Messrs. Wagner and Zuchora, Vision Zero is the core of your cooperation with ROADPOL and a common goal for both entities. How is it incorporated and how important it is within the mission of VITRONIC?
МZ: Vision Zero, the concept of eliminating road fatalities and severe injuries, is central to VITRONIC’s mission and is woven into our technological innovation and operational objectives. The company aligns its solutions to support this goal by focusing on systems that enhance road safety, such as speed enforcement, red-light monitoring, and vehicle identification technologies. VITRONIC goes beyond providing technology by actively engaging in community-focused actions to promote road safety. For example, the company supports social initiatives to educate children in preschools on safe traffic behavior, ensuring that the youngest road users learn about safety from an early age. VITRONIC also supports a variety of other road safety initiatives, including public awareness campaigns and events, contributing to a broader culture of road safety awareness. It ensures that our approach to road safety is systemic, and not solely enforcement-oriented. Additionally, we engage ourselves in environmental actions such as tree-planting initiatives, showing its commitment not only to safety but also to sustainability, which reflects the company’s holistic approach to community and environmental well-being. These efforts underscore VITRONIC’s commitment to safety as a foundational priority from a modern society, aiming to make roadways safer through advanced, precise, and reliable technology.
How can police and private companies streamline their cooperation in fighting for enhanced road safety?
MZ: Streamlining cooperation between police and private companies can be achieved by establishing standardized communication channels, data-sharing frameworks, and joint training programs. By setting up centralized data systems and shared platforms for analytics, law enforcement and companies like VITRONIC can efficiently monitor, analyze, and act on traffic data. Clear guidelines and mutual support in hardware and software use can also ensure quicker response times and better alignment in enforcement actions. At the end of the day it means an optimal usage of the resources, which are always limited.
What are the challenges hindering or slowing down such cooperation?
MZ: Key challenges include differences in data privacy regulations, inconsistent technological standards, and budgetary constraints. Additionally, one of the obstacles in cooperation is that police departments sometimes struggle to clearly define and articulate their technological needs, making it challenging for companies like VITRONIC to tailor an effective solution to those needs. Procurement processes can also pose difficulties, as public tenders often prioritize the lowest cost, which can result in police departments acquiring lower-quality equipment that may not be the most effective for their enforcement needs. These factors—regulatory, financial, and procedural—together can slow down the integration of high-quality technology that would ultimately benefit road safety efforts.
What are the ways VITRONIC can contribute in speeding detection?
BW: VITRONIC provides a range of speed enforcement solutions, such as stationary and mobile laser-based systems (LIDAR), which offer high precision in detecting and recording speeding incidents, especially visible in heavy traffic. These technologies are superior comparing to traditional radar-based systems and are designed for adaptability, allowing them to be used in different environments (urban, highway, rural) and conditions (night, adverse weather). VITRONIC’s speed detection technologies help law enforcement quickly identify and respond to violations, thus enhancing road safety.
What about distance?
BW: VITRONIC’s technology also includes distance measurement systems, which detect violations related to unsafe driving distances between vehicles. These systems help monitor and enforce safe following distances, especially on high-speed roads where tailgating can be a major cause of accidents. By reducing unsafe distance violations, these systems contribute to minimizing accident risks and enhancing overall traffic flow safety. However, here again any manufacturer must face some formal and legal obstacles, since legal and procedural regulations differ significantly between the countries in that matter.
Red light violation detection is among your endeavors. How far have you gone?
BW: For red-light enforcement, VITRONIC offers systems that use high-resolution imaging to capture violations, including plate recognition and recording time, location, and speed information (if required). System allows both wired and wireless- image-based, recognition of traffic light phase, without the necessity of physical connection to the traffic light controller in case of the latter. This technology is highly accurate and automated, reducing the burden on law enforcement while providing clear evidence of infractions. Additionally, due to advanced automatization and several different scenarios covered and implemented (e.g. turning at green arrow) the system helps to streamline the penalty process and reduces the need for police officers to manually issue tickets or stop drivers who run red lights, cutting down on paperwork and administrative tasks. The system automatically records each offense and transmits the necessary information to the central database, ensuring that infringements are documented accurately and efficiently. Red-light enforcement solutions from VITRONIC directly contribute to reducing intersection accidents, which are common and often severe, while creating a more efficient and reliable enforcement process.
Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is a must nowadays, but police forces in Europe still have a long way to go in order for it to be broadly available. How can you help?
MZ: ANPRis an area where VITRONIC excels, providing systems that can automatically identify and log license plates with high accuracy. In addition to ANPR, VITRONIC offers cutting-edge AI-based technology capable of e.g. detecting unfastened seat belts or mobile phone use by drivers, both of which are significant risk factors for accidents. These additional features enhance the effectiveness of traffic enforcement, helping to reduce not only speed violations but also unsafe driving behaviors that contribute to road accidents. This makes the whole enforcement framework far more comprehensive. ANPR data, along with information on these violations, supports traffic management, law enforcement efforts, and intelligence-driven policing, enhancing overall road security and efficiency.
What new projects and technologies might we expect from VITRONIC in the sphere of road safety?
BW: VITRONIC is likely to further advance in areas such as AI-powered analytics, predictive policing tools, and integrated multi-functional enforcement platforms that can perform speed, distance, and red-light checks simultaneously. Additionally, VITRONIC may expand its offerings in autonomous vehicle monitoring and compliance technologies, supporting the evolving landscape of smart, automated roadways. All of this with the possibility of providing an end-to-end solution incl. both hardware components and efficient software solutions.
Through events like those held in Italy, VITRONIC has the opportunity to gain deeper insight into the needs of police units, which allows the company to refine its solutions and development roadmap to meet specific requirements in the future. We would like to express gratitude to the ROADPOL Association for the invitation and emphasizes the importance of such meetings. These interactions are crucial for fostering mutual understanding and creating tailored solutions that align with the complex needs of modern road safety efforts.
What would be your message to police and law enforcement officials and decision-makers about the way they interact with the private sector? What can be improved?
MZ: The private sector, with its expertise and technology, is a vital partner in achieving road safety goals. For more effective collaboration, it’s essential to foster a transparent, cooperative relationship that promotes shared goals, particularly in data handling and privacy. By investing in technology partnerships and creating open forums for ongoing dialogue, law enforcement can leverage the innovative potential of private companies while ensuring solutions meet public safety requirements. Clear regulatory frameworks, joint performance metrics, and regular communication would improve cooperation, making enforcement efforts more responsive, timely, and comprehensive.