GO MAUT - ENFORCEMENT

Transcription

1 GO MAUT - ENFORCEMENT THE ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM OF THE AUSTRIAN HEAVY GOODS VEHICLE TOLL Michael Bibaritsch Prime Consulting Services Erlafstrasse 3, A Vienna, Austria Phone: Fax: office@primeconsulting.at Christian Egeler Rapp Trans AG Hochstrasse 100, CH Basel, Switzerland Phone: Fax: christian.egeler@rapp.ch SUMMARY The Austrian "LKW-Maut" is a multi-lane, free flow open toll system for heavy goods vehicles and busses. It compromises the whole motorway network of Austria. A system of that kind and size has special requirements in respect to enforcement. While installation and operation of the electronic fee collection system was awarded to EUROPPASS, 100% - daughter of the Italian Motorway operator AUTOSTRADE s.p.a., the enforcement responsibility is shared between the operator and the motorway authority ASFiNAG. The enforcement system consists of automatic enforcement stations, portable & mobile enforcement units plus specially equipped check-points throughout the tolled motorway network. This paper (and the presentation) describes overall design of the enforcement system system architecture processes & rules for fraud detection differentiation between foreign & domestic vehicles automatic enforcement system stationary and portable units technologies used (vehicle detection, vehicle classification, overview and detail images, ALPR subsystems) first months of operation: performance results operation (presentation only) mobile enforcement units equipment and technologies used check-points installed equipment, processes 2004 Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 1 of 10

2 ESSENTIALS OF THE AUSTRIAN EFC SYSTEM For the essentials of the Austrian EFC system please check the technical paper "2662 The Austrian Truck Tolling System - System Design". The system design of the Austrian Heavy Vehicles Toll allows mainly following frauds: Using motorway without on-board unit (OBU) Using motorway with invalid OBU Using motorway with too low on-board account (pre-pay) Declaration of wrong number of axles Exempted vehicles (permanent: police, fire brigade, military vehicles, and temporarily: relief transports) have also to be respected in the design of the automatic enforcement system. OVERVIEW OF AUSTRIAN ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM The Austrian enforcement system consists of 100 automatic enforcement stations (SKE), 32 mobile units (MKE) and 12 check-points (VKPL). There are also 20 portable enforcement stations (PKE) which can be installed at 738 fee collection gantries (MAS); upgrading them to another automatic enforcement stations (with lane restriction). Additionally 45 mobile terminals (MOZ) allow online-requests at the central system. All mobile enforcement units (MKE) also have one test instrument (OFP) which allows to check the correct function of the on-board unit. All these components are connected to the beacon and enforcement center (BKZ). While MKE, VKPL, MOZ mainly receive information (e.g. list of fraud vehicles, results on single vehicle requests), SKE and PKE deliver data of possible fraud vehicles to the BKZ. Manual verification within the BKZ identifies real fraud vehicles by correcting or confirming the automatically measured data at 44 terminals. First step in this post process is the confirmation of the determined license plate of the vehicle. The liability of the vehicle is verified manually. Exemptions will either be identified by visual identification or by the number plate. In some cases the no. of axles will be visually confirmed. As these tasks are mass processing tasks executed by low educated persons, a verification of identified violators is the final step and executed by supervisors. They also treat special cases. Confirmed datasets of fraud vehicles will be stored and reported as incident to the central system. The central system combines - if existing - several incidents of the same vehicle to one offence respecting some rules Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 2 of 10

