First product to undergo Technology Partnerships

A Technology Partnerships study has been announced to evaluate the safety benefits of a solar-powered traffic signage system designed to minimise crashes on horizontal curves in the US. Part of the US FHWA Highways for Life initiative, evaluations will test the effectiveness of innovative road infrastructure safety technologies that are fully developed and market ready, but have had little use on US roads. Although horizontal curves make up a small percentage of total road miles, they account for 25 per cen
June 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Tapco's sequential dynamic curve warning system will be evaluated for two years in several US states
A Technology Partnerships study has been announced to evaluate the safety benefits of a solar-powered traffic signage system designed to minimise crashes on horizontal curves in the US. Part of the US 831 Federal Highway Administration Highways for Life initiative, evaluations will test the effectiveness of innovative road infrastructure safety technologies that are fully developed and market ready, but have had little use on US roads.

Although horizontal curves make up a small percentage of total road miles, they account for 25 per cent of all highway fatalities with the majority of crashes on curves involving lane departures. US company Traffic and Parking Control Company (989 TAPCO) has developed the sequential dynamic curve warning system which consists of a series of solar-powered, LED-enhanced flashing signs that are installed throughout a curve. Approaching vehicles, sensed by radar or other ITS device, trigger the controller that wirelessly activates the LED signs to flash sequentially through the curve to warn speeding drivers to slow down. The two-year Technology Partnerships field study will evaluate the effectiveness of the system in reducing vehicle speeds and in reducing the frequency and/or the severity of curve-related crashes. Participating State DOTs include Missouri, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and Colorado.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Frequency changes threaten vehicle safety applications
    January 24, 2012
    The use of frequency spectrum at 5.9GHz for vehicle safety applications is at risk because of two draft bills currently before Congress. Here, we look at why and what’s being done to address the issue. In the US, the right of cooperative infrastructure to use frequency at 5.9GHz is under threat as a result of the proposal of two bills in Congress. The chronology of spectrum allocation for Dedicated Short- Range Communications (DSRC)-based Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) safety a
    Read More
  • TRW launches camera technology in the US
    April 15, 2013
    To support its growing video camera business worldwide, TRW Automotive Holdings has launched production of camera systems in the US and is investing in its electronics facility in Illinois. TRW's scalable video camera (S-Cam) family incorporates technology from Mobileye and can provide a range of safety functions including lane departure warning, forward collision warning, headlight control, traffic sign recognition and pedestrian detection. When integrated with vehicle chassis systems, the S-Cam can provid
    Read More
  • US economic stimulus package highlights ITS technology
    July 17, 2012
    US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood talks to ITS International about economic stimulus funding and the absolute need to maintain and increase the use of technology in transportation. Of the total of $787 billion of funding announced under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the economic stimulus package which was signed into law by US President Barack Obama on 17 February 2009, $48.1 billion will go to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). Of that, $27.5 billion is for highway in
    Read More
  • Platooning with Ease on the I-70
    July 15, 2025
    What would happen to truck platooning - a nascent technology - if the weather turns nasty? The I-70 Truck Automation Corridor Project in the northern US should provide some answers, reports David Arminas…
    Read More

Highlighted Content