Incident characteristics on motorways: a contribution of the video technology

The present research is realized in a framework of the European road telematic project IN-RESPONSE. The main objective is to test and to assess innovative incident management policies in several European countries. A new approach, aiming at a better knowledge of incident characteristics, has been elaborated. It benefits from new telematic tools in the field of traffic management and control. A set of fixed video cameras has been installed at a precise zone of the Paris Ringway for automatic incident detection by image processing and for traffic monitoring. The video surveillance allows a better assessment of the performance in detection and of the overall practice in incident management.