Curtains for speeders at Curtin University thanks to Actibump

Curtin University in Perth, Australia, is rolling out more Actibumps for slowing traffic after what is says has been a successful trial of four systems. “We expected the same effect as in Sweden,” said David Eskilsson, general manager at Edeva, the Actibump manufacturer based in Linkoping. “But the decrease in the percentage of speeding drivers from over 70% of all drivers in January to below 25% in October last year on the most difficult site has been better than even we expected.” In January 2018 Curtin
June 10, 2019 Read time: 3 mins
Actibump successful in Australia
Curtin University in Perth, Australia, is rolling out more Actibumps for slowing traffic after what is says has been a successful trial of four systems.


“We expected the same effect as in Sweden,” said David Eskilsson, general manager at 5190 Edeva, the Actibump manufacturer based in Linkoping. “But the decrease in the percentage of speeding drivers from over 70% of all drivers in January to below 25% in October last year on the most difficult site has been better than even we expected.”

In January 2018 Curtin University installed four of the active speed bumps to reduce the number of speeding drivers, particularly on semester week days when there are a lot of pedestrians and vehicles on campus. Each day around 2,000 vehicles use the street which has a speed limit of 40km/h.

“The use of the smart speed bumps also provides a steadier flow of traffic, which makes it easier for pedestrians to judge the speed of the approaching vehicle,” said Graham Arndt, director of operations and maintenance at Curtin University. “Additionally, the units have been maintenance free and operated continuously for a year without the need for any intervention.”

Arndt said the university will be installing another set of two active speed bumps on Townsing Drive and another active speed bump will replace a so-called dumb bump - a moulded black plastic bump near the Manning Road entrance. The Actibump traffic safety system allows full accessibility for all vehicles driven at, or under, the set speed limit. Speeding vehicles are physically reminded of the speed limit by an inverted speedbump. A radar measures the speed of the oncoming vehicles and speeding vehicles activate a hatch that is lowered a few centimetres into the road surface. Drivers were surprised to see the road “disappear in front of them” and this made them slow down, said Arndt.

For non-speeders the hatch remains level with the road surface. Edeva says that  independent evaluations have shown that the system decreases the noise, improves yielding behaviour and decreases the speed to that of the speed limit of around 3km/h, regardless of speed limit or previous speeding behaviour.

Speed limit and other variables are set through a web-based interface that also presents the statistics collected by the system.

Edeva says that around 50 Actibump units have been installed worldwide, with most of them in Sweden including in Linköping, Malmö, Helsingborg, Karlstad and two of them are installed in Ystad, on the European road network E65 owned by the Swedish Transport Administration.

Highway & Network Management

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bomag’s president Ralf Junker puts his faith in BIM
    November 8, 2017
    World Highways recently caught up with Ralf Junker, president of BOMAG Group, during the company’s Innovation Days at its headquarters in Germany. David Arminas reports. Ralf Junker hasn’t forgotten his roots. You can put as much machine control as you like on a piece of construction equipment but all that high-technology is for nothing if the build quality isn’t there. Junker knows something about build quality. When he started at BOMAG in 1988, he was in the welding shop, eventually becoming supervisor
    Read More
  • Trial of innovative real-time alerts for wildlife on highways
    May 2, 2012
    The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is testing a first-in-the-USA detection system that alerts drivers in real time of wildlife on highways that cause risk to motorists. The OmniTrax solution from Senstar is based on a volumetric electromagnetic proven sensor, buried approximately one third of a metre underground and about 10 metres from either side of the roadway.
    Read More
  • Shell Bitumen’s new technology cuts air-polluting emissions by 40%
    May 15, 2019
    Shell Bitumen has developed molecular technology that cuts 40% of air-polluting emissions -Kristina Smith reports Shell Bitumen is launching a new technology which drastically reduces the amount of harmful air pollutants produced when asphalt mixes are manufactured and laid on the roads. Called Shell Bitumen FreshAir, it reduces six of the seven pollutants produced by at least 40%. The seventh, ozone, is produced in too small an amount to measure changes. “The World Health Organisation has said that 90%
    Read More
  • VINCI, Extrabit adaptive lighting in Greece
    December 28, 2023
    The system on a section of the tolled 218km-long highway - also known as Motorway 8 - adjusts the lighting to suit the driving conditions, according to highways operator VINCI Highways.
    Read More

Highlighted Content