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

  • Canadian authorities convinced of enforcement safety benefits
    November 28, 2012
    Cost-benefit analysis invariably finds highly in favour of speed and red light enforcement, particularly so in Edmonton in the Alberta province of Canada, where authorities need no convincing of the merits of road safety engineering. Justification of enforcement efforts on economic grounds has been reinforced this year, by a study of the costs and benefits of red light enforcement. New York-based economic research firm John Dunham & Associates carried out this latest analysis for American Traffic Solutions
  • Sustainable mobility: innovative solutions needed to reduce traffic emissions
    May 1, 2021
    Kapsch TrafficCom’s Mobility Report 2021 reveals how new ITS measures such as vehicle connectivity and AI-based data processing can help create joined-up traffic management
  • Scotland introduces first ITS system
    December 5, 2012
    A new intelligent transport system (ITS) has been launched as part of the Forth Replacement Crossing in Fife, Scotland, to ease congestion on the M90. The motorway management system will create a dedicated bus lane as well as carriageway variable speed limits which will be used during periods of congestion to help smooth traffic flow, reduce congestion and help make journey times more reliable. The system features seventeen new motorway overhead gantries linked to traffic sensors embedded in the carriageway
  • Carbon finance delivers critical support to mass transit schemes
    February 2, 2012
    David Crawford investigates carbon finance in transport. World Bank carbon finance grants are delivering critical support to major mass transit deployments in emerging and developing economies. Only recently operative in the transport sector, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM, see panel) is designed to generate additional income streams and improve internal rates of return on projects funded from public- and private-sector sources.