09/2023: Dialogue displays at elementary school

The first displays installed at Aachen's elementary school were presented at a press event on September 4, 2023. WDR devoted a report to the displays in the local newspaper Lokalzeit Aachen and on the radio.

Background

Children are particularly exposed to dangers on the road from motorized road users. For this reason, a speed limit of 30 km/h applies in front of all Aachen elementary school. Unfortunately, not all road users comply with this. In order to noticeably and visibly increase road safety in the vicinity of elementary school, the Aachen City Council adopted a motion on 16.02.2022 to procure dialog displays and install them in the area of Aachen's elementary school.

Dialogue displays show road users their actual speed on the display board on site.

Department 68 (Mobility and Traffic, formerly Department 61), in close coordination with Department 32 (Security and Order), which has extensive experience with comparable (mobile) displays, invited tenders for a requirements profile to which various providers responded.

The offers were compared and, if necessary, the bidders were asked to present the product on offer.

On this basis, a manufacturer was commissioned with the production.

In addition to the speed display, the model selected for Aachen provides an evaluative feedback (smiling smiley in green if the speed limit is observed or sad smiley in red if the speed limit is exceeded). In addition, freely programmable text such as "Thank you" or "Slow down" is displayed.

The integrated data collection also makes it possible to store and evaluate the measured traffic data and use it for statistics. These can be used as a basis for further (infrastructural) measures.

The Dialog displays are equipped with an LTE module for remote access so that the data is available locally with the appropriate software.

In close cooperation with the Press and Marketing Department, the displays were given a design specific to Aachen, featuring Carla, a figure from the City of Aachen's mobility education and training program.

The location was defined on an interdisciplinary basis. On the basis of

• the information provided by the elementary school,
• the inspection of possible locations by the planners,
• the expertise of the Security and Order Department and
• of regionetz GmbH

the locations were selected by the administration.

The displays are preferably operated via the power supply of existing regionetz GmbH streetlights, which is why they function independently of weather conditions and are less susceptible to maintenance. In addition, the costs of installing the displays are significantly lower if existing power sources are used. With regionetz GmbH, an experienced partner was involved in the project with regard to the technical installation of the displays.

The data recorded by the displays is evaluated on a quarterly basis.