IMPROVEMENT OF TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT BASING ON THE EXISTING

SYSTEMS

CASE STUDY:

CCTV MONITORING CENTERS IN KMP

PREPARED BY:

ICT RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INOVATION UNIT

SEPTEMBER 2021
Affirmation
This research proposal entitled “improvement of traffic management basing on the
existing systems, a case study of Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) areas” has been
written and compiled by Research and Innovation unit, Kikandwa.

Signature……………………

Date…./……/……

ASP MUWANIKA NICHOLAS

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ABSTRACT
This proposal presents an approach for traffic management systems. The potential
research fields in which TMS emerges as an important application area are highlighted
while developing such a system for an urban area like Kampala metropolitan .A theory
is also proposed(graph theory) capable of managing traffic using systems like CCTV
cameras NECC,EPS and IVS.
The proposed theory will make the traffic signaling dynamic and automatic as well.
Besides this, it will generate dynamic messages for the users especially for those who
violate traffic laws, accident control and vehicle tracking.
In response to growing traffic congestion on roads, a lot of research is being done
ceaselessly to improve traffic conditions and new fields are explored to manage and
improve traffic.
This presents various approaches for traffic systems. Further a model is also suggested
for the real time traffic system based on the use of systems

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Affirmation ...................................................................................................................................... i

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................................ii

LIST OF ACRYNMS ........................................................................................................................v

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background of the research ................................................................................................. 1

1.2 Problem statement ................................................................................................................. 2

1.3 General objective ................................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Research questions ................................................................................................................ 3

1.4 Scope of the research............................................................................................................ 3

1.7 Significance of the research ................................................................................................. 3

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................... 4

2.1 Reviewing and understanding the Existing traffic management system ...................... 4

2.2 Challenges hindering the effectivity of the existing traffic management system ........ 5

2.3 Solutions for an Electronic Traffic Management System ................................................. 6

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY............................................................................... 9

3.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 9

3.1 Research design ..................................................................................................................... 9

3.2 Study population .................................................................................................................... 9

3.3 sample size ............................................................................................................................. 9

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3.4 Sampling Methods ................................................................................................................. 9

3.5 Data Collection methods ..................................................................................................... 10

3.6 Data collection instruments ................................................................................................ 10

Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 10

References ................................................................................................................................... 11

APPENDIX I: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RESPONDENTS............................................................ 12

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LIST OF ACRYNMS
ANPR……Automatic Number Plate Recognition.

FR………..Facial Recognition.

OD………..Origin Destination.

IVS…………Intelligent Video Surveillance.

EPS……………. The Express Penalty Scheme

KMP………Kampala Metropolitan.

NECC……..National Emergency Call Center.

OCR………. Optical Character Recognition

URA……….Uganda Revenue Authority.

GIS ………………Geographic Information Systems

GPS……………..Geographic Positioning System

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 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the research

The population of the cities in developing countries is growing at a whirlwind speed.
Industrialization and urbanization are making the crowd of these countries more city-
oriented gradually. Most of these cities were not planned to cope up with a high growth
rate of the population therefore, traffic congestion, violation of traffic regulations and
road accidents are common issues. The causes include human factors (behavior of
drivers), road infrastructure factors (poor road infrastructure), environmental factors
(bad weather providing bad viewing). These issues result into extra delays and stress
for the drivers, more fuel consumption leading to more pollution, emergency vehicles
taking longer etc.

In Uganda, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has the mandate to handle traffic
flow. KCCA has put up traffic lights to manage the traffic congestion in the Kampala
Metropolitan Area however the traffic lights are static giving same duration to over
populated and less congested lanes. KCCA has also changed the nature of the roads by
removing the round abouts and making them straight, extending the roads to double or
even quadual lanes. All these has not solved the traffic problem.

