New warning system could improve work-zone safety

In a bid to improve work-zone safety, researchers from the University of Minnesota have developed the intelligent drum line (IDL) system prototype. The portable, dynamic system provides visual and auditory warnings to drivers who may have ignored or missed previous warning devices and pose a danger to the work-zone crew.
October 18, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
In a bid to improve work-zone safety, researchers from the 584 University of Minnesota have developed the intelligent drum line (IDL) system prototype. The portable, dynamic system provides visual and auditory warnings to drivers who may have ignored or missed previous warning devices and pose a danger to the work-zone crew.

The IDL system consists of two work-zone drums that detect vehicles travelling at unsafe speeds as they approach the work zone. Each drum includes a visual and auditory warning system: emergency flasher units mounted on the outside of the drum and a powerful air horn mounted inside that projects toward the roadway.

The first drum measures the speed and location of approaching vehicles. If the speed is higher than the safe threshold, the system activates the visual warning in both drums. When the vehicle is about one second away from the first drum, the auditory warning is activated. As soon as the vehicle passes, the auditory warning is stopped and the visual warning is deactivated. The auditory warning process is then repeated for the second drum.

Initial tests indicate that the audible and visual warnings successfully attracted the attention of drivers, although drivers were aware of the system in advance.  Further tests under real conditions are planned.
Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ITS instrumental in reducing Texan congestion
    September 4, 2018
    ITS projects in the Houston area have seen costs crunched – and even a system failure has proved valuable in analysing performance. David Crawford reports on developments in the Lone Star state Savings by Texan public agencies are major factors in the recent ITS Texas awards, recognising beneficial initiatives in bridge strike prevention and traffic intersection control. In the first, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)’s Houston District, covering the state’s most populous city and its surround
    Read More
  • Cost benefit goes under the microscope
    August 21, 2017
    Conventional cost benefit analysis (CBA) of plans for urban smart mobility initiatives needs serious rethinking, according to a recently-completed European study. The three-year Evidence Project (the Project) emerged in response to concerns about the availability and quality of documented research – including CBA – required to prove that investment in sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs) can be economically beneficial. Covering 22 sectors ranging from electric vehicles to shared spaces, the Project clai
    Read More
  • Building the case for photo enforcement
    October 26, 2016
    As red light enforcement is returning to some intersections and being shut down at others, new evidence has been released backing the safety campaigners, reports Jon Masters. In 2014, 709 Americans were killed in red-light-running crashes and an estimated 126,000 were injured according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
    Read More
  • New research finds distracted driving on the rise on I-95
    May 12, 2014
    Transurban-Fluor and AAA Mid-Atlantic have released the second annual report on distracted drivers on I-95 in Northern Virginia, which found that despite major construction, distracted driving is a growing problem on the heavily travelled corridor. The report, part of the Orange Cones, No Phones campaign focused on reducing distracted driving in the 95 Express Lanes construction zone, found that the number of frequent I-95 drivers likely to use their cell phone while driving has increased from 56 percent i
    Read More

Highlighted Content