Durham County Council
The success of highway engineering initiatives in casualty reduction is rarely recognised and this submission aims to highlight examples of successful and innovative initiatives with identifiable reductions in collision numbers and collision severity which started in County Durham in 2000.
Using:
- Prismo for Colourbright – a reflective coloured road surface treatment
- 3M 590 Road stud – The first prismatic reflecting road stud
- Leighs Nite Site – a high performance methyl methacralate white line
- Corus Protect 365 – the first N2, W1 road restraint system in Europe
- SignPost Solutions Lattix – Passively safe sign posts
- SignPost Solutions Kapu – Passively safe lighting columns
- SignPost Solutions SAPA – Passively Safe Traffic Signal posts
- SignPost Solutions Biker Mate – Energy absorbing crash cushions to protect motor cyclists
- SignPost Solutions Biker Safe – An energy absorbing addition to road restraint barrier to protect motor cyclists
- NAL disconnection systems to remove the electrical supply in an impact
Biker Safe is an energy absorbing addition to existing safety barriers to prevent riders impacting with the barrier posts. A geotextile type of material is attached to the barrier and the road creating a safe zone where if the rider falls from his machine he hits the geotextile which prevents him hitting the barrier posts.
Biker Mate is a design for energy absorbing cushions which can be retrofitted to existing dangerous infrastructure such as large sign posts etc. The design & research has been done using energy data and materials used for other safety purposes in the automotive industry and the energy management results have been proved during testing.