This innovative road safety project will protect citizens and the environment
for a smarter, greener, and more interconnected metropolitan area
Città Metropolitana di Milano is launching the “Milano Metropolitana Safety Project”, a multi-annual action plan entrusted to the concession holder (the temporary grouping of companies Safety21 SpA / Municipia SpA) following a European call for tenders. Safety21 is an outstanding service provider specialized in technological services and advanced platforms to improve road safety standards, whilst Municipia (Engineering group) is a national-level leading company for digital processes in the local public sector. It is one of the largest EU Smart Cities integrated projects aimed at reducing accidents and protecting pedestrians and cyclists.
One of the main purposes of the measures laid down in the “Milano Metropolitana Safety Project” is protecting the territory and the environment, as well as fighting against waste dumping, occurring frequently in rest areas along the highways. To reach these objectives, a number of modern tools, smart apps and IoT apps for road monitoring are being implemented. The plan consists of installing, in specific sectors, state-of-the-art video monitoring systems of rest areas. Specifically, these are 24/7 motion-activated cameras with an “intelligent scene analysis” system. These motion-activated cameras are able to detect any unusual activities in rest areas as well as register any violations (such as illegal waste dumping); in addition, the cameras will automatically alert the local Police and provide the relevant surveillance footage. The Project will lead to the installation of up to hundred video surveillance systems along the road network controlled by Città Metropolitana di Milano.
Consistently with an effort to protect the environment, the Project has also foreseen to install traffic monitoring systems – up to 60 systems – which will provide useful data and information to process analysis and schedule interventions aimed at improving traffic, reducing traffic congestion and improving air quality.
“The data provided by Istat and PoliS Lombardia – said Arianna Censi, Deputy Mayor of Città Metropolitana di Milano – have confirmed the key role played by road safety, as well as the need to plan and implement far-ranging measures. These measures cannot be limited to sanctioning schemes but need to take advantage of technological developments applied to road infrastructure, thus prioritizing prevention and protecting citizens and their territory”.
We are very proud to contribute to the implementation of this important project” – said Gianluca Longo, the CEO of Safety21 – “Our company has always been committed to technological research, thus contributing effectively to realizing infrastructures that are increasingly safe, monitored, interconnected and green. We consider that, in the key sector of road safety, the intervention of private companies, in close cooperation with the public administration can really make a difference, as was the case of the “Milano Metropolitana Safety Project”. This is a structured, state-of-the-art plan that will hopefully be a model for future interventions in other areas”.
Another aim of the “Milano Metropolitana Safety Project”, in compliance with EU legislation, is implementing advanced technological measures and solutions able to avoid and reduce the number of accidents – and therefore, fatalities and injuries – and to improve safety conditions, especially for pedestrians, the most vulnerable road users.
In 2019, road accidents in Italy amounted to 172,183, causing 241,384 injuries and 3,173 fatalities.
Lombardy alone saw 32,560 accidents that injured 44,400 people and killed 438. The Milan metropolitan area alone saw 13,607 accidents, 18,097 injuries and 106 fatalities.
With respect to pedestrians, 96 were killed in Lombardy, that is, approximately 22% of the total, and 3,886 were injured. In the Città Metropolitana di Milano area, last year, 2,018 accidents involved pedestrians.
In this context, the road network controlled by Città Metropolitana di Milano, as part of the planned programme, will undergo a series of preventive actions, some of which have already been implemented. Among them, the installation – in the areas identified – of a state-of-the-art control system for pedestrian crossing areas. The system consists of 4 high-intensity LED flashing lights installed next to pedestrian crossings and two more external devices, automatically activated upon detecting pedestrians, which alert passing vehicles. This solves the problem of poor visibility (daytime and nighttime). The system is equipped with a 360 degrees recording camera, in a round-the-clock certified cloud, registering everything going on in and around the crossing area, thus ensuring adequate surveillance of the area and access to recordings should an accident occur (only and exclusively by the local Police). The project involves the installation of 90 devices in total; within the end of the year, there will be 3, 2 of which have already been installed.
Placing some of the most innovative speed control devices will contribute to the action plan and increase road safety standards. These devices detect speeding violations, check that maximum speed limits are respected and can capture images and useful information in real time, thus recording the infringement unequivocally.
With a smart-oriented aim to optimize processes, all technological devices deployed by the Project are managed in a simple and effective way by Città Metropolitana di Milano, through a unique, state-of-the-art technology platform integrating all IoT control devices of the territory: Titan.
“The synergy between the public and the private sector is increasingly important in order to offer citizens safe cities to meet their expectations” – said Stefano De Capitani, Chairman of Municipia – Taking action on the road safety issue, also considering its social implications for the community, means that the authority will have to invest in the protection of citizens. Therefore, it is crucial to have an effective control system that will offer more resources to the territory, thanks to new technologies. It is also necessary to consider that a part of the revenues shall be allocated to road maintenance and to increase the number of tools and verification activities. This is a virtuous circle placing people at the centre of our concerns”.
All values behind the Milano Metropolitana Safety Project will also be explored in a number of training and awareness programs aimed at improving safe driving practices, specifically targeting new generations, with a series of educational classes for school-aged children and young people. Organized in collaboration with exceptional partners such as Ducati and the ASAPS Foundation, these events will involve 156 schools based in the area and well over 110,000 students.
The entire project is also reinforced by a widespread “online” communication campaign on local information web portals and social media, aimed at raising awareness for all road users towards a more responsible and greater risk-conscious attitude. In order to guarantee equal access to information and updates on the developments of this safety plan to all, a website has been created that details every aspect of the project; it can be consulted at www.progettosicurezzamilanometropolitana.it