Innovative LMT Traffic Lights Solution Records Red Light Violations

To improve the traffic monitoring and take care of the safety of Liepāja residents, last autumn LMT in cooperation with Liepāja City Municipality and the State Police installed a smart solution or a special camera at the intersection of Uliha and Robežu streets, which reads and records the car number if it crossed an intersection at red light. 

During the last four years, five serious accidents and one accident with fatal consequences have occurred at the intersection of Uliha and Robežu streets in Liepāja due to violation of the red light signal. In order to improve traffic safety, it was decided to equip the traffic light with the first intelligent solution: the system created by LMT uses computer friction technologies which, when analysing video in real time, precisely determines when the car has crossed the stop line and the intersection at red light. The smart solution records an average of 400 violations each month or about 15 cases per day.

“According to the data recorded by the camera since its installation, we can conclude that the situation with red light violations in Latvia is similar to other European countries - every hundredth driver fails to observe the red light signal. This intersection has about 15 offenders per day. The system has proven that it is able to record the car's registration plate, even if it passes at an impressive speed – 130 km/h. So, we see this solution as an important measure to improve road traffic safety also in other dangerous places,” says LMT Vice-President Ingmārs Pūķis.

As evidenced by statistics, failure to obey the red light signal frequently leads to severe consequences. According to the Road Traffic and Safety Directorate (CSDD) data, 7% of all road accidents with the injured in 2019 were due to non-compliance with the rules for crossing the regulated intersections. Whereas, in the period from 21 October to 1 December 2019 the 360-degree camera system of the State Police has recorded 853 violations, nearly a third of which were the failure to obey the prohibitive traffic lights signal or additional section.

The main innovation of LMT smart camera is its ability to read data independently. The camera does not need to be connected to a traffic light control system, it reads and recognises the traffic light and the car movement, as well as a car number plate, and saves it in the system. This camera can be installed in less than a day and does not require a specific network configuration. It operates on a 4G network but may use 5G in the future. Its minimum infrastructure requirements, low costs, and ability to process data independently make it not only an effective solution for improving road safety but an important step towards a safe and smart urban environment.