Newsletter February 2022

Newsletter of The New Zealand Roadmarkers Federation Inc.

Roadmarking News www.nzrf.co.nz Edition 153 February 2022

New Zealand could save 100 lives a year on roads, AA says

"People die in one- and two-star cars, significantly more than they die in four- and five-star cars.

The holiday road toll reached 17, one road safety expert says more could be done to prevent fatal crashes in New Zealand.

"And we have an old fleet. So, the vehicles that we're in, when it does go wrong, do not protect us as well as those countries that have a better standard of car with more safety features."

Automobile Association spokesman Mike Noon told Newstalk ZB on January 3rd 2022 that up to 100 lives could be saved each year if changes such as road improvements were made.

The other factor was sections of our roads that "desperately" needed to be improved.

"Quite a lot of our roads need maintenance done on them ... these are roads that are bumpy, have pot holes, have the tar is flushed ... and they lose their grippiness for the tyres of your vehicle.

"There are definitely things we can do to our infrastructure to help ourselves."

Transmission Gully: New Year, but still no opening date

"Australia is on track to have about 4.4 road deaths per 100,000 people. We have 6.3 and the best countries in the world - which are some of the Nordic countries - they're more around about two.

"So, we are doing significantly worse than Australia; which is a country we very much like to compare ourselves to.

"If we had the same road death rate as Australia, 100 people less would've died this past year," he said.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency hopes it will be able to provide an update in mid-February as to just when Transmission Gully will finally open.

Late last year Waka Kotahi conceded the new $1.25 billion motorway out of Wellington would not be open by Christmas.

This was put down to the builder running out of time to complete safety, quality assurance, and consent tasks for the road to open in time for the holidays.

Bumpy roads and old vehicle fleet among factors A total of 319 people were killed on roads around the country by the end of 2021. The figure is only one less than the road toll the year before.

Noon said the older vehicle fleet in New Zealand was one of the factors.

Published by: The New Zealand Roadmarkers Federation Inc. P O Box 13 605 Onehunga Auckland 1643 New Zealand Email: admin@nzrf.co.nz Roadmarking News in published by The NZ Roadmarkers Federation Inc. Opinions expressed in Roadmarking News do not necessarily reflect the views of the NZRF

The four-lane motorway is being built through a public-private partnership (PPP), the Wellington Gateway Partnership (WGP), with CPB Contractors and HEB Construction subcontracted to carry out the design and construction.

Waka Kotahi Transport Services General Manager Brett Gliddon said in a statement January 20th that they were working with the road's contractor and subcontractors to support getting the new motorway open as quickly as possible.

"We are working hard to reach a pragmatic solution with the contractor and subcontractors to get the road safely and legally opened as soon as possible, balanced with protecting the long-term quality and reliability of the road."

Waka Kotahi will provide an update on the expected opening date as soon as a timeframe on completing the required work is established.

That update is likely to be in mid-February.

Waka Kotahi reported that there has been good progress on consent tasks, but there was still outstanding work on a fully functioning stormwater system capable of treating road run-off water to the required standard.

tragedy. That’s why we’re making the speed limit safer for everyone who uses this road,” Director of Regional Relationships Linda Stewart says.

“We have listened to the feedback and we understand the need and desire to also make infrastructure changes that will complement the speed limit change.

“As such, we are undertaking feasibility work on safety improvements for the entire section that will consist of shoulder widening, wide centrelines, side barriers and some intersections improvements.

Following detailed design work, we will be looking to begin implementing these infrastructure changes from late 2022.

“In the meantime, however, the most effective tool we have at our disposal now to dramatically improve safety for everyone who uses this road is to replace the unsafe speed limit of 100km/h with a much safer speed limit of 80km/h. That won’t be popular with everyone, but it’s the right thing to do and our priority is that everyone gets to their destination safely.”

This must be operational for road opening.

As of January 17, there were 32 consent tasks complete and 10 outstanding tasks.

There are also 100 safety and quality assurance tests required under the PPP contract before the road can safely and legally open.

Waka Kotahi moves to make SH5 safer A safer new speed limit for State Highway 5 (SH5), one of the highest risk roads in the Hawke’s Bay, will come into effect early next year.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is lowering the speed limit on SH5 between Rangitaiki and Esk Valley, following technical assessments of the road and consultation with the public. From 18 February 2022, the speed limit on SH5 from Rangitaiki (1140m southeast of Matea Road) to Esk Valley (110m west of Waipunga Road) will be permanently lowered from 100km/h to 80km/h.

