Clearview Intelligence has unveiled the new SolarLite 2 solar-powered road stud at the Highways UK event at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, with the innovative device offering drivers 10 times greater visibility of the road ahead than traditional cat’s-eyes.
Designed to reduce night time road accidents by over 70%, the new SolarLite 2 intelligent road stud provides improved guidance and hazard warning to drivers during the hours of darkness, even in poor weather conditions. The SolarLite 2 provides up to 2,953ft (900m) of visibility of the road ahead, using superior solar-powered high-intensity LEDs which, unlike conventional reflective road studs, do not rely on vehicle headlight efficiency to perform effectively.
According to the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), the use of SolarLite intelligent solar-powered road studs has been shown to reduce erratic driving behaviour and smooth braking along winding roads. The superior visibility distance allows drivers additional reaction time to respond to road layouts ahead, helping road users to feel safer and more confident in traveling at night. At a vehicle speed of 62mph (100km/h) this can increase the time a driver has to react from 3.2 seconds to over 30 seconds.
SolarLite 2 road studs use patented solar energy harvesting and storage electronics to power high-intensity LEDs to give drivers increased long-range visibility. The robust housing of the embedded road stud has a profile of less than 4mm above the road surface, making them unobtrusive to road users, and able to withstand passing traffic and snowplow use.
They provide reliable all-night, all year-round performance, with long-lasting operation, and lower lifetime costs than traditional road studs. SolarLite 2 will be available in Spring 2018 in a full range of colour options for all road and path delineation uses, including white, amber, red, blue and green. Clearview developed SolarLite 2 in partnership with two other UK companies, Zeta Specialist Lighting and AEV, as the result of a £4m (US$5.2m) Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) government grant awarded in 2014.
“With an average of five fatalities, and many more serious injuries, every day on UK roads, and a worrying 4% rise in the number of reported road deaths, we must seek innovative solutions to our road safety challenges,” said Nick Lanigan, managing director of Clearview Intelligence. “The SolarLite 2 uses our most innovative technology to help tackle the appalling accident rates on UK roads.”
