Australia trials ‘smart’ road barriers

'Smart' road barriers that will speed up emergency response times to crash sites are being trialled in South Australia. The wire rope technology, designed in South Australia, is expected to improve crash response times by sending an electronic message direct to the city's traffic management centre when a vehicle crashes into the barrier. The technology has been installed on one of the state's most notorious roads and will be trialled for a year at a cost of US$112,000. If successful, the government wi
November 14, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
'Smart' road barriers that will speed up emergency response times to crash sites are being trialled in South Australia.

The wire rope technology, designed in South Australia, is expected to improve crash response times by sending an electronic message direct to the city's traffic management centre when a vehicle crashes into the barrier.

The technology has been installed on one of the state's most notorious roads and will be trialled for a year at a cost of US$112,000. If successful, the government will consider rolling the technology out across the state.

"The rope will detect when a vehicle has crashed into it, triggering an electronic alert to be sent to the Traffic Management Centre at Norwood," Road Safety minister Michael O'Brien said. "By knowing when a vehicle has hit the barrier, the centre can immediately alert emergency services. This will help to improve response times to crashes, rather than waiting for the police, the public or someone involved in a crash to report the accident."

The technology also allows technicians to monitor the tension of the wires.

"If there is a loosening or an impact to the wire ropes, the traffic management centre is alerted and are able to dispatch a work crew to fix the barrier if required," O'Brien said.
Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Western Australia to trial autonomous vehicle
    February 11, 2016
    Western Australia is to trial a driverless and fully electric shuttle bus later this year. Developed by NAVYA SAS, a French company specialising in intelligent transport systems, the shuttle bus can transport up to 15 passengers and has a maximum speed of 45kmh with an average speed of 25kmh Announcing the trial, Transport Minister Dean Nalder said the Department of Transport was working closely with the RAC to ensure compliance with road and vehicle safety standards while they trialled an autonomous sh
    Read More
  • Putting a stop to intersection indecision
    March 9, 2015
    David Crawford takes a look at innovations to reduce crashes at rural intersections. Intersection crashes continue to represent a worryingly large share of deaths and serious injuries across US highway networks. Statistics from the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration show that an average of 21% of road traffic accident deaths occur at crossings. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) calculates that intersection crashes account for 48% of all injury-related i
    Read More
  • UK defaults to hard shoulder running to expand motorway capacity
    April 8, 2014
    Hard shoulder running has become the UK’s default response to increasing motorway capacity as Colin Sowman reports. Facing a predicted 46% increase in traffic levels by 2040 and the current economic recovery leading to more people travelling to, from and for work leaves the UK government under short- and long-term pressure to increase the capacity on the main motorway network. Particular sections of motorways are already experiencing repeated, sometimes tidal, congestion and both tight Treasury limits and t
    Read More
  • I-80 Smart Corridor sets the ITS standard for California's Bay Area
    March 23, 2015
    Colin Sowman looks at California’s ‘smartest’ road which will open this spring to counter congestion and accidents on one of the Bay Area’s busiest interstates. Interstate 80 (I-80) is one of the busiest roads in the San Francisco Bay area with up to 270,000 vehicles using the corridor every day. The section between the Carquinez Bridge in Crockett and the Bay Bridge not only suffers congestion during the working week but also at weekends. Traditional remedies such as building additional lanes (there are al
    Read More

Highlighted Content