A75 HGV safety scheme scoops top industry award

A scheme that uses smart road signs with the aim of reducing the disproportionate number of HGV accidents on the A75 through Dumfries and Galloway has scooped the Road Safety Scheme of the Year award at the Highways Awards.

Scotland TranServ, alongside Transport Scotland, Clearview Intelligence and Coeval lifted the prize at the Lancaster Hotel in London for their Vehicle Activated Sign (VAS) project on the A75 through Dumfries and Galloway.

Scotland TranServ Road Safety Manager, Vincent Tait said: “This is a magnificent achievement for Scotland TranServ’s hard-working and innovative Strategic Road Safety team. We identified a real need for the A75 and worked with Transport Scotland to develop the project and bring that to fruition, with long-term benefits for the safety of road users and particularly the hundreds of HGV drivers using this main artery every day.”

Tait identified the need for the VAS scheme having trawled through 10-years of statistics which reflected a potential issue with a disproportionate number of HGV accidents on the A75 through Dumfries and Galloway.

Transport Scotland’s Network Operations Manager for Safety and Development, Stuart Wilson added: “Scotland has some of the safest roads in the world and we have achieved this through the sustained use of evidence and innovation in promoting road safety interventions. This award for the A75 is welcome recognition of the work undertaken on this important route and we will continue to bring forward appropriate road safety improvements on the A75 where these can be expected to support progress towards our 2020 casualty reduction targets.”

Scotland TranServ and Transport Scotland worked with intelligent mobility experts at Clearview Intelligence to develop the ‘smart’ signs which identify a vehicle class and therefore its speed limit by its axle length. The VAS receives this information via inductive traffic loops sunk in the carriageway about 100m from the sign in both approaches.

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