Uganda Police Force (UPF) as an enforcement agency handles mainly traffic violation
and road accidents. In a process of handling traffic violation, UPF introduced the
Express Penalty Scheme (EPS) to handle traffic offences like over speeding, over
loading, driving on wrong lane, and others requiring the offender to pay in the bank. In
addition, they help KCCA to manage traffic congestion especially at the peak hours.

Under the safe city project, UPF introduced Intelligent Traffic Management System
(ITMS) that uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera. This camera
captures number plates of vehicles/ motor cycles hence helping in tracking of them. An
independent unit was created by ICT that supports investigation through tracking and
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surveillance causing arrest/ impound of the motor vehicles/ motorcycle blacklisted on
the system. IVS camera were also installed as part of the same project targeting road
intersection, busy streets which can optimally be used to manage issues in relation to
traffic.

To effectively manage traffic, there is need to improve on the existing Intelligent Traffic
Management System by creating a centralized system that integrates EPS with the
current ANPR cameras capturing offences and the offender notified through an SMS on
their phones, developing algorithms that can recognize persons in the cars and
integrating it with NIRA and also national vehicle database for car details. Algorithms
can also be developed on the IVS to count the number of vehicles on the road and
devise the best route for the vehicles from a system-controlled point of view.

1.2 Problem statement

KCCA has done a lot to improve traffic flow in Uganda like installing traffic lights on the
road intersection, improving the nature of roads by removing round abouts, expanding
road and deploying traffic wardens to work with the Traffic police personnel to manage
traffic jam at the peak hours however it has registered little success.

Uganda Police is also in the process of integrating EPS and the ANPR camera so that
offences are captured by the cameras and the individuals notified. The challenge with
this is that, EPS is issuing the offence to the vehicle and not the driver creating a need
for an integration with NIRA, URA, ministry of works. The existing IVS cameras are
focusing on surveillance majorly but this can also be improved to add more
functionalities.

In order to minimize traffic issues in Uganda, there is need to improve on the existing
ITMS by supporting the integration of ANPR with EPS to ministry of works’ National
Vehicle Database, NIRA, Interpol for stolen vehicles from abroad and URA for those
defaulting taxes. The IVS camera can also be improved by developing algorithms that

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can count vehicle and determine the best route, recognize faces and vehicle plates then
integrating it to the ITMS.

1.3 General objective

To develop a centralized system for Electronic Traffic Management in UPF that focuses
on improving the existing ITMS using the existing UPF IVS and ANPR cameras and
support integration with major stake holders.

Specific Objectives

 To review and understand the exiting traffic management systems.

 To analyze challenges hindering the effectiveness of the existing traffic
management systems.
 To come up with solutions for an Electronic Traffic Management System.

1.3 Research questions

 What are the existing traffic management systems?
 What challenges are hindering the effectiveness of the existing traffic
management systems?
 What solutions can be devised to have an Electronic Traffic Management
System?

1.4 Scope of the research

The scope of this research will base on the existing UPF cameras deployed along
highways, road intersections and busy streets within the Kampala Metropolitan Area.

1.7 Significance of the research

The research will help the police to optimally use the UPF camera system in place.

The data got from deploying a fully operational traffic management system will help the
government in future road planning and analysis.

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 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Reviewing and understanding the Existing traffic management system

UPF under the safe city project created a unit to manage its Intelligent Traffic
Management System that uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera supporting
investigation through tracking and surveillance causing arrest/impound of all wanted
motor vehicles/ motor cycles. The category of vehicles blacklisted in the system include
stolen vehicles, those used to commit crime, those involved in hit and run, those that
interfere with the presidential convoy and any other traffic related offences. For any
vehicle to be blacklisted to the system, a case has to be reported to police and a case
reference number generated so as tracking can begin. The ITMS unit works with traffic
police, FFU and general duties especially at check points to intercept or impound given
motor vehicle.

