Australian Initiatives and Responses to IVHS

Australia has a number of local conditions which are quite different to most other countries. It is a large continent with a modest population. An extensive road network is required which must be serviced from limited taxes. The result is a system where urban traffic is carried by arterial road systems and two lane roads provide the inter city links.

These road conditions resulted in serious problems over twenty years ago. This led to the development of “technology” solutions then, just as IVHS has lately emerged as a “technology” solution in the US. In Australia an ATMS was developed early and a new system for on line measurement of travel time has been produced and installed.

IVHS initiative in Australia has been led by Government. However a number of Australian companies are organising consortia to exploit the growth of IVHS technology.

The advent of IVHS is seen as an opportunity in Australia, to combine our present technology with newly emerging IVHS technologies in North America to our mutual benefit.