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

  • Panasonic gets connected on The Ray
    June 5, 2020
    A stretch of rural Georgia highway called The Ray is a particularly useful testbed for V2X technology. Panasonic’s Chris Armstrong tells Adam Hill what’s so special about it
    Read More
  • Lufft’s new sensor collects road weather information at traffic speed
    April 8, 2014
    Mobile road weather information sensor Marwis, developed by German measurement and control technology company Lufft, can be mounted on any vehicle to collect real-time weather data such as road surface temperature, dew point, water film height, road conditions (humidity, snow, ice and frost) and grip (friction) as well as other environmental data. Marwis measures meteorological data and road condition information 100 times per second. At a driving speed of 80km/h, the mobile sensor records every 20cm, r
    Read More
  • UK defaults to hard shoulder running to expand motorway capacity
    April 8, 2014
    Hard shoulder running has become the UK’s default response to increasing motorway capacity as Colin Sowman reports. Facing a predicted 46% increase in traffic levels by 2040 and the current economic recovery leading to more people travelling to, from and for work leaves the UK government under short- and long-term pressure to increase the capacity on the main motorway network. Particular sections of motorways are already experiencing repeated, sometimes tidal, congestion and both tight Treasury limits and t
    Read More
  • The downside of driverless vehicles
    October 27, 2016
    Driverless cars will have a detrimental effect on congestion and security while the road safety benefits can be achieved sooner and cheaper using ADAS, argues Colin Sowman. Many Governments are consulting about the introduction of driverless vehicles and even running trials. As 70% or 80% of crashes are caused by human error, the promise of a crash-free future of driverless, self-driving or autonomous vehicles (call them what you will) is alluring, as are the claims of reduced congestion and lower emissions
    Read More

Highlighted Content