“Safe speeds save lives. When speeds are safe for the road, simple mistakes are less likely to end in

Between 2010 and 2019, 16 people were killed and 75 were seriously injured in crashes on SH5 between Taupō and Napier. Since December 2019, a further nine people have lost their lives in six fatal crashes. All but one of these occurred between Rangitaiki and Esk Valley.

“Every death and every serious injury on our roads has a devastating impact on a large number of people – whānau, friends, colleagues and neighbours, as well as our first responders,” Ms Stewart says.

“It is time we stopped accepting that a certain amount of death and serious injury is just the price we all pay for moving around. We need to move

past the whole idea of a ‘road toll’ paid in human lives.

submissions can be found at: SH5 permanent speed limits

“We have clear evidence to show that the current speed limit is not safe for this road, even for the best drivers. The road traverses a constrained and challenging environment and is hilly with sweeping bends and no physical separation of traffic travelling in opposite directions.

Penlink tolling consultation underway

“It’s not safe or appropriate for it to have the same speed limit as Auckland’s Southern Motorway or the Hawke’s Bay Expressway. Speed limits should reflect the type of road and their environment.

“SH5 is a critical north link for Hawke’s Bay, and will continue to be for years to come, so we know that it’s important to plan for its future long-term,” Ms Stewart says.

Along with introducing safer speeds on SH5 and SH51, around $14 million will be invested into maintenance and safety projects around the Hawke’s Bay region this year. This will include road resealing and replacements at multiple locations along SH5.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency is asking for public feedback about a proposal to toll Penlink, the new transport connection in north Auckland being built to support people living and working in Silverdale, Whangaparāoa and the Hibiscus Coast.

Tolling Penlink would help provide more reliable journeys and pay for the ongoing maintenance and operation of the road.

When it opens in 2026 Penlink will provide people in Auckland’s north with a vital new connection that allows for more transport choices to help people get where they’re going safely.

Part of the New Zealand Upgrade Programme, the Government’s $8.7 billion investment in growing areas across the country, North Auckland communities can look forward to a two-lane road with a shared path for people on foot and on bikes.

In addition, Waka Kotahi has resealed sections of SH5 and Titiokura Summit, improved safety at the Tarawera Café entrance and have spent $16 million on maintaining the state highway in the 20/21 financial year - an extra $4 million above previously budgeted.

Waka Kotahi is also seeking funding for a business case that will explore improvements in addition to safety, such as improving the resilience of the route to make it better able to withstand severe weather events. If funding is approved, work will be delivered in stages between 2021 and 2027.

As part of New Zealand’s road safety strategy, Road to Zero, Waka Kotahi is identifying roads where safer speed limits can make a big difference in saving lives.

Road to Zero accepts that humans are vulnerable, and we make mistakes. It sets us on a path to achieve Vision Zero, an Aotearoa New Zealand where no one is killed or seriously injured on our roads.

The changes we’re making under Road to Zero are so that people aren’t killed or seriously injured when they do make mistakes.

More information on the permanent speed limits and a consultation summary, including the

Public consultation runs between 17th January and 13th February 2022, with people able to submit their feedback via the online survey site.

Online survey site “Government funding for the Penlink project has been provided for the planning and construction of the project only, so the ongoing costs of maintaining and operating the road need to be found from other funding sources.

“Tolling revenue from Penlink and future new state highways could be used to pay for their maintenance and operations rather than trying to find funding from the National Land Transport

Fund, which is under increasing pressure to fund transport improvements across the country,” Mr Kinvig says.

more contracts which embody Construction Accord Principles,” said Chris Bunny.

See the Accord guiding principles.

The tolling proposal includes different toll prices for peak and off-peak hours, also known as variable tolling. Charges vary between $1.00 to $4.00 with heavy freight paying more than light vehicles.

Variable tolling helps people make choices about when they travel, and therefore the toll price they pay. It will also reduce travel times on Penlink during peak hours.

To ensure fair and equitable toll prices, three toll points are proposed along the 7km route so that road users pay the right amount for the parts of Penlink they use.

Review of NZS3910 construction contract underway A review of one of New Zealand’s most used construction contracts has been commissioned by the Construction Sector Accord and the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga.

NZS 3910:2013 (NZS 3910) is a standard form of contract used for the majority of contracts in the construction and infrastructure sector. The review will be led by Standards New Zealand and follows its scoping review of NZS 3910 earlier this year, commissioned by the New Zealand Construction Industry Council.

“The scoping review established an overwhelming consensus from the construction sector that NZS 3910 requires comprehensive review. It hasn’t been updated since 2013 and hasn’t kept pace with legislative and other changes in the construction sector. That has resulted in a proliferation of special conditions to the standard form for individual projects,” said Ross Copland, Chief Executive of Te Waihanga.

