RECOMMENDED APPROACH TO INTRODUCING ITS IN ASIAN COUNTRIES

So far, ITS has been regarded as a system for developed countries. Originally, ITS was discussed with regard to North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. However, looking at traffic problems such as accidents and congestion, it is recognized that the situation in developing countries can be similar to or worse than the situation in developed countries. The traffic fatality rate of a certain Southeast Asian country is about 200 times that of developed countries such as Japan and the US. The capital cities of many developing nations are famous for awful rush hour congestion. The purposes of this paper are to clearly illustrate the ITS situation in developing countries, especially in Asia, and to recommend an approach to introduce ITS to a provisional country. This paper was prepared by distributing questionnaires, analyzing statistical data and visiting twelve Asian countries and regions. On the basis of this research, this paper proposes that Asian countries be classified into four types, taking into account ITS infrastructures, traffic demand and a new concept called ITS progress clock. For the covering abstract see ITRD E114174.