According to (Chaithra B et al…) identified that in India’s existing system, the officials at
TMC Bengaluru, continuously monitor various traffic junctions through surveillance
cameras. If any individual is found to violate the traffic signal, then the official will zoom
in the live streaming video and enter the vehicle registration number manually. Later,
the violation notice is printed and posted to the violator’s address. But this method is
less efficient, because while the official is entering the number plate of the vehicle,
other vehicles can violate the traffic signal. And also, minimum of 15 days is required to
notify the violator. Hence, an upgradation is needed to the present system to overcome
these limitations leading to more scalable and reliable system.

A Feasibility Study for the Congested Cities of Developing Countries done in Bangladesh
2020 stated that with Automated Speed Enforcement Cameras (ASE) being used, a
photo radar technology is used to monitor and enforce posted speed limits. A digitally
controlled camera takes pictures of the vehicles and the license plate if the vehicle
exceeds the enforcement threshold- a set number of miles more than the posted speed
limit. It is the responsibility of the camera to record the speed, date, time as well. If the
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state requires driver liability, comprehensible photographs of the driver are also
essential. Then the system mails the citation to the owner of the vehicle, who may be
required to identify the offending driver or pay a fine.

Another technology used in managing the traffic is RFID-based intelligent system. Chao
and Chen (2014) presented a RFID-based intelligent TMS for determining traffic
movement. The proposed intelligent traffic light control system (ITLCS) uses an RFID
system, which complies with the IEEE 802.11p protocol for detecting the number of
vehicles and finding the time spent by vehicles on main roads and on side roads,
passing through the intersection throughout the period of a green light. They used Zig
Bee modules to send real time data like weather conditions and the vehicle registration
information to the regional control center. The proposed system could perform remote
transmission and reduce traffic accidents. However, despite a fair attempt, the scope of
using Zig Bee for data transfer was restricted because Zig Bee always displayed a very
low data transfer rate that could hamper accuracy.

2.2 Challenges hindering the effectivity of the existing traffic management

system
Currently UPF is in the process of integrating the EPS to its Intelligent Traffic
Management System however they are experiencing some challenges. For effective
performance of the system, there is need for an integration between our system with
the national vehicle database that will provide the right details for the car and the car
owner so that the penalty is sent to the right person. The challenge is that national
vehicle database has not been updated and they are still working on it so the
integration cannot be supported currently. There is no law that states that a vehicle
should be impounded because it has many offences, vehicles do not commit offences, it
is the drivers that commit offences. Also the stakeholders involved like NIRA are not
willing to give an API to UPF to pick information.

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Roopa Ravish, Shanta Ranga Swamy (2021) listed the following challenges of an
Intelligent Traffic Management; developing common standards for Integration of non-
homogeneous data sources; ensuring the safety of traffic management systems is hard
because transmission of such sensitive information could be intercepted by hackers; the
techniques for identification of traffic hazards have been studied though not efficient
enough; Policy formulations Parameters like traffic violations and accidents need to be
integrated with traffic managing systems so that policy makers can use such data while
framing traffic rules; Owing to the constant mobility of vehicles, the collected data
might often not be accurate, complete, or dependable.

2.3 Solutions for an Electronic Traffic Management System

John F. Gilmore and Khalid J. Elibiary, "AI In Advanced Traffic Management System" A
typical Traffic Management System controls the operation of Signal Indicators according
to decided logic. However, in this paper authors have discussed the use of Artificial
Intelligence in Traffic Management System covering the operations of the overall
transportation system of surface streets, interstate highways, public transportation, and
emergency vehicle response etc. Authors have claimed that Artificial Intelligence based
Knowledge sources in the system addresses problems in traffic congestion, incident
management, traffic control and monitoring. Authors feel that Artificial Intelligence
based knowledge gathering exploit neural network representations, rules, script frames
to solve individual traffic management problems. Authors have also successfully proved
that the resulting traffic management decisions based on Artificial Intelligence are
implemented and evaluated through simulations.

