Skip to main content

Wet road surveys an ‘effective safety strategy’

A specially adapted Sideway-force Coefficient Routine Investigation Machine (SCRIM) manufactured by UK company WDM and used by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to survey the country’s road network has been, says NZTA ‘a very efficient and effective safety strategy’. SCRIM measures wet road resistance and uses lasers to scan the road surface. Video technology helps delivers a complete set of highway asset data. WDM has also helped NZTA develop the first state highway skid resistance policy. As a r
January 30, 2014 Read time: 1 min
A specially adapted Sideway-force Coefficient Routine Investigation Machine (SCRIM) manufactured by UK company WDM and used by the 6296 New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to survey the country’s road network has been, says NZTA ‘a very efficient and effective safety strategy’.

SCRIM measures wet road resistance and uses lasers to scan the road surface.  Video technology helps delivers a complete set of highway asset data. WDM has also helped NZTA develop the first state highway skid resistance policy. As a result, up to 250 crashes are estimated to have been prevented, saving the economy around US$132 million.

NZTA says the return on investment is between 13 and 35 times and the two organisations have renewed their partnership, enabling WDM to continue to develop SCRIM technology.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Tanzania road safety takes Ten Steps forward
    March 3, 2023
    International Road Federation among key stakeholders in 30-month implementation
  • The weighty problem of truck routing enforcement
    March 17, 2015
    The growing impact of heavy commercial vehicles on urban and interurban highway infrastructures around the world is driving the need for reliable route access restriction and monitoring. The support role of enforcement is proving fertile ground for ITS development. Bridges are especially vulnerable – and critical in terms of travel delays. The US state of Oregon’s Department of Transportation (ODOT) operates what it claims is one of the country’s most aggressive truck route restriction enforcement programme
  • Calculating the cost of stellar solutions
    August 10, 2016
    The increasing availability and accuracy of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is opening up low-cost options in many areas as David Crawford finds out. Boosting commercialisation of European global navigation satellite system (EGNSS) technologies for ITS initially depends heavily on demonstrating competitive and cost/benefit advantages obtainable from the deployment of EGNOS (the current European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service), and ultimately the EU’s Galileo constellation (see box). So,
  • Smart Spanish city trials cell-based traffic management
    November 7, 2013
    David Crawford reports on an urban electronic nervous system. The northern Spanish city of Santander – historically a port - is now an emerging technology showcase attracting global attention as a prototype for a medium-sized smart city of the future. In a move to determine the optimal use of available data, it is creating a de-facto experimental laboratory for sensor and mobile phone-based urban traffic management and environmental monitoring innovations.