UK supplier of software and training for traffic professionals updates its free internet-based mapping tool for viewing details of all road collisions in the UK with data for 2017; information that was only released last week by the Department for Transport (DfT).
Buchanan’s CollisionMap is a free service that displays and gives details of road accidents that involved an injury or fatality for the whole of the UK. It is based upon Ordnance Survey mapping and has a detailed gazetteer to find the location that users are interested in, and a number of unique selection and display features.
It always shows accident locations even when zoomed out, giving a full indication of safety issues over a large area. This feature is particularly useful for rural locations or looking at whole authorities. CollisionMap currently has details of injury accidents that occurred during the years 2011 to 2017, and this will be updated again immediately 2018 data becomes available.
CollisionMap is based upon Buchanan’s Traffweb web mapping tool, a system supplied commercially to many local and police authorities. It is totally free to use without any need to register, and is provided by Buchanan Computing as a pro bono service to the community to promote road safety. CollisionMap can be accessed from any modern browser at: www.CollisionMap.uk
The company also hosts other websites for specific areas that have additional features and information or more recent accident data, including: Devon and Essex County Councils, and the Thames Valley and Hampshire Police forces.
Buchanan has also released new versions of the UK’s most popular sign face and sign structure design software, complete with all changes needed for the DfT’s forthcoming Traffic Signs Manual revision. SignPlot Version 3.50 becomes the first software to incorporate the changes in the imminent Chapter 7 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) Manual.
A further enhancement, believed to be a first for sign design software, is guidance on the permissible lettering size to use for each type of parking plate or other worded regulatory sign. SignPlot now also checks that distances are specified in accordance with Schedule 18 of the 2016 TSRGD, and has been brought up to date with many new symbols, including those for Clean Air Zone and Emergency Refuge Area on smart motorways.
The structural design software, SignLoad, built into SignPlot and also available separately, has been updated to Version 3.45, and now enables a percentage spare capacity to be reserved for a heavy variable message sign (VMS) that might be subject to fatigue, and has more options for the print-out and export to sign schedules in Excel. The company’s free Sign Illumination Tool has also been updated.
Simon Morgan, Buchanan’s chairman and original author of SignPlot, commented, “It was easy to update the software for the new Chapter 7, as SignPlot has been used to create the new diagrams in it. We had added ‘tiger tail’ and other innovative lane indication signs over two years ago, before the 2016 TSRGD came into effect, so the DfT was interested to hear what our rules were for their layout and spacing.”