Robert L. Bertini and Ahmed El-Geneidy, "Advanced Traffic Management System Data"
In this chapter, authors have presented a holistic view about Intelligent Traffic
Management System and successfully clarified that the intelligent traffic management
system in a whole consist of various subsystem components such as Incident
management, Transit Management, Electronic Payment, Traveler Information, road

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infrastructure operations and maintenance, freeway management, emergency
management, crash prevention and safety and road weather management. Authors
have argued that for smooth functioning of intelligent management system, all these
components should be in place and each subsystem cannot be deployed in standalone
fashion while dealing with overall transportation system. Authors have also clarified that
building a complete intelligent traffic management system requires time, money,
institutional arrangements and lot of collaboration among stakeholders. All the
integrated subsystem components then can result in synergistic effects. simulations.

Hasan Omar Al-Sakran, "Intelligent Traffic Information System Based on Integration of

Internet of Things and Agent Technology" In this paper, author has presented traffic
management and administration system based on IoT. Author has claimed that such
system is better compare to the traditional traffic management system in terms of cost,
upgradation, scalability and compatibility. The proposed Traffic management system
makes use of Internet, an active radio-frequency identification (RFID), object ad-hoc
networking, wireless sensing and detection technologies to realize the intelligent
recognition on the tagged traffic object, monitoring, tracking, managing and process
automatically. Author has proposed the system architecture that integrates IoT with
agent technology in single platform where the agent technology handles interfacing and
communication among large number of heterogeneous, highly distributed and
decentralized devices within the IoT. simulations.

Andreas Allstrom et al, “Traffic Management for Smart Cities” Here authors suggested
that traffic related large data is already available from various Sensors installed for road
traffic observation. If this data is properly organized and processed it can provide
various useful information to the road users such as travel time, real time traffic states,
travel pattern dynamics and so on. Authors have claimed that by using proper data
filtering, algorithms and modelling techniques the meaningful information for road users
can be extracted and such data can also be used for wide area traffic control. Authors
have also pointed out using the data for analysis which is shared among vehicles over

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V2V link within cooperative systems. Such data analytics can help us deciding better
traffic control strategies.

Jiandong Cao, "Research on Urban Intelligent Traffic Monitoring System Based on Video
Image Processing" In this paper, Author has proposed Video and Image processing
technology for intelligent traffic monitoring system. The paper has described in detail
the functional design of Smart Traffic Monitoring System with video image processing
and database analysis. In this paper author has claimed that proposed video and image
processing solution can provide intelligent analysis to the traditional traffic control
system with the association of relevant data analytics. This can save lot of manual
monitoring and control processing besides real time analysis can also offer very high
efficiency. The proposed solution by Author, processes the image data of Vehicle
License Plate with the help of high-definition camera. The Author has proposed solution
using the object recognition algorithm based on Haar features combined with AdaBoost
classifier. Author feels that Training the classifier for vehicle detection by a large
number of images at the car tail can achieve the rapid and effective identification of the
front vehicle in the high-grade highway environment. The relevant image processing
also considers the data analysis with respect to Vehicle speed, Vehicle body color etc.
The combined results are stored and analyzed.

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 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction
The chapter presents the methodology that was used to carry out the study. It presents
the research design, study population, sample size, sampling methods, data collection
methods and instruments,

3.1 Research design

The study will utilize a cross-sectional descriptive survey design that uses both
qualitative and quantitative approaches. Cross sectional descriptive survey design is the
selection of a small sample of people from a bigger population to act as an inference.
Surveys are designed to provide a snapshot of how things are at a specific time. Cross
sectional survey design will be adopted because it helps gather data from a sample of a
bigger population at a particular time and uses such data to make inference about the
wider population.

3.2 Study population

The study will be carried out in Kampala metropolitan area. The study population will
include employees of UPF in the directorate of traffic, directorate of ICT particularly in
traffic monitoring center.

3.3 sample size

The sample size will be 100 respondents.

3.4 Sampling Methods

The study will use simple random sampling to select UPF employees. Simple random
sampling is a form of respondents’ selection which is done in order to avoid biasness
(Mugenda and Mugenda, 2003).