During November 2021, Standards New Zealand invited nominations from organisations within the construction sector to represent them on the review committee. Further information on the review process is available on the Standards New Zealand website.

See the NZS 3910 Review page.

The following organisations are parties to a memorandum of understanding signed in late October: · Construction Sector Accord · Te Waihanga · Property Council New Zealand · Auckland Council · Department of Corrections · Ministry of Education · Kāinga Ora · Ministry of Justice · Ministry of Health · New Zealand Defence Force · Civil Contractors New Zealand · Registered Master Builders · Specialist Trade Contractors Federation · New Zealand Construction Industry Council Some of these organisations will be making direct financial contributions to support the review, while others will be receiving contributions from supporting entities from within the sector. These organisations and supporting entities are acknowledged for their commitment and support for the revision of NZS 3910.

Roads are for people – latest safety information to focus on all road users

“This review aims to deliver a standard industry construction contract that is fit for purpose and widely accepted by the sector,” said Chris Bunny, co-chair of the Accord Steering Group and a Deputy Secretary at MBIE.

Motor vehicle traders and industry associations are showing great support for vehicle safety rating labels which aim to help car buyers make potentially life-saving choices when purchasing their next vehicle.

“In particular, the Accord and Te Waihanga want to see a significant reduction in the use of special conditions, and for contracts to be transparent on risk and where it sits. We want to see the industry better able to document contracts quickly and easily, boosting productivity, and we want to see

From 1st December, safety ratings published on Rightcar will focus on the impact vehicles have on all people involved in crashes on New Zealand roads. This change will lead to a greater improvement in road safety and help to reduce the number of people who die or are seriously injured on our roads.

To standardise the way safety rating information is presented to the public, both Used Car Safety Ratings (UCSR) and Vehicle Safety Risk Ratings (VSRR) will be using Overall Safety as the headline, or primary, measure of safety. This measures the safety of a vehicle for not only its own occupants but also all road users involved in a crash, including people in other cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

The Overall Safety rating will also be used as the safety rating published on third party websites such as TradeMe. Driver Safety ratings will continue to be published on Rightcar for both UCSR and VSRR ratings, so people can find out how well a vehicle will protect them in the event of a crash. Other Road User Safety will also be published to show the impact of a crash on occupants of other vehicles as well as cyclists and pedestrians.

“Improving safety on New Zealand roads is a top priority for Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

Waka Kotahi is committed to Vision Zero, which aspires to a New Zealand where no-one is killed or seriously injured on our roads. Improving the safety of vehicles driven on our roads is a key part of our work to reduce deaths and serious injuries on our roads”, says Kane Patena, Director of Land Transport at Waka Kotahi.

“As we transition to a low carbon transport system, we also need to ensure that walking and cycling are safe travel options, so it’s crucial that vehicle safety ratings now focus on all people using our roads.”

is a standardised laboratory test based on real driving data that better reflects realistic road use such as variable speed ranges, acceleration and deceleration.

Because the new testing better represents real-life driving conditions, fuel consumption may appear higher, and EV range lower, than under the old standard. The vehicle’s performance hasn’t changed, just the way fuel economy is measured is more realistic.

The Rightcar update also includes an annual safety rating update, with the latest safety ratings for all vehicles in New Zealand which have been assessed

by Monash University’s Accident Research Centre using a database of 8 million crashes.

Since the ratings measure the relative safety of vehicles compared to all others on the road, the current ratings for some vehicles in New Zealand will change from today, reflecting that newer, safer vehicles continue to enter the fleet.

“People are increasingly placing more importance on safety and environmental impact in their vehicle buying decisions, and we’re continuing to encourage people to buy the safest, cleanest, most efficient vehicle in their price range.

Find vehicles with high safety and environmental ratings in New Zealand at rightcar.govt.nz/safeand-clean

2021 road toll: 'Too high, little progress made' – Automobile Association Road deaths are disproportionately high even despite pandemic lockdowns, the AA says, with 319 people killed in crashes in 2021.

The figure is only one less than the road toll for 2020, and AA policy manager Simon Douglas said it signalled that New Zealand was not doing what it could to take decisive action on road safety.

Changes to the fuel economy and carbon emissions data published on Rightcar will also come into effect today, as New Zealand adopts a newer international vehicle fuel economy testing standard – the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Testing Procedure (WLTP).

The WLTP is a worldwide standard for testing fuel economy, CO2 emissions and electric vehicle (EV) range of passenger and light commercial vehicles. It

Douglas said the 2020 and 2021 road tolls do show a "turn around" of fewer deaths compared to a previous upward trend to 2017 (380 deaths) from a low in 2013 (253). But while the upward trend to 2017 appeared to have been turned around, Douglas said global comparisons showed the country "could and should be doing better" in road safety.

