USA:
Nestor's Rail CrossingGuard Selected to Improve Grade Crossing Safety in Florida

Nestor Traffic Systems, Inc. today (07 Feb 2000) announced that the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has awarded a contract to the Company for its Rail CrossingGuard(TM) video-based rail crossing monitoring system. Rail CrossingGuard will be installed at five locations in the South Florida Rail Corridor, identified by FDOT as high-volume, high-risk crossings. Rail CrossingGuard was developed specifically to improve rail crossing safety by using video to monitor highway rail grade crossings.

This Rail CrossingGuard installation is part of the first phase of FDOT's aggressive statewide program to demonstrate new technologies to improve grade crossing safety along the entire South Florida Rail Corridor, which includes 72 state-owned crossings from Miami to Palm Beach. Through the use of new gate systems and new technologies, such as event recorders and Rail CrossingGuard, FDOT intends to create an ``Intelligent Rail Corridor'' that will increase the level of grade crossing safety to support increases in passenger trains and operating speeds.

``As our corridor is expanding, we must continue to focus our efforts on grade crossing safety. Rail CrossingGuard is an innovative use of state-of-the-art technology that, along with our other initiatives, can help improve safety along our heavily traveled corridor,'' said Anne Brewer, P.E. and Administrator of Rail Operations for the Florida Department of Transportation. ``The information that Rail CrossingGuard provides will give us valuable insight into the integrity of crossing operation and safety-related driver behavior trends - insight that will help us make proactive, informed decisions to improve rail safety in the South Florida Rail Corridor.''

Rail CrossingGuard applies patented neural network technology to a video-based solution that automates the detection of: vehicles and trains at the crossing; raised, lowered, or altered rail crossing gates/arms; and the functional status of signal crossing lights. Information gathered can assist officials in determining crossing signal and gate integrity and operational status, allowing them to make proactive changes or repairs that will increase the safety of the crossing. Rail CrossingGuard is also able to detect vehicles violating the crossing signal and record vehicle identification information so that warnings or citations may be issued to violators. The system's ability to detect vehicles on the tracks can trigger measures (such as warning sirens) to alert the driver and the train of imminent danger, and provide inputs to crossing gates and nearby traffic lights to avoid trapping a vehicle on the tracks.

Studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) report that there are approximately 261,000 highway-rail and pedestrian crossings in the United States. From 1993 to 1998, there were 25,001 highway-rail crossing incidents involving motor vehicles - averaging 4,167 incidents a year. In the US alone, a train collides with a vehicle or person once every 115 minutes, and in an average year, more people die at highway-rail crossings than in commercial airline crashes. According to the FRA's Railroad Safety Statistics Annual Report ('98), there were 75 highway-rail grade crossing incidents in Florida in 1998, resulting in 7 fatalities.

Rail CrossingGuard will be installed at the Powerline Road, Prospect Road, Commercial Boulevard, Cypress Creek Road, and McNab Road crossings in South Florida. All video and data collected by Rail CrossingGuard will be sent, in real-time, to a central processing facility. Installation is scheduled to begin in the spring.

The Rail CrossingGuard family of products has been developed with support from the Transportation Research Board's IDEA (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis) Program.

About Nestor Traffic Systems

Nestor Traffic Systems, Inc., an affiliate of Nestor, Inc. (OTC: NEST - news), is an emerging leader in providing innovative, video-based monitoring systems and services for traffic management and safety. Its products incorporate Nestor's patented neural-network technology into intelligent, real-time solutions that promote traffic efficiency and intersection safety. Its TrafficVision® solution is a real-time, video-based traffic management system that assists transportation agencies in improving safety, monitoring traffic flow, managing congestion, responding to incidents, and planning for maximum highway efficiency. And the Company's CrossingGuard® solution offers video-based intersection monitoring and automated enforcement of red light running violations with a built-in safety feature that helps to prevent intersection collisions. Nestor products are sold direct and by selected partners worldwide. For more information, call 401-331-9640 or visit www.nestor.com

Rail CrossingGuard is a trademark and CrossingGuard and TrafficVision are registered trademarks of Nestor Traffic Systems, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Sources:

Nestor Inc.