Road Markings, Barriers & Workzone Protection

The US has seen a major reduction in deaths following accidents in its highway construction work zones, while Europe and other parts of the world are looking at new safety technology and systems to trigger a similar trend. Guy Woodford reports. Work in the US to reduce the likelihood of potentially fatal accidents at highway work zones is paying dividend.

In Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England, some residents are reported to be so fed-up of waiting for traffic lines to be painted on roads by the local county council that they are threatening to do it themselves. Staffordshire County Council highways bosses say they can only take on four new traffic measure projects a year and have a waiting list stretching to 2028. Media outlets in the county report that the local authority currently has more than 70 requests from all over Stafford borough

DELTA, which has introduced its brand new handheld RetroSign GR3 retroreflectometer for measuring the retroreflection of traffic signs, also offers a number of instruments for road markings. The Danish company points out that as the median age of the average driver grows the importance of night-time visibility of pavement markings for traffic safety becomes even greater.

Recent months have seen many major and vital road marking projects and products completed and tested in different parts of the world. Guy Woodford looks at some of them in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Africa. The London borough of Kensington and Chelsea now has one of the most dramatic streetscape designs in Europe. Exhibition Road’s striking chequered granite design, featuring a single surface running from South Kensington Station to Hyde Park and the full width of the road from building to b

Box International studies have proven that relatively more accidents and fatalities happen during night-time driving compared to day-time driving. At the end of 2008, Danish company DELTA launched its latest model, the LTL-XL, a fourth generation portable retrometer for measuring night and day-time visibility of all types of road markings. "Measures are traceable to PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt), Germany and NIST (National Institute of Standards), USA. LTL-XL measures according to the internat

Road markings, along with laying and testing equipment, are all essential to make sure drivers get clear instructions. Patrick Smith reports Road markings are as important as signs, with longitudinal markings informing and warning road users of approaching situations that will require them to take some form of action.

Potters Europe is launching its new on site road marking technical support service. The new service is headed by Potters Europe technical service engineer Jason Prince, who was using the Traffex exhibition in Birmingham, UK, to advise visitors about the benefits of the new service, which he says will assist customers in applying reflective road markings to achieve optimum performance.

The work of Echo Barrier was highlighted at a prestigious Institute of Acoustics (IOA) sponsored awards ceremony held at the House of Commons. The company, which develops and supplies temporary acoustic barriers for use on major construction projects to reduce noise pollution, was highly commended for its Echo H1 barrier and range of products during the 2011 John Connell Awards.