Video Enforcement of High-Occupancy Vehicle Lanes: Field Test Results for I-30 in Dallas

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A study was conducted to assess and test promising technologies for high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane enforcement. After a qualitative assessment of video, automatic vehicle identification, and infrared machine vision technologies, the study was suspended because no preferred infrared machine vision technology was available for testing. The study was resumed when a vendor demonstrated promising video technology. The HOV enforcement and review (HOVER) system was then developed for an operational test on the I-30 contraflow HOV lane in Dallas, Texas. The results of an independent evaluation by Texas Transportation Institute indicated that the HOVER system, in its current state, could support a program that mails HOV information to suspected violators. The study’s limited budget prevented several improvements that could expand the capabilities of the HOVER system. With several enhancements to the system (e.g., improved license plate recognition and “whitelist” license plate database), the HOVER system could be used to perform enforcement screening, in which a technician reviewing vehicle compartment images works with a downstream police officer. Significant enhancements to the system (e.g., high-quality video cameras and additional camera views, improved video signal transmission, and improved license plate capture and recognition) could enable its use for HOV ticket-by-mail programs, although enabling legislation for such programs does not currently exist in Texas. The author recommends implementation of these enhancements and further testing to determine future system potential.