3 Fig. 1: Establishing offences from incidents After waiting a hold period of (currently) 17 hours to collect data of stations probably being off line, the incidents are grouped into offences by applying 5 hour intervals (see fig. 1 above). If a vehicle is stopped by the mobile enforcement units (MKE), offences can be established upon request as well, applying the rule described above. Those offences remain independently from the hold period, but can also be cancelled if required. For each offence a settlement will be issued (either from the mobile enforcement staff or centrally by the system). In case a settlement is not accepted by the violator, the vehicle can be seized until payment is received (mainly thought for foreign offenders) or a formal prosecution will be started from the locally responsible Austrian authorities, getting the required data electronically. Currently there are two types of settlements: EUR 110,- for wrong-payers and EUR 220,- for non-payers. In a prosecution process the violator risks fines between EUR 400,- and EUR 4.000,- per offence according to the law established for the EFC system. While the initial assumption was 5% violating vehicles and some 5% system failures (classification errors, ALPR results) related to the no. of passages in the entire EFC system, leading to some incidents to be manually verified in the Enforcement Center, the actual figure of infringements is as low as some 3 %. The total figure of system errors is as planned, however there are shifts between categories. ENFORCEMENT OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN VEHICLES An offence of a domestic vehicle will be enforced automatically. Via the national vehicle registry the address of the owner is determined and the settlement is issued by mail. If the violator is not accepting or not paying the settlement the prosecution process is started without physical presence of the vehicle Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 3 of 10

4 For foreign vehicles it is not possible to determine the owner's address for Austrian Authorities and/or the system operator. Therefore the vehicle has to be stopped within the borders of Austria. All foreign vehicles with established offences and open incidents (an offence has not yet been established) are listed on a list which is issued to all mobile enforcement units (MKE/MOZ) and check-points (VKPL) - updated every 15 minutes. See also section Mobile Enforcement for details of enforcement of foreign vehicles AUTOMATIC ENFORCEMENT STATION Automatic enforcement stations have been installed at 100 locations all over Austria. They have been placed strategically: On the one hand they are spread over the whole country, on the other hand the density is increased according to heavy goods vehicles traffic volume. There are two types of automatic enforcement stations. As a station with normal layout does not work properly under stop and go conditions, stations at locations with traffic problems are equipped with slightly different technology. Even different in technology there are no differences in process functions. Both types as well as the additional 20 portable stations with reduced functionality deliver incidents (passage data including a front and overview picture) to the central system. Standard layout (SKE) Laserscanner Laser scan plane Camera ALPR Registration line Lane 2 OBU Lane 1 Communication zone DSRC- Beacon Emergency Lane Overview Camera G1 G2 Fig. 2: physical layout of a standard enforcement station The figure above shows the standard layout. On the first gantry (G1) it indicates the laser scanners for vehicle detection and classification and the DSRC antennas for communication with the vehicle s OBU, while on the second gantry (G2) the overview camera and the ALPR cameras are shown. An approaching vehicle enters the DSRC communication zone. It crosses the beams of the laser scanners on G2 and the lateral vehicle position on the road is determined. When passing the registration line the overview image is taken, proving the passage and - according to the lateral vehicle position - the corresponding ALPR camera is triggered, capturing the number 2004 Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 4 of 10

5 plate front. Upon leaving the scanner beams, the vehicle category is determined from the vehicle dimensions (width, length, height as well as e.g. the gap between the pulling vehicle and the trailer etc.). Besides the images taken, the front camera s ALPR systems deliver the number plate string extracted from the image to the controller. The controller compiles the data derived from the DSRC, the scanner and the camera subsystem to one incident. Incidents showing obviously no fraud at all, are deleted automatically. For the other cases - hence containing data related to potential violators - a signature is generated, the data is encrypted and stored in a database. More or less on-line the enforcement data is transferred to the enforcement center in Vienna for manual verification. Stop & Go layout (SKEs+g) At sections with frequent stop and go traffic conditions - like urban highways - the classification and camera system is different. Registration zone DSRCbeacons VR- Cameras Vehicle classification (VDC-Camera) OBU Recognition and tracking zone Communication zone Fig. 3: physical layout of a stop&go enforcement station The classification and tracking of vehicles is done by VDC cameras, each consisting of stereoscopic cameras allowing to compute a three dimensional picture of the situation. When reaching the registration zone a VR camera is triggered to take a picture of the front number plate. The overview picture is taken from the VDC cameras. All equipment is mounted on a single gantry Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 5 of 10

