Experts say introducing smart traffic systems also presents a major opportunity for reducing a city’s carbon footprint.
The concept, which has been in use in first world countries has proven to reduce traffic and time spent idling which significantly decrease the amount of greenhouse gas emissions a city’s inhabitants will produce getting from place to place.
Speaking during a Zimbabwe Smart Cities and Rural Communities Infrastructure Forum in Bulawayoyesterday, TelOne divisional director of infrastructure and wholesale, Engineer Lawrence Nkala, said the solution will help bring about a digital economy by 2030.
“Vision 2030 speaks of a digital economy and it means the adoption of ICT technologies will improve efficiencies in the operations of cities, Government service and welfare and livelihood of citizens.
“We identified an opportunity within the smart cities concept to introduce technologies that improve the management of cities and in particular focusing on the traffic situation management within the cities,” said Eng Nkala.
“We realised that there is serious congestion and bad driver behaviour within the cities that need to be managed.
The manual methods that have been used by local authorities and police have created chaos in some instances where the results have been fatal.”
He said so far, the entity has set up a proof of concept in one of Harare’s busiest intersections as a model of how the solution will work once installed in different cities.
“We are not taking over the function of local authorities and police but just providing the ICT to better management and governance of our country,” said Eng Nkala.
“Plans are at an advanced stage and we await the procurement process and buy in from members of the police, local authorities and other key stakeholders.”
TelOne’s head of innovation, Mr Tariro Nyakudya, said the technology will also help motorist in the near future to use routes with less traffic.
Mr Tariro Nyakudya
“Most cities are struggling with traffic congestion because no one knows the average number of vehicles that are passing through a particular road daily or how many vehicles are doing movements,” he said.
“So, our solution is able to determine the numbers and provide information that can be used for city planning.
“At full implementation the solution will be able to control and divert traffic where some roads are full it can divert to other roads with no or less traffic.
“So, the system can also monitor people who drive using phones, who drive without seat belts, illegally parking and who are driving the wrong way going through red robots.
“It will be used to monitor what is happening, people who are loitering, petty theft crimes and all that.”
Mr Nyakudya added that the technological solution will provide valuable information, which can be used by police and local authorities.
“We are ready to roll out this system and we need holistic engagement and adoption by all relevant stakeholders as this needs collaboration,” he said.
“We need to catch up with other cities like Dubai, which has zero crime but we still have hit and run accidents in Zimbabwe and no evidence to bring people to book.”-The Chronicle
