Easy and safe automatic cone placing

Tasks that should always be undertaken using the protection of a truck or trailer-mounted attenuator, but frequently aren't. That's why Dutch company Trafiq attracted so much international attention last year when it developed and launched the Mobile Automatic Roadblock System (MARS). Not only does the system provide complete safety for highway workers, it automates the entire process. And on top of that, because of the speed at which it deploys and collects cones, MARS provides substantial cost savings com
January 31, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Road cones are laid and retrieved by MARS by the driver/operator from the safety of his cab

It could be argued that the most dangerous job in work zones is probably cone laying and removal.

Tasks that should always be undertaken using the protection of a truck or trailer-mounted attenuator, but frequently aren't. That's why Dutch company 1913 Trafiq attracted so much international attention last year when it developed and launched the Mobile Automatic Roadblock System (MARS). Not only does the system provide complete safety for highway workers, it automates the entire process. And on top of that, because of the speed at which it deploys and collects cones, MARS provides substantial cost savings compared to conventional and labour-intensive methods.

On arrival at a section of road to be coned, MARS first automatically places a rumble strip, a light arrow and attenuator to mark the start of the road works, before beginning to lay the miles of cones required. Everything is controlled from within the cab by the driver/operator.

One of the first users of the system was T&M, the traffic management company involved in highways maintenance work on Amsterdam's A9 and A10 motorways. As T&M's Peter Jan Hendricks commented, "The speed and safety aspects demonstrated by the MARS system far exceeded our expectations." Since then T&M has continuously rented the MARS for other projects, while other Dutch competitors are now also using the system.

According to Peter van Nes of Trafiq, in addition to its use in the Netherlands, MARS is now also being used in the US, France, and Switzerland. "Because of actual requests coming from users interested in buying specific versions, we are actually in the process of developing and building a smaller version to fit the southern European roads and hard shoulders. At the same time, we are also developing and building a larger version, capable of carrying a bigger volume of cones in order to work in longer tunnels or longer distances, with tighter spacings," he says. Also, because of numerous requests for a rumble strip layer as a separate unit, Trafiq has developed a standalone version which can be mounted on any truck by a DIN-plate.
Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Flir takeover of Traficon and the role of thermal imaging
    February 28, 2013
    Andy Teich, president of commercial systems at Flir, discusses the growing role of thermal technology in ITS and his company’s latest high-profile acquisition with Jason Barnes. Andy Teich, Flir’s president of commercial systems, doesn’t want to talk about infrared (IR). Instead, he’d prefer, he says, to discuss ‘thermal technology’. It is, he explains, to differentiate between the imaging technologies which his company specialises in and the LED illumination of IR cameras, an altogether different beast. Fl
    Read More
  • Camera technology a flexible and cost-effective option
    June 7, 2012
    Perceptions of machine vision being an expensive solution are being challenged by developments in both core technologies and ancillaries. Here, Jason Barnes and David Crawford look at the latest developments in the sector. A notable aspect of machine vision is the flexibility it offers in terms of how and how much data is passed around a network. With smart cameras, processing capabilities at the front end mean that only that which is valid need be communicated back to a central processor of any descripti
    Read More
  • ITS World Congress debates perceptions of enforcement
    December 4, 2012
    The technical programme of this year’s ITS World Congress in Vienna includes a special session on the image of enforcement. ITS International examines the scale of the problem and what can be done about it. Debate on the merits and difficulties of enforcing speed limits appears centred on a conflict of principles. Put very simply, local communities, people living close to busy or hazardous roads, want to see traffic speeds calmed. Drivers on those roads, on the whole, want their principle of freedom to be m
    Read More
  • MEPs push for safer, more environmentally-friendly trucks
    April 17, 2014
    New truck cab designs should make it easier for drivers to spot pedestrians and cyclists, thanks to draft rule changes backed by the EU Parliament. Other changes would enable designers to exceed current maximum weight and length limits in order to fit alternative-fuel engines and to streamline cabs to cut emissions. The draft rules would allow truck cabins to be made longer if designed to cut emissions, such as by improving aerodynamics; or to prevent accidents, by reducing blind spots or making the cab
    Read More

Highlighted Content