Skip to main content

Report into passively safe lighting columns

Lighting columns and other roadside structures such as overhead gantries play an essential role in road safety, by improving night time visibility or giving information to drivers. However old generation units themselves pose a potential hazard as they can be impacted by vehicles departing the roadway and potentially with fatal results in the event of a high speed crash. This is why newer passively safe columns have been developed, which are designed to collapse in a controlled fashion when impacted, reduci
November 16, 2015 Read time: 1 min

Lighting columns and other roadside structures such as overhead gantries play an essential role in road safety, by improving night time visibility or giving information to drivers. However old generation units themselves pose a potential hazard as they can be impacted by vehicles departing the roadway and potentially with fatal results in the event of a high speed crash. This is why newer passively safe columns have been developed, which are designed to collapse in a controlled fashion when impacted, reducing the risk of death or injury to vehicle occupants.

This paper investigates some of the key issues for passively safe columns.

Related Content

  • East African authorities trying to cut spiraling road death rates
    December 10, 2013
    Road fatality rates are rising in East Africa, despite attempts to stem the tide – Shem Oirere writes When a passenger bus in Kenya killed 42 people on August 29th 2013, it coincided with the release of a World Health Organisation (WHO) report that painted a grim picture of the status of road safety in East Africa. The accident at Ntulele shopping centre along the Nairobi-Narok highway, 90km from capital Nairobi, occurred when the bus heading to western Kenya lost control and crashed. The driver is said to
  • Road safety improvements have been seen in France and Turkey
    April 13, 2012
    Both France and Turkey have seen road safety improvements. In Turkey the latest data shows a slight fall in traffic accident fatalities. A recent National Police Department (NPD) research from Turkey indicates that over 10 people die/day in traffic accidents in the country. The research spans the period from 1985 to the end of 2011 and reveals that 3,440,635 were injured in traffic accidents and 152,468 people were killed. But by adding people who died in hospital afterwards, the death count is expected to
  • IRD joins Canadian data vault project
    June 16, 2021
    International Road Dynamics it teaming up with Canada’s University of Manitoba and Canada’s National Research Council to develop a truck-traffic and road-weather monitoring facility.
  • Key transport award
    February 29, 2012
    A key research award is attracting a high-profile list of prospective candidates.