6 Portable layout (PKE) The portable enforcement station (PKE) can be installed at any fee collection gantry completing the automatic enforcement. It allows to check all vehicles on the first lane. Classification area and registration line OBU DSRC Beacon Communication zone Laserscanner LPR- Camera Fig. 4: physical layout of a portable enforcement station A vertically mounted laser scanner detects, classifies the passing vehicles on the first lane and triggers the ALPR camera. No overview image is taken as the front picture is taken from the side and shows the complete vehicle. Laser scanner and ALPR camera are attached to the existing controller of the DSRC beacons manually. MOBILE ENFORCEMENT UNITS To detect fraud and to catch vehicles with verified offences a fleet of 32 vehicles of the authority are equipped with mobile enforcement units. Checking OBUdeclaration data Mobile checking Manual Input Axles 4 License pl. ST XY Nationality: Registration 3 ST XY OBU- Ticket Wrong no. of axles Check Fig. 5: symbolic figure of mobile enforcement 2004 Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 6 of 10

7 When passing heavy goods vehicles the officer in the inspection vehicle can communicate with the OBU of the lorry and access the central database. A flexible keyboard with integrated display is installed at the front passenger seat for that purpose. Leuchtbalken mit integrierter Bake Ethernet Drucker KomBoard Laptop GSM/GPRS Modem DSRC-Modem Fig. 6: layout of installations in mobile enforcement vehicle Fig. 7: Mobile enforcement car Eventual discrepancies between the real situation (no. of axles) and the declared vehicle class will be displayed. It is also shown if the vehicle or the OBU is registered on any of the enforcement lists (offences, incidents, black list) Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 7 of 10

8 A DSRC antenna is mounted on the roof of the inspection vehicle. A lap-top is installed in the office like passenger room. A GPRS modem mounted on the windshield communicates with the enforcement center to exchange information about the checked vehicle. At every fee collection gantry the checking vehicle receives a list of violators present (passage in the last 5 minutes) in the section in front of the vehicle. When a violator is detected the officers are in power to stop the lorry at the next possible spot. When stopped the officer can issue settlements to the violator on the spot. The violator can either accept the settlements or will be reported to the authority - paying a security deposit. The equipment in the vehicle allows registration and printing of settlements or reports as well as paying by cash or card. The Mobile Terminals offer the same functionalities as the Mobile Enforcement Unit (except DSRC). All Mobile Enforcement Units and all bodies equipped with the Mobile Terminals are also equipped with OBU test instruments (OFP). Fig. 8: Mobile terminal ( Handheld version ) 2004 Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 8 of 10

9 Fig. 9: OBU test instrument, partly dismantled CHECK-POINTS Selected check-points will be in operation temporarily from time to time. All heavy goods vehicles will be diverted to a checking area. At the entrance they pass a checking gantry. reading out the OBU by DSRC and the license plate by ALPR. A list of violators received by the enforcement center is checked against. By a signal unit the current declaration and the result of the violator check is displayed to a officer and therefore serves as a pre-selection unit. Violators will be diverted to a parking lot where a detailed check on the vehicle will be executed by officers of the authority. Non-violators can pass the check-point with no stop, only reduced speed is necessary. The detailed check at the parking lot is executed by Mobile Enforcement Units Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 9 of 10

10 Communication zone Beacon Lasertrigger Signalisation Camera Fig. 10: layout of installations at check-point Fig. 11: signal unit ABOUT THE AUTHORS Michael Bibaritsch is project management and RTTT-systems senior consultant, operating his independent consultancy company PRIME CONSULTING SERVICES, dedicated for project management and RTTT projects. In the latter field the services range from system design & specification, tendering & contracting to implementation, test, startup and optimization. Within EUROPPASS - a company of AUTOSTRADE, erecting and operating the Austrian truck tolling system - he was responsible for the overall business process design and was managing the department "Mauttechnik" (EFC system). He still is responsible for e2e system optimization as part of the operational management team. Christian Egeler, consultant from RAPP TRANS for EUROPPASS, was responsible for system design, evaluation, realization and performance tests of the enforcement system outlined in this document within the Austrian "LKW Maut" project. Besides other EFC projects Michael & Christian were (and are) responsible for the design and realization of the Swiss LSVA enforcement system as consultants to the Swiss system operator OZD Prime Consulting Services, Vienna & RAPP Trans AG, Basle TS30 paper #2766 final - page 10 of 10