For millions of Nairobi motorists, a broken-down vehicle, an illegal turn or a poorly timed traffic light can be enough to turn a 30-minute commute into an hour or two.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The problem is expected to become more difficult as Nairobi's population is projected to surpass seven million by 2035, putting further pressure on the city's roads and transport infrastructure.

But a tour of traffic management systems in Beijing and other Chinese cities offers a glimpse of how technology could change the way police detect and respond to traffic incidents.

Instead of waiting for traffic officers or motorists to report a problem, cameras, road sensors, radar and artificial intelligence can identify incidents as they happen and send the information to a central control centre.

📌 What You Need to Know

One example is China's Smart Cities Operations Management system, which gives police, emergency teams and city managers a real-time view of activity across the city.

The system relies on cameras and number plates that have a QR code, which cameras detect to associate a car with an owner.

For traffic managers, the technology can identify incidents such as stalled vehicles, accidents, and other obstructions before they develop into major traffic jams.

In an exclusive tour of Dahua Technology in Beijing, one of China's major surveillance and security technology companies, Kenyans.co.ke got a first-hand experience of the systems that combine cameras and radar to analyse events on roads and highways.

When a vehicle stalls on a busy road, the system can detect the incident and alert highway managers and emergency teams, allowing them to respond and clear the obstruction before congestion spreads.

The same technology can also detect violations such as illegal lane changes, motorists using dedicated lanes like BRT and emergency vehicle lanes, and other offences, providing authorities with information that can be used for enforcement.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke