SEA ROAD‌flow system utilised to improve road safety outside schools in Bedford and across England

Published 13th July 2018

Cohort company SEA has successfully delivered 20 traffic camera detection systems to help improve child safety outside schools in the Borough of Bedford.

SEA’s ROADflow technology is already employed by 51 local authorities across England to monitor road traffic offences ranging from yellow box infringements to unauthorised manoeuvres.

In addition to Bedford, SEA’s ROADflow technology is being utilised in Newcastle to detect offences where vehicles encroach into bus lanes and areas reserved for buses outside schools, and other systems addressing bus stop infringements have now been commissioned in Derby and Plymouth.

The ROADflow cameras capture details of vehicles that stop in a specific area and for longer than defined location permits. These cameras are fully automated, re-deployable and can use existing road lighting columns, which allows enforcement to take place where previously it could be impractical.

The technology also allows two lanes to be monitored with a single camera. Encrypted communications use the mobile network to transmit data to the back office for enforcement processing. To ensure maximum effectiveness, SEA performs detailed modelling of each camera location before installation using camera siting software developed in-house.

This allows a full survey of any new site to be performed at the desktop, assessing which offences can be detected and allowing the optimal camera locations to be determined.

Steve Hill, SEA Managing Director, commented:

“Research from insurance companies suggests that over 1,000 children a month are involved in collisions within 500metres of school gates. ROADflow technology is proving a valuable resource in improving road safety near schools, for example providing a deterrent to vehicles dropping off or picking up passengers in non-designated areas or bus stops outside school gates.”

The system’s effectiveness is further increased by extensive remote health monitoring of all camera outstations, and functionality tests regularly check the performance of each system. If an issue is detected, an alert will be sent immediately to a SEA engineer, who will be able to resolve the issue, often before the local authority is aware