The new device, installed for the first time on the A-8, aims to improve the visibility of drivers in bad weather and redirect traffic to an automated detour when necessary.
Already in 2016, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) installed an automated diversion from the A-8 to the N-634 to automatically redirect traffic when the traffic situation so required.
Now, the DGT has presented the new beaconing system complementary at that same point and that will serve to improve visibility and road safety in foggy conditions or any other adverse weather situation.
The red colored window will light up when the beacons detect the traffic of another vehicle
According Jorge Ordas, provincial head of Traffic in Lugo, “the automated diversion has helped us to improve the use time of the motorway when there is intense fog and we have to divert traffic”.
“But now we want to go one step further and, using existing technology, we have designed a project, pioneer in Europe, innovative and economical to solve a specific problem, fog, which allows us to reduce to the maximum the number of hours that the motorway has to be closed in said section and which represents a substantial improvement in the operation of the motorway and a significant improvement in road safety for the section in question, “he adds.
That’s how it works
The project has consisted of the installation of powerful beacons with great light capacity that allow signaling or warning the driver that another vehicle is driving ahead.
For this, the entire conflictive section has been covered in both directions and in 50-meter sections, placing detector beacons at 1.5 meters height on both margins of each section.
This is how the new DGT anti-fog beacons work.
In situations of a certain fog, the lower windows of the amber color that will mark the conflicting section, indicating to the driver the layout of the motorway in safe conditions.
the window of Red color It will turn on when the beacons, through different technologies, detect the transit of another vehicle. Once the car is detected, the upper part of the red beacons turn on so that as the first vehicle moves, the beacons will remain lit as it passes and will allow the vehicle that precedes it to see at a distance of approximately 100 meters and be able to circulate safely.
In addition to all that, the beacons include a informative vertical panel in which the driver is warned that he is going to travel through a section where he is likely to encounter fog, reminding him of the need to respect the safety distance.
Loading tweet…
1485963661256626179
When the visibility distance due to fog is less than 40 meters and it is not possible to circulate in safe conditions, those responsible for traffic management establish the Black level and the A-8 is cut off from traffic, diverting it to the N-634, an alternative secondary road to the dual carriageway between kilometer points 536 and 552 in both directions.
accidents
According to the DGT, the majority of traffic accidents in foggy sections occur as a result of rear-end collisions in which the driver behind does not respect the safety distance.
In 2021, more than 330 accidents with victims. In the section where the intelligent anti-fog beacons have been installed, a multiple accident occurred in 2014 in which 40 vehicles were involved.