First publishedon www.WorldHighways.com
More than 100 representatives from local authorities, the police, and the highway safety-related business world attended UK Roads Crash Demonstration Day at
MIRA near Nuneaton, in central England yesterday.
The event included five crash demonstrations of road safety solutions developed by leading highway technology companies and an exhibition of safety products and services inside a marquee next to the demonstration site.
The successful demonstrations featured:
- A 900kg car colliding with a new 140mm diameter fibre composite traffic signal post provided by FSP Ltd, complete with Siemens signal head and electrical supply, and planted in an NAL Retention Socket.
- A saloon car striking a Barrier Guard 800 gate manufactured by Highway Care.
- An NE classified shored-up sign structure from SAPA Poles being hit by a 1,500kg HGV at 100kph (62mph).
- A 4m high passively safe SAPA Poles traffic signal pole being struck by a fast moving vehicle.
- Delta Bloc’s DB 100 H4a vertical concrete barrier being hit by a 7.5tonne commercial vehicle at 97kph (60mph).
Speaking after the eye-catching demonstration of the SAPA Poles shored-up sign structure, with 4.5m wide and 7.5 high sign plate, the company’s UK sales manager Simon Bates said: “It went very, very well. It was a superb demonstration. The product performed as it was designed to. The lack of indentation in the vehicle is there for all to see.”
After the demonstration of the firm’s Barrier Guard 800 gate, Highway Care (HC) managing director Steve Powell said: “Barrier gates are being used more and more on roads now. This test shows there is a barrier gate system that contains an accident with minimum [vehicle] deflection, while requiring no repair or replacement.“
Powell said the Barrier Guard 800 gate was being used on major highways all over the world. Within the last year HC has also made available a Barrier Guard 800 gate with wheels which, Powell said, is the only wheeled-gate barrier solution on the market.
The full list of exhibiting companies at the UK Roads Crash Demonstration Day were:
Mott MacDonald; MIRA; SAPA Poles; FSP;
King Trailers; One2see/Harvard;
FLI Structures; Highway Care;
Gloucester Composites;
Traffex/Road Expo;
Brett Landscaping; NAL;
Valmont and Stainton;
Solar Signs; Delta Bloc;
SignPost Solutions; Varley and Gulliver;
Post & Column;
Ritherdon;
Poletech;
Stirling Lloyd; ALAD; TMS Consultancy, and professional institutions the
Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) and the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE).
