Use of intelligent transport systems will lead to fewer traffic jams and accidents, experts said Tuesday at the ITS World Congress in Tokyo.

"Synergistic effects can be expected by deploying ITS and infrastructure together," Yukihiro Tsukada, director of the Research Center for Advanced Information Technology at the transport ministry's National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, told a plenary session under the theme "Open ITS to the Next."

Tsukada cited the reduction in traffic jams and traffic accidents on an expressway that expanded its use of the electronic toll collection system.

"This effect depends on the provision of traffic information, so ITS played an important part" in traffic improvement, he said.

Malcolm Dougherty, director at the California Department of Transportation, pointed out the ITS industry will be developed further "through collaboration between governments, the private sector and academia."

He said society in the future will "have some motorcars and intelligent transportation systems that will help us all meet challenges from safety improvements in automobiles, to travel information advancements to the next generation of system management." "ITS . . . allows us to expand opportunities for multimodal connectivity through collaboration and multiple platforms," he added.

The 20th annual conference, which started Monday with an opening ceremony at Tokyo International Forum, runs through Friday at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center. The conference features symposiums and exhibitions on a number of fields, including automotive technology, parking management systems and traffic and congestion management.

The event will be open free to the public Thursday and Friday.