NonStop

Weighing Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) on the road - Project NonStop Heavy goods vehicles on Norwegian roads shall be checked and weighed automatically - while moving on the road. Introduction Advanced sensors installed in the road surface, combined with number plate recognition systems, will enable the detection of incorrectly loaded trailers in a better way than what is the case today. This is the core objective of a joint Norwegian project involving researchers, the regulatory authorities and the road haulage industry. At present, the driver is responsible for ensuring that the HGV is correctly loaded in compliance with their vehicle technical specifications. But some organizations and/or drivers take chances and overload HGV and trailers, thus creating a need for inspections. If heavy goods vehicles and their trailers are incorrectly loaded, or the loads incorrectly distributed, they may cause traffic safety threats and damage road surfaces. Drawbacks and wasted time The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) has an overall responsibility for checking that vehicles meet the requirements set out in the Norwegian statutory regulations governing technical requirements for motor vehicles (kjøretøyforskriften), both in relation to roadworthiness and the loads they carry. Weight controls require that HGV must drive into an inspection station. Current practice has many drawbacks. Both roadworthy and overloaded vehicles have to be inspected at the stations. Since this is a random process, a driver can run the risk of being stopped for inspection several times a day. According to the Norwegian Hauliers' Association, this can happen up to 13 times a day! This is a waste of valuable time. The problem is that the inspection process is poorly targeted. Most vehicles stopped are correctly loaded, while many overloaded vehicles avoid the controls. Thus the risk of being enforced is low. The technology behind SINTEF has lead the NPRA-commissioned project called NonStop. Other partners involved are the Norwegian Hauliers' Association and the Oslo firm Ciber AS. The aim of the project, now completed, has been to make commercial road haulage more efficient by ensuring that only incorrectly loaded vehicles are stopped for inspection. The technology used involves a Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) sensor system which measures the weight of the vehicle using a special cable countersunk into the road surface. The sensor in the cable utilises so-called PIEZO technology. The cable generates an electrical voltage when subjected to pressure, and in this way can record the weight of a vehicle passing over it. The information is then sent to a computer. The sensor may differ between both wheel loads and axle loads. This technology is well established. However, it must be adapted and assembled to ensure optimal application and function. Getting the right vehicle The project employed automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to read vehicle number plates. The number plate was then searched for in public registers where specifications such as a vehicle's permitted load will be entered. Measured weight, data from public registers, the provisions of the statutory regulations governing technical requirements for motor vehicles (kjøretøyforskriften), and the day-to-day practical expertise of the NPRA inspectors was built into a decision support system. This system will help inspectors select candidates for checking. Demonstrator In June 2014 the NonStop Demonstrator took place at Sandmoen control station by the main road "E6" outside the city of Trondheim. Its main objective was to test the decision support system, and to collect data for the cost benefit analysis. Approximately 30.000 trucks passed on the E6 during a period of one month. 3.000 trucks where guided from the E6 to the control station for manual check during a period of eight days. 185 of these were selected for an extended control. Cost benefit analysis A Cost benefit analysis regarding saved time dependent operating costs were performed on the data collected in the demonstrator. The calculations shows a net benefit of 1,1. This means for each Norwegian krone invested in a system like NonStop, the society saves 1,1 Norwegian kroner in reduced time consumption. In the addition to the time dependent operating costs there will be other benefits that were not possible to calculate from data collected at the demonstrator, e.g. saved traffic accident costs due to less wrongly loaded HGVs.

Statens vegvesen har ansvaret for kontroll av tunge kjøretøy for å avdekke forhold som angår både trafikksikkerhet og forhold som påvirker konkurransesituasjonen i transportnæringen. Eksempler er kjøring med overvekt, brudd på kjøre-/hviletidsbestemmelsen e eller kjøring med matriell som ikke er i forskriftsmessig teknisk stand. Norges Lastebileier Forbund (NTL) mener at dagens kontroller er for få og for lite effektive og det er svært ønskelig sett fra NTL sin side at det etableres et system som plukker u t useriøse transportører. Fordi kontrollene er bygd opp rundt manuelt betjente kontrollstasjoner er sjansene for å bli kontrollert liten. Samtidig opplever transportører som driver nærdistribusjon innen bygg- og anleggsbransjen å bli stanset flere ganger i løpet av samme dag. Dette representerer både en tids- og miljøkostnad. Bruk av ITS-løsninger gjør det mulig å etablere nye tjenester som åpner for mer effektive og kostnadsbesparende kjøretøykontroller gjennom en selektiv utvelgelse av kjøretøy for ko ntroll, også kalt kontrollkandidater. Utvelgelse av en kontrollkandidat gjøres uten at kjøretøyet behøver å stanse, ved at det benyttes avansert sensorteknologi og aksess til registrert informasjon om kjøretøyet og tidligere kontroller. I tillegg skal No nStop identifisere og demonstrere et system for hvordan man rent praktisk dirigerer kjøretøy som skal kontrolleres. Dette kan gjøres med bruk av variable skilt, friteksttavler, manuell dirigering eller informasjon direkte til sjåfør. Det vil i realisering sarbeidet legges vekt på å bruke eksisterende utstyr som allerede er installert eller som finnes som hyllevare, men det skal fokuseres på åpne grensesnitt slik at man ikke blir låst til enkelte leverandører. Et selektivt målrettet kontrollsystem vil gi ø kt effektivitet for næringslivet, ved at transportører med "papirene i orden" slipper å bli kontrollert. Dette vil også gi mer like og rettferdige konkurransevilkår i transportnæringen.