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.

Related Content

  • December 8, 2014
    Sensor solutions cuts maintenance and emissions
    The new raft of sensor technology can provide cost savings as well as additional functionality, as David Crawford discovers. Austria’s third-largest city, Linz, with a population of around 200,000, is recording substantial savings in its urban tram network within 18 months of introducing a new, high-technology approach to its public transport management. Tram, bus and trolleybus operator Linz Linien forms part of city utilities management company Linz AG, which has been carrying out a wide-ranging Smart Cit
  • October 16, 2013
    Bluetooth sensors show great savings in major highway project
    Bluetooth traffic sensors installed on a four-lane highway in the Waikato region of New Zealand demonstrate significant journey time savings, according to a report by New Zealand engineering consultants Beca and the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), Money well spent? The challenge of finding primary data.
  • January 16, 2013
    Improving road safety with better road safety indicators
    A new report from the International Transport Forum, a global transport policy platform with fifty-four member countries, entitled Sharing Road Safety states that governments can more effectively improve road safety by making better use of indicators that reliably quantify the reduction of crashes due to interventions in the road-traffic system. Almost 1.3 million people die in road crashes every year, and between 20 and 50 million are injured. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among youn
  • May 20, 2021
    Vaisala enriches road condition data use 
    Solution with Yotta means engineers can collect geospatial video data from network