Safety at five major transport interchanges improved with Watchman ANPR systems

Passenger safety at five key public transport interfaces in South Yorkshire is being improved with the installation of a speed monitoring system from Watchman Traffic.

Following a number of accidents at bus interchanges around the country the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive has sought out a reliable way to reduce the speed of busses arriving and leaving its sites.
Now the latest camera technology, which automatically identifies operators and drivers of vehicles being driven dangerously, is to be introduced at Meadowhall, Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsely and Sheffield.


“With more than 30 different bus companies using our interchanges, and more than 50 million passenger journeys passing through each year, ensuring that vehicles are being driven safely is a major priority for us,” says Facilities Operations Manager Dave Forman.
In the past the solution has been to use hand-held speed guns to identify speeding drivers and to act as a deterrent.

However this random approach was both costly and only partially successful. “To really control the speed of busses it was clear that we needed a more effective solution. We have chosen a Watchman number-plate recognition and speed monitoring system that operates round the clock.”

The fact that the Watchman system is never ‘off’ and that it will automatically identify speeding drivers will deliver immediate safety improvements at our interchanges.
“All our bus operators have been consulted and drivers know about the new system,” explains Dave Forman. “Drivers exceeding the speed limit will be notified. Action will be taken against persistent offenders, or those recorded driving above the limit.”


The Watchman system was selected because it not only produces images of any vehicles being driven at more than the 10mph speed limit while entering or leaving the interchanges, on each image it also overlays data including the speed of the vehicle.

This feature will allow South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive to follow up incidents far more effectively.