The value of safety systems that instantly alert road workers to incursions has been recognised by Highways England in their latest (July 2016) Raising the Bar document (Managing Temporary Traffic Management Incursions).
The Intellicone Safelane real time incursion warning system is celebrating its second anniversary this month (August).
Since its launch the system has been used on over 22,000 occasions demonstrating significant safety and efficiency benefits to contractors and highway authorities across the UK and internationally.
Primarily designed to instantly warn the workforce of a temporary traffic management breach regardless of location and distance, the system has also demonstrated that it is possible to remove traffic management operatives (TMO) from areas of potential confrontation and abuse.
The safety benefits are profound with one site supervisor claiming it almost certainly prevented serious harm to his workforce during a dangerous errant vehicle incursion on the A14 in November 2015. A traffic management foreman on the M25 J30 A13 widening project claims it is live saving technology and has helped safeguard workers inside the closure on multiple occasions, “Safelane has proved its worth on two separate occasions now, without it who knows what would have happened with regards to injuries or even fatalities.”
To put this in perspective, on this particular scheme there were over 40 cases where motorists deliberately ignored road closure signs in 2015 alone.
Roger Poeth, from Highway Resource Solutions, said: “Safelane is easy to deploy and comes with wearable panic alarms for traffic management operatives (TMO) who are manning works access points alongside a portable site alarm with integrated incident triggered camera. Despite best efforts in reducing the risk of incursions to an absolute minimum it is impossible to completely eliminate the risk of an errant vehicle entering a temporary worksite, especially for overnight closures. Enabling TMOs to instantly alert the workforce is therefore a major safety enhancement and has already proven to be an indispensable tool.”
