Video Technology in Lakewood

The City of Lakewood has begun to integrate video technology into the traffic signal system. The video technology is being used in two ways. The first is for vehicle detection at the intersection. Conventional vehicle detectors are constructed by imbedding coils of copper wire in the roadway. Each lane of the roadway requires the imbedded coils to detect vehicles. Video detection replaces the wire coils. By using video, detection zones can be created electronically. One camera can replace the wire coils in all lanes of one approach to the intersection.

The second application of video is for monitoring traffic and managing traffic congestion. Using pan tilt and zoom cameras Traffic Engineering can monitor traffic flow at various intersections. The advantage in being able to see what traffic is doing provides the opportunity to react to an incident quickly to help alleviate rising traffic congestion caused by the incident. The cameras are also used to verify timing programs.

The cameras that are currently in use are for monitoring intersection traffic and for vehicle detection. None of the cameras are used for red light or speed enforcement.

They are used solely for the efficient movement of traffic and monitoring of incidents.