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. Click here to view more.

Related Content

  • Safety improvements in developed nations
    August 20, 2013
    At a time when road safety is posing a significant threat to both human health and economic development around the world, it is worth noting that in many developed nations the situation is improving. The United Nations has identified road safety as a major problem and established its Decade of Action for Road Safety for the 2010-2020 period, in a bid to cut the growing death toll. But while developing nations are seeing a vast growth in vehicle numbers and road fatalities, the improving road safety situ
  • Czech republic needs more investment in road safety
    July 11, 2012
    In 2001, the European Commission set the ambitious goal of halving the deaths on Europe's roads by 2010. While significant progress has been made over the years, it is clear that only a few countries are expected to reach this target. More needs to be done! The Brussels Programme Centre of the International Road Federation (IRF BPC®), as a signatory to the European Road Safety Charter, has over the years been actively involved in the efforts to improve road safety and reduce fatalities.
  • New barriers are helping improve road safety
    June 30, 2014
    A series of new guardrail technologies and barrier developments are now coming to market - Mike Woof writes. An array of technical developments is helping improve highway safety for road users. New barrier and guardrail technologies can offer greater conspicuity so as to alert drivers, along with better restraint capabilities. Gregory Industries offers a wide range of steel and cable barrier types and has now developed an attachment system for international use. This fixes the guardrail to the post and in t
  • Improved road safety in Irish capital
    April 9, 2014
    The latest data available through Pan European safety body TISPOL reveals that road fatality levels have reduced in the Dublin Region in recent years. However, the information shows that pedestrians are still at risk. Since 2008, almost 40% fatal road traffic collisions involve pedestrian fatalities. A Casualty Reduction campaign has been run in the Dublin Region to tackle the problem. A key police strategy has been to improve pedestrian awareness of the dangers. Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid, head of Dub