What is ITS?
ITS stands for Intelligent Transportation Systems. ITS is a national program aimed at using modern computers and communications to make travel smarter, faster, safer and more convenient. Here are just a few of the ways national ITS helps us:
- Intelligent traffic control systems help us by reducing the time we spend stopped at red lights or waiting on freeways when an accident occurs.
- Automatic toll collection moves vehicles more quickly through toll booths, reducing congestion and pollution.
- Traveler information systems help us by giving us current, multi-modal information on travel conditions allowing us to make smarter choices about how, when and where to travel.
- In-vehicle systems will help us by giving us in-vehicle maps, guiding us to our destination and improving our safety by automatically notifying emergency services when a serious accident occurs and exactly where the accident is located.
- Advanced transit systems help transit agencies operate more efficiently and provide travelers with real time information that makes using transit easier and more attractive.
- Intelligent commercial vehicle systems will help commercial vehicle operators process the paperwork associated with moving goods. These systems will also help public agencies improve safety by inspecting the vehicles that need it the most.
ITS makes travel safer and less time-consuming, and makes it easier to chose the way you wish to travel. And business has a more efficient, less costly way of moving its products to the marketplace.
ITS has its own words for all these new and exciting ideas and products, and sometimes these words are hard to understand. But one thing is easy to understand: ITS helps us all.