"Some people would point out that the population and amount of vehicles on the roads have grown in the last decade, which will have an impact on crash numbers - and that's true," he said.

"But if we look across to Australia, they were on track to have about 4.4 road deaths per 100,000 people this year while New Zealand had 6.3."

Douglas said 100 fewer people would have been killed in 2021 if our roads were as safe as Australia's.

A cabinet paper titled Improving Road Safety in New Zealand attributed the larger decrease since 1987 to "improvements in road infrastructure, the vehicle fleet, and driver behaviour." It said the smaller upward trend between 2013 and 2017 reflected global trends and was partly explained by increasing road travel, but nevertheless, New Zealand had more road deaths per 100,000 people than all but one OECD country in that period.

An International Transport Forum report put the cost of road crashes in New Zealand at 1.8 percent of the country's GDP in 2018.

In December 2019 the government released Road to Zero, a plan to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 40 percent by 2030 (the road toll in 2018 was 377).

"There is no reason why our roads shouldn't be as safe as Australia's."

In the past 60 years there had only been three times when less than 300 people were killed on the roads in one year. And Douglas said even with less road travel due to the pandemic and lockdowns in the past two years, the national toll still had not reduced below 300.

AA wants to see more action to improve road safety, such as upgrading high-risk roads and key highways with barriers, spending more on road maintenance and improving road surfaces, lowering speeds, more drink driving testing and introducing roadside drug testing.

Before the spike in the road toll from 2013 to 2017, the number of deaths had trended downwards dramatically from a peak of 795 deaths in 1987, to the 2013 low.

However, two months ago former Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter, who had officially launched Road to Zero made a damning criticism of NZTA's 'failure' to make solid progress on planned highway safety upgrades.

Added to the mix is an admission from police that they "significantly undershot" planned work aimed at improving road safety in the Auckland region.

The shortfalls were detailed in a highly critical report by Auckland Transport which said police were only doing about half what they had pledged to do, and their lack of involvement was costing lives - about ten a year, it estimated.

Douglas said more action was needed on several fronts; "It's clearly not good enough, and not the progress we were hoping to make with the Road to Zero strategy, which is looking for a 40 percent decrease in deaths on our roads, and we're just not doing enough to get there."

But he said drivers should also do their bit.

AA data showed about 50 percent of fatal crashes involved "extreme and reckless behaviour", and the other half involved "momentary lapses or mistakes."

He encouraged motorists to make a conscious effort to drive safer in 2022, including keeping safe following distances, slowing speeds to match the conditions, not using phones while driving, ensuring everyone in the car was wearing a seatbelt, and not driving tired.

Now was the best time to start, he said, "as Kiwis are returning from their summer holidays, we're

going to have a couple of the busiest days on the road."

Simon Douglas spoke at the NZRF/RIAA Conference in 2019

"We are pretty serious about the way we do business and if there was a major ongoing failure, we would absolutely put in a recall and put it through NZTA."

Fuso New Zealand investigating tow bars to see if vehicle recall needed

One option would be to add extra bolts when trucks came in for servicing, he said.

A major truck distributor is investigating three trailer tow bars that failed to see if it needs to order a recall of about 600 vehicles. So far the research pointed to not intervening, it said.

The New Zealand Transport Agency - Waka Kotahi said it was not involved as any recall would be voluntary.

The tow bars on three small Mistubishi Fuso trucks were damaged backing into metal piles.

"If requested we'll provide the manufacturer administering the recall with contact details of vehicle owners as per our standard processes," Waka Kotahi said.

It is understood Waka Kotahi advised that if it did come to putting bigger bolts on the trailers, that would not need certification from a heavy vehicle engineer.

Using the new Motueka roundabout safely

However, their design then came into question so they were sent off and subjected to 1.5 million cycles of testing.

Fuso New Zealand managing director Kurtis Andrews said tow bar supplier Best Bars had told them they did not need to fit stronger bolts.

"We are investigating a very, very small select few tow bars that have failed, but they have failed at this point subject to abuse.

"The testing report that we've had back from Australia shows that the current design is OK to continue with."

With a new roundabout recently opened to traffic in Motueka, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency has some reminders on roundabout use.

The roundabout is at the intersection of Old Wharf Road, King Edward and High Streets. Waka Kotahi Director of Regional Relationships, Emma Speight, says it will help people to travel around this intersection safely.

