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The annual societal cost of traffic crashes is $299.5 billion, more than three times the $97.7 billion cost of congestion, according to a report released by the American Automobile Association (AAA). Its "Crashes vs. Congestion – What's the Cost to Society?" report highlights the overwhelming and far-reaching economic impacts traffic safety crashes have on the nation and encourages policymakers at all levels of government to ensure safety is a top priority.

The UK's National Audit Office (NAO) has criticised the Department for Transport's (DfT) budget cuts on the grounds that they will increase costs for users. A new report from the NAO suggests that the DfT has no long term strategy and that the cuts lack strategic understanding.

TÜV Rheinland's ITS group is now part of the quality control team for the US Department of Transportation's (US DoT) Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot project, a programme to test reliability and safety of innovative technologies that allow vehicles to communicate with each other and traffic lights, work zones and other infrastructure elements to help prevent crashes

The Government Thailand is giving its approval for the budget to carry out rebuilding work in the country following the recent flooding. Some US$418.4 million has been approved for the rebuilding work, which will be carried out on basic infrastructure wrecked by the flooding.

China is helping provide funding for Nepal's road expansion. The Chinese Government has agreed a deal with the Nepalese Government to expand the Kathmandu Valley ring road. The feasibility study for the project has been completed and design work is currently underway.

Following the long-awaited release of Dainese’s D-air Racing suit earlier this year, the Italian brand says it is now ready to release the road-going version of the system, D-air Street, which is set to go on sale in the Spring of 2012. Specifically designed for use on public roads; the system is composed of the Motorcycle Kit (MKit) and either an outer waistcoat or jacket, to host the airbags. The MKit, fitted to the user’s motorcycle is the brain of the system. It features a pair of accelerometers - one u

European Hitachi Construction Machinery dealer Moviter is expanding into Africa. The Portuguese company is venturing into Angola and other countries on the continent with historical and linguistic links to its native land.

A new report highlights concern over bridge condition on Germany’s road network. Maintenance spending will have to be boosted considerably in the 2012-2016 period for the country’s road (and rail) bridges to be brought back up to the level required. Germany will have to spend some €2.75 billion on maintenance and repair of bridges around the country to ensure that condition is optimal. The survey was carried out by Joachim Naumann for the German industry association BDI and other groups and this revealed ho

Rebuilding work on Moscow’s Warshavsoye Shosse highway is due to commence shortly. The work looks set to be carried out by the ARKS Group, although final details of the contract have yet to be agreed. The work is expected to cost in the order of US$381 million to carry out. Work will include building a section of elevated road, a tunnel, seven pedestrian underpasses, and a two-level interchange. The project is due for completion by 2013.

Unnecessary government bureaucracy will be tackled and costs for local councils reduced following the biggest review into Britain's traffic signing system for 40 years, which was announced by transport minister Norman Baker. The government hopes that the review will dramatically reduce the number of signs councils need to use by relaxing rules, such as by removing the requirement for some signs, including those to indicate the start of a pedestrian zone, to be placed on both sides of the road. The new measu

Qumak-Sekom, the Polish IT integrator, has made the lowest bid (US$39.57 million) in a tender to build an integrated traffic management system for Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot (the so-called TriCity).

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has published its first Quadrennial Technology Review, which identifies six key strategies to address current energy challenges. Crucially the review indicates that among the transport strategies, the greatest effort will be devoted to electrification of light-duty vehicles. While in the fiscal year 2011 only 9% of DOE’s research budget went to electric vehicles, this field will be given greater support in the coming years with the view of reducing US oil dependency in the

Technical investigations have highlighted structural issues with a bridge on a key bridge link on a highway in Quebec, Canada. The bridge on the 20 East highway close to the Pierre-Laporte exit in Lévis requires repair work. The bridge was built in 1965 and will be completely rebuilt so that a third lane can be added to the 20 East highway as far as the Président-Kennedy exit in Lévis. A contract has been awarded to Cima+-Dessau for the work, which is expected to commence in 2013.

In a new project that began last month, Europe is taking a significant step to scientifically underpin the estimation of CO2 emissions. The project, Amitran, will develop a methodology to assess the impact of ICT (information and communication technologies) and ITS on CO2 emissions from the transport sector.

New guidance from the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will pave the way for the increased use of innovative technologies in the country's highway network. This follows a clarification of procurement guidance issued by the FHWA.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has announced that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDoT) and Fluor-Transurban have come to a non-binding, in-principle agreement on the major commercial terms to build the I-95 high occupancy vehicle/high occupancy toll (HOV/HOT) lanes project in Northern Virginia.

TransCore wins White Plains adaptive signal control system contract. The city of White Plains in New York is deploying a new SCATS-based adaptive traffic signal control system from TransCore that will collect real-time information and then adjust signal timing parameters on a cycle-by-cycle basis on one of the city's major arterials.

Last week, the Flemish press witnessed a demonstration in Lommel, Belgium, presenting how Traficon technology can collaborate with so-called smart vehicles. The demonstration was part of the Vision project of Flanders’ Drive, the research centre for the automotive industry, which collaborates with a consortium of companies to research and test vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. In the successful demonstration a Traficon C-Walk pedestrian detector was combined with a smart vehicle, which was equipped w

In Indonesia plans are well in hand for the development of the new Pekanbaru-Dumai toll road project. The 134km road will cost US$896 million to construct and will be carried out under the PPP model. Agreements have been sealed to start work on freeing the land needed for the project. The land compensation process is due for completion by December 2011.

According to a new report from Pike Research, ITS will see increased investment in coming years even as government budgets are tightening, because smart transport is seen as a way to maximise existing transportation systems without making major new capital investments.