Skip to main content

Robot cops

The African city of Kinshasa now has an unusual form of traffic policing. The city authorities have installed a number of robots at key junctions, to try and convince road users to take care.
April 16, 2015 Read time: 1 min

The African city of Kinshasa now has an unusual form of traffic policing. The city authorities have installed a number of robots at key junctions, to try and convince road users to take care. The solar-powered robots direct traffic at the junctions, with these novel installations intended to reduce red light running and crashes.

Related Content

  • Improving road safety in France and UK
    May 1, 2012
    The latest official data shows a continuing improvement in road safety statistics in both France and the UK. However the data also reveals worrying trends in accidents concerning vulnerable road users.
  • Safer speeds required says new report
    June 18, 2018
    A new report highlights speeding as a significant factor in a worryingly high percentage of road crashes. According to the report, inappropriate speed is responsible for between 20% and 30% of all road crashes involving fatalities. The report is based on a review of research into the relationship between speed and crash risk and has been produced by the OECD’s International Transport Forum (ITF).
  • Police said to be considering pursuing landmark corporate manslaughter charge against highways authority
    April 19, 2012
    The Metropolitan Police in London, England is reported to be considering the option of pursuing the first ever corporate manslaughter charge against a highways authority. Twenty-four-year-old cyclist Deep Lee was killed in a collision with a lorry at the junction of Pentonville Road and York Way in King’s Cross last October. An independent consultants’ report on pedestrian safety in 2008 had warned the capital’s highways authority, Transport for London (TfL), that the junction at York Way needed prope
  • Lighting can affect road safety
    February 5, 2013
    New research carried out jointly by the Lighting Research Center and Penn State have identified links between visibility and safety from roadway lighting. The results are said to hold promise for predicting the safety benefits of new lighting configurations. Identifying when and where to install roadway illumination is a challenge for transportation agencies. Estimating nighttime crash reductions from roadway lighting is difficult in part because lighting tends to be installed along with other improvements