Skip to main content

GPS-guided gritters deployed in central London

Westminster City Council, in the heart of London, has invested around US$800,000 in new GPS-guided gritting trucks for winter road maintenance.
March 14, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Westminster City Council, in the heart of London, has invested around US$800,000 in new GPS-guided gritting trucks for winter road maintenance.

The new machines – six 18 tonne payload and two 10 tonne payload gritters - will be controlled from a central command centre as they operate throughout some 1,000 kms of road and pavement in Westminster borough.

Each truck will be tracked by the on-board GPS unit, while sensors will indicate whether or not each vehicle is spreading salt or just travelling. An on-board satellite navigation unit allows drivers to be given visible instructions of where to go and the best route to get there, delivering greater round efficiency and ensuring salt is spread where it is most needed.

Related Content

  • London’s strategy to tackle air quality problems
    October 21, 2014
    Colin Sowman talks to Matthew Pencharz, the man charged with charting London’s path between catering for traveller needs, conserving ancient buildings and conforming to modern air quality standards.
  • Singapore plans changes to transit system
    June 13, 2018
    Singapore has the third-highest population density in the world and the numbers are continuing to grow. The government knows that transit is vital: David Crawford investigates the city state’s Smart Nation strategy. Transport is the most important of the five domains identified as the pillars of Singapore's far-reaching Smart Nation strategy, launched in November 2014 by prime minister Lee Hsien Loong with the aim of reaching fulfilment by 2024. Roads account for 12% of the island republic's 719km2 land ar
  • SCATS study shows significant savings
    December 16, 2013
    Australian study quantifies the benefits of SCATS to the motorists, the environment and the economy. Opportunity weekday cost savings potential of some AUD16 million (US$15.2 million) has emerged from rigorous analysis of a one-day study of Australia’s Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) in operation. This represents 27% of the total cost of a real alternative semi-adaptive traffic control. The estimated indicative annual weekday-based value is AUD3,900 million (US$3,705 million) or 0.9% of t
  • Low-costs solutions to improve pedestrian safety
    May 8, 2015
    David Crawford welcomes low-cost safety initiatives for pedestrians in America. Some 10 people die each week in accidents on crosswalks in the US, that’s more than 10% of all pedestrian fatalities in road traffic incidents - the number of which is running at a five-year high. Ensuring crosswalks are safe is key in supporting the growing enthusiasm for walking as a travel mode. In the last decade of the 20th century, numbers walking to work in the US fell by 26%; while, as recently as 2012, Americans were e