New road stud gains DfT approval

Clearview Traffic Group has extended its range of fully UK type approved active road studs after receiving approval from the UK Department for Transport (DfT).

The company’s Astucia range will now include its IRS2 hardwired intelligent road stud.

Clearview is the only firm to have gained such type approval from the DfT for its range of active road studs.

Originally conceived to meet the requirements of the Hindhead Tunnel project, the IRS2 road studs had to meet the stringent set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements for the purposes of carrying out road tests in accordance with the provisions of British Standard BS EN 1463-1:2000 (as required by draft Standard BS EN 1463-3 pt2) on the Trunk Road at Hindhead Tunnel.

To complete the approval process, the Astucia IRS2 hardwired intelligent road studs then had to undergo a 12-month endurance trial to prove their robustness and durability whilst deployed in the road. The DfT agreed that the trial for type approval could be carried out as part of the installation within the A3 Hindhead Tunnel project in Surrey.

In October 2010, Astucia successfully installed 868 hardwired bi-directional studs split equally between the two tunnel bores. Each bore has two lanes and there are 64 independent strings and 36 controllers. The bi-directional road studs have been developed with a shallower profile than previous studs and are positioned every 4.5 metres between the white central line markings.

The flexible design of the road studs incorporates the latest advances in light emitting diode (LED) technology to provide drivers with superior lane delineation and advance awareness of the road layout ahead, giving them more time to react accordingly.

By Alec Peachey