Road toll system records cash benefits
by Bob Rodgers

Around 85,000 vehicles per day pass through the busy 12-lane toll plaza at West-Link on the Irish M50 just west of Dublin. Toll operation managers NTR use CCTV to monitor the site and regulate all cash and automatic payment activity. Having recently installed a networked MultiScope recording system from GEUTEBRÜCK, Gareth Brown, NTR’s general manager reports, “We have derived huge efficiency gains from the decision to replace our video tape system with hard disk recording. Some are tangible financial savings such as the reduction in the size of our violation enforcement team; others improve the quality of our performance.”

NTR records every transaction through each of the lanes and their computer system time-stamps or bookmarks any non-standard transaction. Using the previous analogue tape system up to four violation enforcement operators were employed full time laboriously screening hours of videotape to locate these non-standard incidents and view the transactions. Backlogs were common. However, since the new Multiscope system came on stream towards the end of 2002, locating specific recorded incidents is fast and easy so discrepancy analysis is always up to date. Moreover this activity now only occupies two people on a part-time basis, saving NTR considerable time and money. 

The 16 channel MultiScope II which is connected to NTR’s LAN, has a 1.4Ttbyte (1400Gbytes) RAID 5 video database providing complete redundancy so there is no risk of losing recordings if a disk fails. The hard disks are housed in hot swap removable caddies and the system capacity can be expanded to 2.5Tbytes (2500Gbytes) by simply adding more disks. With no extensive videotape library to house or maintain, NTR have been able to make time and cost savings here too.

Thanks to the high quality of the video evidence provided by the MultiScope and the ease with which it can be extracted from the system, NTR is now in a much better position to investigate any incident or accident and to defend itself against any unjustified claims.

Compared with the previous analogue system, which recorded about 16 frames per second across 14 cameras, the digital system provides much improved documentation with no visible loss of movement or activity. Searching the digital database by date and time, and copying the relevant footage to a CD is fast and efficient. So now it is a simple procedure to send vital evidence to insurers, police or solicitors, with the added advantage that they no longer need special equipment to view it.

Through their local area network managers can watch live or recorded pictures on their own PCs in the privacy of their own offices. They can review or investigate particular activities confidentially, without the need to base themselves in the video surveillance room. Calibrating and verifying the Eazy Pass automatic tolling system is more convenient too. Staff can select and watch a specific hour’s traffic and compare visual observations with the equivalent data from the automatic system without interrupting recording.

Before committing themselves NTR trialled three systems and chose GEUTEBRÜCK’s MultiScope II because its performance and wide range of operator features best matched their needs. After six months in operation it has already proved its worth by providing significant resource savings and valuable legal evidence. As Brown reflects, “Successfully defending a couple of claims for damage and injury because of the picture clarity and detail has probably paid for the system.”