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Smart traffic management to save billions of man-hours

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 29 Jun 2016
Juniper says traffic congestion reduces businesses' competitiveness, and contributes to the brain-drain.
Juniper says traffic congestion reduces businesses' competitiveness, and contributes to the brain-drain.

Smart traffic management and smart parking initiatives will save around 4.2 billion man-hours annually by 2021 - which is the equivalent of each city driver saving nearly an entire working day per year.

This is according to a new report from Juniper Research, which found traffic easing measures are at the forefront of many smart cities' efforts. Key to considerations is the establishment of viable public transport networks to replace private vehicle use.

Increasing urban populations are creating pressure on city resources, driving the need for new and efficient solutions. Juniper found that while the 'smart city' remains a relatively young concept, many cities are beginning to recognise the need to improve in terms of competitiveness and quality of life.

Meanwhile, other measures, such as the two million smart parking spaces Juniper anticipates to be installed globally by 2021, will serve to improve private and commercial traffic flow.

"Facilitating the movement of citizens within urban agglomerations via transport networks is fundamental to a city's economic growth," noted research author Steffen Sorrell.

"Congestion reduces businesses' competitiveness, and contributes to so-called brain-drain," adds Sorrell.

Smart street lighting

Additionally, the research found the smart street lighting market, consisting of micro-controlled LED units and sensors, is expected to surge over the next five years, with over half of installed LED fixtures being networked globally by 2021.

Juniper says the potential for smart street lighting is not limited to reducing the city's energy bill. Additional sensors installed on fixtures enable new services for revenue generation, such as municipal WiFi and even retail marketing opportunities.

The combined factors of falling LED costs and emergence of hardware standards for fixtures are expected to contribute to driving the market forward.

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