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3.5 Data Collection methods
The study will utilize both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. Primary
data will be obtained using questionnaires as well as interviews. Secondary data will be
sourced from reading literature.

3.6 Data collection instruments

Data collection instruments will include questionnaires, interview guide and the
documentary review checklist.

Conclusion
Traffic issues of congestion, violation and road accidents are still very rampant in
Uganda. These issues cannot be totally eradicated but can be minimized. UPF as an
enforcement agency needs to use the cameras that were deployed during CCTV project
and develop algorithms on them that can effectively minimize traffic issues. There is
also a need for UPF to collaborate with stakeholders like KCCA, Ministry of Works, URA,
NIRA who will provide relevant information and support in relation to traffic issues. Most
importantly, UPF needs to improve on the existing Intelligent Traffic Management
System.

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References
1. Roopa Ravish , Shanta Ranga Swamy “Intelligent Traffic Management: A review
of challenges, solutions, and future perspectives” Vol. 22, no.2, 2021

2. Andreas Allström, Jaume Barceló, Joakim Ekström, Ellen Grumert, David

Gundlegård and Clas Rydergren, "Traffic Management for Smart Cities" Book
Chapter from Book Designing, developing, and facilitating smart cities: urban
design to IoT solutions, Part III, 2016, pp. 211-240

3. Hasan Omar Al-Sakran, "Intelligent Traffic Information System Based on

Integration of Internet of Things and Agent Technology", International Journal of
Advanced Computer Science and Applications, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2015

4. Robert L. Bertini and Ahmed El-Geneidy "Advanced Traffic Management System"

Book: Assessing the Benefits and Costs of ITS, chapter 15, 2004, pp 287-314

5. Jiandong Cao, "Research on Urban Intelligent Traffic Monitoring System Based

on Video Image Processing", International Journal of Signal Processing, Image
Processing and Pattern Recognition, Vol.9, No.6, 2016, pp.393-406

6. John F. Gilmore and Khalid J. Elibiary, "AI In AdvancedTraffic Management

Systems", AAAI Technical Report WS-93-04

7. De Souza, A. M., Brennand, C. A., Yokoyama, R. S., Donato, E. A., Madeira, E.

R., Villas, L. A. (2017) Traffic management systems: A classification, review,
challenges, and future perspectives. International Journal of Distributed Sensor
Networks, 13(4), p.1550147716683612

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APPENDIX I: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RESPONDENTS
Questionnaire Number………………….

Dear respondent, I am requesting you to fill this questionnaire, which is aimed at

collecting data on how cameras can be effectively used in management of traffic issues
in Uganda. You have been selected to be one of our respondents in this study. The
information provided will be treated with strict confidentiality and shall not be used for
any other purpose except for said purposes. The study will ensure your anonymity and
confidentiality. Thank you very much for your cooperation Instructions

Mark with a tick or an X against the response you think is the most appropriate to you.

SECTION A.

Gender of the respondent.

1. Male

2. Female

Education level.

1. Secondary level

2. Diploma

3. Degree

4. Master’s degree

5. Others specify………………………

Age of respondent.

1. 20 - 30 years

2. 30-40

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3. 40 – above

1. How have you been handling traffic issues in your area of deployment.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

2. Can you easily identify the ANPR camera deployed on the road.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. List one capability of the ANPR camera.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

4. Have you used the EPS gadgets

Yes

No

5. If yes, how has it helped you

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

6. Are you aware that UPF has an intelligent traffic management system?

Yes

No

7. If yes, do you know its capabilities

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

8. How best can we improve on the current intelligent traffic management system

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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APPENDIX II: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR TRAFFIC OFFICERS

1. What are some of the traffic issues in Uganda?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

2. In what ways have these issues been managed by UPF.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. What are the functionalities of the following on the road.

ANPR camera…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

IVS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

EPS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

4. What do you understand by an Electronic traffic management system?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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