The work between policy and practice
Road safety progress depends on more than commitments. It requires sustained action, strong partnerships, and accountability to ensure that policies…
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Forming a busy arterial route in to the town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire the A4128 is a mixed rural and urban road. Buckinghamshire County Council have undertaken a number of measures to reduce casualties on this stretch of road which has included the installation of Astucia solar powered road studs on the rural section of the scheme.
With 11 out of 16 crashes in the three years to 30 April 2006 taking place during the hours of darkness, resulting in 7 people killed or seriously injured and 10 people slightly injured the County Council has implemented a number of measures to tackle this problem. The speed limit has been reduced to 40mph for most of the length, the double white line system amended to suit the new speed limit and intelligent road studs have been implemented along the length.
The Astucia SolarLite™ MkII series intelligent road stud, with its built in solar powered Light Emitting Diode (LED) automatically illuminates from dusk to dawn and is visible for up to ten times further than the traditional retro-reflective passive road stud therefore delineating the road ahead well beyond the headlight beam of a vehicle. Driver’s on the A4128 have benefited from 436 bi-directional white studs providing enhanced centreline delineation, whilst 146 uni-directional red studs delineate the side of the carriageway along those bends identified as being potentially the most hazardous. A small number of Green bi-directional studs have been installed across lay-bys.
This installation follows the type approval, given last year, by the UK Department for Transport for the SolarLite MkII intelligent road stud following a 12 month trial and approval process. Improvements made in the design of the SolarLite MkII road stud include: a strengthened housing for increased durability; standalone Light Emitting Diode (LED) and reflector chamber further increasing the light output of the stud; enhanced reflectivity from dual retro-reflectors and a matrix type base to provide a greater key for the anchoring of the stud to the road surface.
www.astucia.co.uk
