Surveillance technology is crucial in today’s world, and it is vital not just for ensuring security but also in ensuring general compliance, reduction of crime, proof of evidence in cases that involve the judicial system, etc. However, the most important need for surveillance is that it’s the best non-invasive deterrent there is. A simple CCTV camera installation, or even a sign that says that this building or structure is under CCTV surveillance, makes it more effective than posting a security guard.
The need for surveillance is much more imperative in tunnels. While they are crucial to ensure smooth transportation, they are also places that are heavily accident-prone. Barring the obvious causes that they are dark, often poorly lit, and at times lacking in proper speed control areas, it’s the change in driver attitude that is the major contributor to accidents. According to a study, the attitude of a driver changes as they approach a tunnel: they drive away from the corners and approach the central lanes, they are prone to speed unnecessarily and pay less attention to the lanes. Surveillance at its bare minimum ensures that drivers pay more attention.
Advantages That Surveillance Provides in Tunnel Transport
Situational Awareness: Tunnels are vast places. There are too many risk zones, and too many blind spots, for manual inspectors to cover. Surveillance tech can solve this problem with ease. Using a centralized network of surveillance monitoring systems, the entire tunnel can be covered in a more effective manner. For example, Panoramic Cameras such as 360-degree cameras, provide situational awareness inside tunnels which wasn’t possible with standard PTZ cameras.
Traffic Issues: Casualties caused inside tunnels are often severe in nature. Tunnels being enclosed spaces, a minor fender bender can ripple into a huge pile-up. Proper surveillance and warning systems can ensure and alert drivers ahead of time.
Accident Investigation: It has been established that tunnels are accident-prone, and the accidents that occur are severe in nature. But one also needs to be aware that investigating the cause of a tunnel accident is very different from normal road accidents. A proper eagle eye view and wide-angle view can be crucial to identify the cause and ensure that future accidents do not occur. Traditional PTZ zoom cameras don’t provide efficient retrospective tracking like 360-degree cameras. So, it is imperative that the surveillance cameras are therefore widely installed in tunnels for traffic condition monitoring and safety maintenance.
Monitoring Every Corner of the Tunnel: Integrated CCTV systems are effective where tunnel management is concerned. However, there are two major problems that need to be tackled to ensure complete surveillance. Lighting conditions are poor and there is a lot of interference with high light beams of vehicles. These conditions can be easily managed by employing the latest cameras that deploy advanced light management and HDR technologies.
More Comprehensive Monitoring: CCTV systems go beyond just monitoring and inference. They are also proactive tools. By using Automatic Incident Detection System (to detect smoke, fire, accidents, traffic jams, etc.), the flow of the immense number of cars is analyzed on a 24/7 basis. The built-in video analytics of selected cameras supports operators in identifying accidents in live time. This enables rescue teams to be dispatched quickly and guided accurately.
Continuous & Clear Monitoring in High Speeds: Most tunnels support speeds up to 80 Km/ hrs. Tracking objects that move at high speeds can be difficult without the right tools. But by employing a high-performance 50+ fps camera can guarantee smooth and detail-rich video. With such high frame rates, advanced compression technologies that work not only on movement but also on colour compression become key in guaranteeing that high quality video is transmitted and stored with minimal bandwidth and storage requirements.
The Added Benefits of Working with Security Companies: Every surveillance method has its flaws. When any system is reliant on a network or internet to function, there is a chance that it can be hacked. More importantly, tunnels are targeted by terrorists more often because of the strategic opportunity that they provide.Installing NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act- USA) compliant cameras with advanced security features like HTTPS, 802.1X, brute force protection, EAP-MD5, and EAP-PEAP can ensure secured configuration, secured production, and secured process against cyberattacks, or any other form of a terrorist attack.
Tunnels are necessary, and the reliable connectivity that they provide ensures quick transportation. Their benefits are too many that they outweigh the fact that accidents are prone to occur. This is why surveillance is mandatory for tunnel transport, since ithelps guaranteeing safety at all times for all travellers.
