“This is perhaps the gap that WiM providers can fill. Rish Malhotra, president and CEO at International Road Dynamics (IRD), says: “I think there is an increasing awareness of WiM, and more cities are using it as a tool to understand the loading patterns on their overpasses and bridges. Detailed WiM site data combined with other data sources gives planners a much clearer picture of traffic and the impact of restrictions on trucks.”
IRD: ‘There is an increasing awareness of WiM, and more cities are using it as a tool’ One of the first steps to enable Smart Cities is to make them tech-enabled and citizen/inhabitant-friendly to enhance safety and efficiency, he continues. “The concept of the virtual weigh station was initially implemented in rural areas to monitor and identify commercial vehicles bypassing weigh stations located on arterial routes typically traversed by commercial vehicles. Cities and municipalities across the world have been investing in tech-enabled infrastructure to detect overloading impacts as well as weekly commercial vehicle traffic patterns. Once the severity of the problem is understood, overload enforcement systems in cities and municipalities have the ability to restrict HGVs in cities.”
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At IRD, Rish Malhotra definitely sees a change coming. “There are linkages showing up in tenders, starting from enhancing safety and efficiency in cities to protect vulnerable road users to enforcing all vehicular traffic on speeds, red lights, emissions, congestion, dimensions and also commercial vehicles on weights,” he says. “The underlying focus is enforcement to drive a better quality of life. Restricting HGVs to improve safety and efficiency, as well as enforcement, go hand in hand. These types of restrictions lead to less daytime congestion and a smoother flow of goods and people. WiM helps metros understand the type and timing of trucks - which is different from commuter needs.”
.. “WiM is a proven and successful technology that acts as a deterrent as well as a driver of safety and sustainability,” says IRD’s Rish Malhotra. “The major shift in the past few years that we have observed has been in technology implementation due to evolving regulations. Applications are evolving to enhance safety while also generating new revenues that have become very important to public sector entities. Applying the concepts of revenue assurance through unparalleled accuracy and confidence, this is best achieved through ‘as-a-service’ solutions that may not require the traditional up-front capital outlays. High accuracy will result in high confidence, enabling vendors and consultants to broaden the conversation from WiM screening to direct enforcement.”
.. Augmenting WiM with other sensing technologies to provide more detailed vehicle information for applications to protect infrastructure and road assets using WiM will grow, Malhotra believes.
“WiM is valuable to the understanding of HGVs, their impact on traffic and goods flow, and especially the degree to which they cause deterioration of road surfaces. We expect the trend to install more WiM systems in open-road tolling projects and at bridges will continue. There is strong value for road agencies in the new WiM systems that help complete the picture for traffic planners by combining WiM with AI and other innovative technologies.”
https://www.itsinternational.com/feature/weigh-motion-gets-smarter
-Eventually, VWIM/WIM will be part of Smart Cities' information data system..as I see