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The authorities in Thai capital Bangkok are launching a new mass media campaign aimed at increasing awareness around helmet use. This is a critical road safety issue in a country where over 60% of motorists use motorcycles. In collaboration with Vital Strategies and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), Bangkok’s campaign will encourage motorcyclists to wear helmets. The campaign will also encourage powered two wheeler riders to properly fasten helmet buckles, a key compone

The German province of Thuringia plans to maintain, repair and develop its road network during 2016. A budget of €222 million has been set for spending on roads in Thuringia during 2016 by the authorities. During the summer period there will be 37 workzone sites on Thuringia's road network. The main commercial and administrative centre for Thuringia is Erfurt, although the province also includes the historically important towns of Weimar and Eisenach.

Sales of construction machines have been improving in Italy. Data from the Italian equipment manufacturing association, UNACEA, shows how the market picked up during the first six months of 2016. The report reveals how sales in the Italian market rose 22% compared to the same period of 2015. The UNACEA quarterly study shows that 4,723 construction machines were sold during the first six months of 2016, including 4,617 earthmoving machines and 106 road machines. Compared with the same period for 2015, this e

It caught all the cyclists by surprise when a young bounding kangaroo decided to hurl itself at the peloton during a bicycle race in Australia. A fellow racer trailing behind took the video. The targeted cyclist was severely bruised from hitting the deck and he needed stitches. But the marauding kangaroo apparently died from its injuries when it slammed into the bike at a right angle. Cyclists being taken out by kangaroos is more common than most non-Australians would think. Click here to see one cycl

A wheelchair-bound man in Spain has been caught on camera weaving in and out of Barcelona traffic and moving faster than surrounding vehicles. The street racer was cruising along Barcelona's Carrer de Muntaner when a motorcycle passenger took the video. You Tube videos of speeding wheel chair users are becoming more common. But so too are videos of people who generally want more mobility out their wheelchair. So click here to see a more sensible way to live life in your wheelchair in the fast lane. Appa

Funding sources are being looked at for the important Trans-Sumatra highway in Indonesia. The Indonesian Government has been holding discussions with the Asia Investment Infrastructure Bank (AIIB). A loan for the construction of the 130km stretch of tolled highway from Pekanbaru to Dumai is being considered. In all this stretch of highway is expected to cost some US$1.24 billion to construct with just under a third being funded by the loan.

In South Korea a contractor has been awarded the deal to construct and important new stretch of highway. The US$263.3 million deal is for a section of the Seoul-Sejong expressway. Hanwha Engineering & Construction (Hanwha E&C) will construct the section of the route in Gyeonggi Province. In all the new route will measure some 129km when complete and will connect Guri in Gyeonggi Province to Sejong. This will be one of several new highways running from north to south in South Korea.

Research reveals that smoother roads can help cut emissions of CO2. This has been announced following the release of the Communication on “A European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility” (COM (2016) 501) by the European Commission. This covers all transport modes but for road transport, the Communication includes proposals on optimising the transport system, low-emission alternative energy, and low- and zero-emission vehicles. Three associations active in road construction - EUPAVE (the European Concrete

Blue smoke belches from spinning tyres as possibly the world’s fastest street-legal electric vehicle takes off down the track at Santa Pod Raceway in the UK. Sports journalist and commentator Jonny Smith pushed his bright orange Flux Capacitor, a reworked electric Enfield 8000 from the 1970s, to a sub-10 second quarter mile - 9.86 seconds to reach 121.73mph. Not bad for a car designed with a top speed of 40mph in mind. The noise in the video is from the petrol-engine car that struggled to keep up.