Skip to main content

Illuminated road studs aid roundabout safety

In a bid to improve safety at the Sheriffhall roundabout near Edinburgh, Scotland, Clearview Traffic has been working with BEAR Scotland on an innovative accident reduction project at the complex six-arm gyratory roundabout which is used by over 42,000 vehicles per day. The project, which Clearview says is the first of its kind in the UK, uses the company’s IRS2 intelligent hardwired road stud to increase driver awareness and improve lane discipline on and off the roundabout. Improvements and efficien
July 15, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
In a bid to improve safety at the Sheriffhall roundabout near Edinburgh, Scotland, 557 Clearview Traffic has been working with BEAR Scotland on an innovative accident reduction project at the complex six-arm gyratory roundabout which is used by over 42,000 vehicles per day.

The project, which Clearview says is the first of its kind in the UK, uses the company’s IRS2 intelligent hardwired road stud to increase driver awareness and improve lane discipline on and off the roundabout.

Improvements and efficiencies made to the traffic signal-controlled roundabout in recent years have dramatically increased its capacity. BEAR Scotland was keen to ensure safety measures were improved in line with the increased use of the roundabout. Investigations found that inadvertent lane drifting was a significant contributory factor to negotiating it safely.

To address this issue, whilst at the same time causing minimal impact on the existing road markings and supporting infrastructure of the roundabout, BEAR Scotland and Clearview Traffic devised a unique road stud layout scheme that would guide the A720 traffic from either direction safely around and off the roundabout.

With the new system in place, as soon as the traffic signal on the entrance to the roundabout turns green, studs embedded in the road surface immediately illuminate and guide drivers onto the appropriate lanes of the roundabout. As the traffic signal turns red, all the studs on that section switch off and the studs on the next section illuminate as the corresponding traffic signal turns green. In this way, drivers now get an illuminated green phase to guide them all the way around and off the roundabout, with clear visual definition of the lanes to heighten lane discipline and reduce preventable collisions.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Flare partners with Joyride to boost micromobility safety
    August 11, 2023
    Enhanced incident avoidance capabilities will help protect vulnerable road users
  • A journey into the Dilemma Zone with Econolite
    January 16, 2025
    Indecision on the road can kill. Econolite’s Sunny Chakravarty and Vincent Mayeda present new data-driven dilemma zone and intersection safety strategies for a Vision Zero future
  • American Traffic Solutions
    March 16, 2012
    The City of Edmonton in the Alberta province of western Canada has a system in place which American Traffic Solutions (ATS) believes exemplifies how a road safety camera programme should be operated. Edmonton’s programme began in September 1999 with six cameras rotating through 12 locations. Nearly 10 years later, at the beginning of 2009, provincial legislation was passed allowing police agencies in Alberta to use road safety cameras to enforce both red light and speed infractions.
  • Rethink required to reduce road transport’s environmental impact
    March 15, 2016
    Against a background of a renewed focus on limiting the rise in average temperatures, Colin Sowman looks at a project that is taking a holistic approach to the environmental impact and safety of road transport. At the COP21 meeting in Paris last December, almost 200 nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to keep the rise in global temperatures to 2°C) compared with pre-industrial levels. The transportation sector is a major contributor to the production of CO2, one of the main green