Vaisala says it’s time to take road weather seriously

“It is time to take road weather seriously,” is how Vaisala’s Danny Johns puts the company’s message to this week’s ITS World Congress delegates, and the wider world. While the monitoring of winter weather is well established, wind, rain and poor visibility can occur at any time of the year and have significant impacts on traffic flows and crash statistics. “We are now mapping road networks to identify weather-sensitive areas to best locate road weather stations – it doesn’t take a lot of rain or wind to
October 12, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Danny Johns of Vaisala with the road weather system
“It is time to take road weather seriously,” is how 144 Vaisala’s Danny Johns puts the company’s message to this week’s ITS World Congress delegates, and the wider world.

While the monitoring of winter weather is well established, wind, rain and poor visibility can occur at any time of the year and have significant impacts on traffic flows and crash statistics.

“We are now mapping road networks to identify weather-sensitive areas to best locate road weather stations – it doesn’t take a lot of rain or wind to cause an increase in incidents,” said Johns.

Vaisala’s RWS 200 road weather station, displayed on the company’s stand, is fitted with three lasers to measure water, ice and snow and then calculate the available grip. When the grip level falls below a pre-set level, it will either send an alert to the traffic monitoring centre or, particularly in rural locations, automatically activate variable message or speed signs.

“We have had examples of significant decreases in crashes after road weather monitoring stations have been installed,” Johns said.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Argentinian authority keeps a close eye passenger behaviour
    July 26, 2017
    An Argentinian authority is using night-time cameras to fight criminal activity aboard buses. Instances of crimes and violence (especially on city buses or at bus stations) have motivated the city of Rosario in Argentina to improve safety and security on the Urban Transportation System – or the TUP as it is known locally. As posting a police officer on each bus would be cost-prohibitive and uncomfortable for some passengers, security cameras are being fitted to each TUP bus. This solution entailed instal
    Read More
  • Idris paves the way for loop based speed enforcement
    February 1, 2012
    With the Idris system now validated as a speed verification tool, the way is open for loops to be used in more complex enforcement applications. Diamond Consulting Services (DCS), developer of the Idris inductive loop-based vehicle detection and classification system, has recently successfully conducted validation trials which, the company says, open the way for Idris to be used for speed verification and loop-based sensors to be used for more complex applications such as speed-on-green and differential spe
    Read More
  • In-vehicle intersection violation Warning system
    January 31, 2012
    Mike Schagrin, ITS Joint Program Office, RITA, and John Harding, NHTSA, describe US progress towards an in-vehicle Intersection Violation Warning system. In 2008, there were 37,261 fatalities on US roadways. Of these, 7,772, some 20.8 per cent of the total, were defined as intersection crashes or intersection-related crashes. Through a multi-agency research initiative led by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has developed a prototype In
    Read More
  • Self-driving car safety perspectives
    June 2, 2015
    At yesterday’s Opening Plenary, Chris Urmson’s keynote speech dealt with the reality of driverless cars on our roads. By far and away their greatest benefit to mankind will be the potential to achieve an incredible saving of life and injury on the roads, as Urmson, director of the Google Self-Driving Car program, revealed to delegates. In response to an Associated Press article last month disclosing that self-driving cars have been involved in four accidents in the state of California, Urmson revealed th
    Read More

Highlighted Content