Skip to main content

Solar road studs aid night time road safety on the M20

UK company, Astucia, part of the Clearview Traffic Group, and Balfour Beatty Mott MacDonald has installed over 4,000 Astucia SolarLite road studs on the M20 junctions 8 to 9 between Ashford and Maidstone, on behalf of the UK Highways Agency. This section of the motorway lacks street lighting increasing the potential risk for night time accidents. The project involved upgrading the existing road markings and road studs to address the high number of collisions recorded in the dark and wet conditions. The exis
October 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
UK company, 1875 Astucia, part of the 557 Clearview Traffic Group, and 3902 Balfour Beatty 1869 Mott MacDonald has installed over 4,000 Astucia SolarLite road studs on the M20 junctions 8 to 9 between Ashford and Maidstone, on behalf of the 1841 UK Highways Agency.

This section of the motorway lacks street lighting increasing the potential risk for night time accidents. The project involved upgrading the existing road markings and road studs to address the high number of collisions recorded in the dark and wet conditions. The existing traditional retro-reflective studs, many of which had become faulty, were removed and replaced with over Astucia SolarLite road studs.

Astucia claim their road studs have demonstrated that they can form the future of traffic safety by providing enhanced safety for road users reducing night time casualties by up to 70 per cent.  The M20 installation joins other equally vital and environmentally conscious installations already seen on the A20 in the county fondly known as the Garden of England.

Astucia managing director Nick Lanigan states “This is a superb example of the type of scenario where installing Astucia SolarLite road studs will make a real difference to the safety record and the public perception of their safety whilst travelling on this section of the M20 motorway. These unique studs significantly improve lane and road layout visibility during the hours of darkness, resulting in drivers adjusting their driving speed and behaviour and reducing the amount and severity of night time accidents.”

Related Content

  • December 19, 2016
    TfL wins international road safety award
    Transport for London (TfL) has been recognised with the Prince Michael of Kent Road Safety Awards for its work to improve the safety of cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists in London. Analysis of police collision and travel demand data led TfL to put in place a range of initiatives which contributed to a three per cent drop in the number of people killed and seriously injured on London’s streets (2,092) in 2015, its lowest ever level. Projects included the launch of the Safer Lorry Scheme, the in
  • October 22, 2013
    Too safe for safety’s sake
    In-vehicle systems are making huge advances in vehicle safety with the introduction of ABS, collision avoidance, adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert and blind spot warning… the list goes on. But at the same time accidents are still happening and arguably getting bigger. A look at a list of multi-vehicle (30 - 300) accidents across Europe, North and South America and parts of the Middle East shows that the trend is increasing with 2013 already having witnessed seven such incidents – three of which
  • February 26, 2013
    Aberdeen opts for wireless vehicle detection
    After several years’ experience of loop detector failures, primarily identified as being caused by damage from roadworks or degradation of aging road surfaces, Aberdeen City Council opted to use the Golden River M100 wireless detection system from Clearview Traffic. Each compact M100 sensor is typically installed in the middle of a traffic lane where it detects the presence and passage of vehicles and communicates this information wirelessly to the traffic signal controller via an access point and contact c
  • October 24, 2014
    Workzone safety can be economically viable
    David Crawford looks how workzone safety can be ‘economically viable’. Highway maintenance is one of the most dangerous construction industry occupations in Europe. Research from The Netherlands on fatal crashes indicates that the risk facing road workzone operatives is ‘significantly higher’ than that for the general construction workforce. A survey carried out by the Highways Agency, which runs the UK’s motorway and trunk road network, has suggested that 20% of road workers have suffered injuries from pa