The Traffex Seeing Is Believing (SIB) show opens today at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Grounds in Leicestershire, with the two-day (June 27-28) event combining an indoor conference and exhibition with outdoor displays and demonstrations of the latest highway technologies.
This year’s Traffex SIB event will feature folding lampposts, pothole fillers and giant mobile barriers, as well as high-speed crash demonstrations and outdoor showcases of live road repairs. In addition to the highly visual outdoor demonstrations and indoor displays, there is a conference with a wide range of experts speaking.
Highways England’s innovation and continuous improvement director, Paul Doney, will talk about a new initiative being launched at the show. Kier, a key partner in the event and one of the leading providers of highways management and maintenance services on the UK road network, will outline how technology is driving change on the road network.
Other speakers include: Steve Berry, head of local roads, innovation and resilience at the Department for Transport (DfT); Jennie Martin, secretary general of ITS – UK; and representatives from leading organizations such as the Association for Road Traffic Safety and Management (ARTSM), Road Safety Foundation, Road Surface Treatments Associations (RSTA), Association of Directors of Environment, Planning & Transport (ADEPT), and the RAC Foundation.
SIB visitors will see:
• Road Rake – a towable machine developed by Kier that gathers up debris from crashes as well as general litter left by drivers. The machine is helping to tackle the 200,000 sacks of rubbish routinely collected by Highways England, covering a 2.5 mile (4km) stretch of road in approximately two hours, as opposed to an average of two to three days by hand, while removing the need to close lanes or put workers at risk from traffic (top);
• Mobile Barrier – an 83ft-long (25m) device that provides exceptional protection for both road workers and motorists, and reduces the severity of incidents in and around work zones. Originally developed in the USA, it acts as a physical protection vehicle, absorbing impacts from moving vehicles if struck from the side, and a truck-mounted crash cushion behind gives further protection from the rear;
• Roadmender – already in use on the highway network in the West Midlands, the machine not only fixes roads first time in record time, but also makes use of recycled scrap road planings. The vehicle allows exact quantities of asphalt to be mixed to the correct temperature and quantity and laid on site (above);
• WJ Guardian System – a bespoke 18-tonne truck that installs road studs, while removing vulnerable roadworkers from the carriageway, which has already reduced incidents and near misses by 100% (below);
• Safety Cam – an innovative dual camera system that can spot both road workers speeding through construction sites and road users who illegally drive through cones, which is currently being extensively tested across HE’s road network;
• Truvelo LASERcam 4 – a new-style police mobile speed enforcement camera that combines class-leading laser speedmeter capabilities with high-quality video to address a series of driving and criminal offences; and
• Valerann Road Studs – smart highway markers that are wireless, sensory, and provide real-time, high-resolution information about everything that takes place on the road, which is used to detect risks, prevent accidents, optimize intersections, automate traffic control centers, and support connected and autonomous vehicles (below).
