Skip to main content

High-tech road studs can help tackle accident trend

According to road safety engineer Alan Vass of the Traffic and Road Safety section of Ayrshire Roads Alliance in Scotland, LED road studs have contributed to a 100 per cent reduction in incidents on a stretch of the A719 road in the county. Vass says the active studs, which use LED and solar technology to create delineation shown to be far more effective than traditional retro-reflective studs, could hold the key to a brighter future. He said: “There had been a number of accidents on the A719 near Wat
October 3, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
According to road safety engineer Alan Vass of the Traffic and Road Safety section of Ayrshire Roads Alliance in Scotland, LED road studs have contributed to a 100 per cent reduction in incidents on a stretch of the A719 road in the county.

Vass says the active studs, which use LED and solar technology to create delineation shown to be far more effective than traditional retro-reflective studs, could hold the key to a brighter future.

He said: “There had been a number of accidents on the A719 near Waterside village in Ayrshire and the council wanted to do all they could to address the issue.

“The road is predominantly straight but also has a series of fairly sharp bends and we were keen to enhance safety whilst limiting impact on the environment in a rural area.

“We installed LED active studs and statistics prove we’ve seen dramatic results.

“I think it won’t be long before other authorities look at what East Ayrshire Council has done and realise the technology could have similar positive implications for them.”

Supplied by Rennicks UK, some 180 of the solar-recharged battery-powered SR-15 Active Road Studs were installed, providing bright delineation and advance warning of bends. The units, which contain two bi-directional LEDs, highlight both the horizontal and vertical geometry of the road and help improve visibility of the centre and carriageway edges, while a rumble effect warns drivers who encroach on to the opposite carriageway.

Studies showed four injury accidents on the major semi-rural road in just three years prior to the studs being installed and there have been no reported incidents since.

Vass added: “It’s clear the scheme contributed towards a fantastic reduction in the number of reported injury accidents and the site continues to perform well in all weather conditions.

“The studs remain bright and clearly highlight each lane, enhancing safety by aiding night-time driving and particularly during rainy, snowy or foggy weather.

“Ayrshire Roads Alliance has received very positive feedback from local residents and commuters and the studs will without doubt be considered for future road safety schemes.”

Related Content

  • Canada looks to HOT lanes to tackle congestion
    March 16, 2017
    David Crawford sees an evidence-based approach to HOT lane conversions. Canada’s first high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes opened on 16 September 2016 as a pilot on a 16.5km section of existing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes running in both directions along Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Way. Promised in two recent budgets
  • Machine vision standards definition moves forward with establishment of new forum
    December 3, 2012
    The new Future Standards Forum will homogenise standards develop in the machine vision and partnering sectors. Here, machine vision industry experts discuss developments. By Jason Barnes At the Vision Show, which took place in Stuttgart at the beginning of November, the European Machine Vision Association, the US’s Automated Imaging Association and the Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA) established a joint initiative, the Future Standards Forum (FSF). This, said the EMVA’s President Toni Ventura, a
  • Tunnel simulators vital for real world tunnel management
    January 23, 2012
    Guillaume Ponsar, tunnel safety engineer with Egis Road Operation, writes about the advantages to be gained from the use of tunnel simulators. Major tunnel disasters over the last decade and more have shown how swiftly and badly a simple crash or fire may evolve should the wrong actions be taken by control room operators or traffic managers. Global safety issues and the reactions of operations staff have now become the principal concerns for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) service providers. As a result, n
  • Data crunching ‘can prevent cars crashing’
    March 25, 2013
    Having already cut traffic collisions resulting in injuries and deaths by nearly forty per cent in five years by analysing patterns from data it has collected, the city of Edmonton, Canada, is using predictive technologies to increase road safety even more. The city’s Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has installed as many as 200 digital signs as just one element of an innovative traffic safety program that has dramatically reduced vehicle collisions in the Edmonton region since OTS launched in late 2006. Unde