“Whether you are driving, cycling, or walking across the road, the new roundabout will help people navigate the intersection more safely and at a slower speed. It will also make it easier and safer for people coming from the side roads to access the state highway, and it will help pedestrians get across safely.”

Best Bars had gone back to the drawing board and said, "let's retest it", Andrews said.

Fuso had asked dealers for feedback too. "There are no issues with road safety," he said.

"The tow bars are safe so we're pretty happy to continue as we are," though he noted they were yet to make a final decision on a recall.

Best Bars had advised it to keep things as they were, and any move to upgrade the bolts would come at "quite a significant cost", he said.

Over the summer period there will be a temporary speed limit of 30km/h while people get used to the pedestrian zebra crossings and the roundabout

ramps, markings and signage are finalised in the New Year.

Waka Kotahi will be monitoring the roundabout to ensure it is working well for the community.

“SH58 is one of the region’s key routes, linking the Hutt Valley and Porirua. We’re pleased to have now completed safety improvements on the threekilometre section between Hutt Valley and Mount Cecil Road.

“We encourage everyone to take it slowly, as they adjust to the new road layout. The pedestrian crossings at the roundabout are new to drivers, and so we ask both drivers and pedestrians to be careful and watch out for each other,” Ms Speight says.

The pedestrian crossings are set around six metres back from roundabout – for three main reasons:  



It ensures pedestrians are visible to people driving through the roundabout.

It ensures the crossing points are located where people would naturally cross the road, therefore reducing the likelihood of jaywalking.

It will mean that vehicles will not have picked up speed while exiting the roundabout before reaching the zebra crossing.

“We look forward to coming back in February 2022, to complete the final piece of the Motueka project, with the installation of the Tudor/High Street traffic signals” Ms Speight says

Safer journeys for people travelling on SH58 Journeys on State Highway 58 (SH58) between Hutt Valley and Mount Cecil Road will be safer and more reliable, with the first stage of safety improvements on the road now complete.

Over the last two years, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency contractors have built uphill crawler lanes, straightened the road around the most challenging bends, and installed median safety barriers.

New electronic message boards and CCTV have also been installed to help monitor the road and keep people up to date with the latest traffic and travel information.

“We’re pleased to have Stage 1 of the SH58 Safety Improvements project completed well in time for Christmas, bar some minor work on the culvert and a few other items, which our contractors aim to have finished in the next few weeks,” says Regional Maintenance and Operations Manager Mark Owen.

“It’s been challenging work on a busy highway carrying around 20,000 vehicles every day, but the end result is a much safer, more reliable and enjoyable journey for everyone who travels on this route.

“These changes provide people with better visibility, more safety features, and a smoother, less demanding journey, which will all help to prevent people being killed or seriously injured on this road.

They’ll also support economic growth by providing better and more resilient access through this section.”

Since work started in October 2019, more than 85,000 cubic metres of earthworks have been moved, 25,000 tonnes of asphalt have been laid, and more than 8,000 trees and shrubs have been planted.

“With the first stage of work complete, our team can now fully focus on the next section of safety improvements on State Highway 58, between Harris Road and the Transmission Gully interchange at Pāuatahanui.”

Trackless trams could be Perth’s new transport option The start of a New Year is always a good time to consider fresh ideas and contemplate what the future holds on a range of fronts.

For Perth, how we can travel around it safely, efficiently and affordably is a key issue to consider.

Perth is one of the longest and most narrow cities in the world and most of our major transport infrastructure, especially heavy rail services, replicate this.

The State Government’s Metronet rail plan is a fantastic initiative that is improving connectivity for a range of areas, however east-west connectivity remains lacking and options to get between suburbs conveniently and efficiently still needs improvement.

This is where mid-tier public transport solutions such as trackless trams, more rapid bus networks and light rail could have a significant role in Perth’s public transport network.

causing frustration and delays for commuters and those wanting to visit the beach.

According to the City of Stirling, trackless trams would extend 7km from Glendalough train station to Scarborough Beach, offering contemporary, sustainable transport that is less disruptive and more cost-effective to build, while retaining the benefits of light rail.

Considering options such as the trackless tram in Perth will further facilitate the delivery of the State Government’s infill housing agenda, with more areas being serviced by fast and efficient public transport.

Beyond the pandemic is the 'silent epidemic', in which road trauma affects tens of thousands of lives

In particular, trackless trams as a solution for Perth is being championed by several transport experts, including Curtin University Professor Peter Newman.

Lessons learned through the COVID pandemic should be applied to the so-called "silent epidemic" of road trauma to help drive down Australia's road toll over the next decade.

The idea has merit, particularly considering they are significantly cheaper to deliver and run and require less hard infrastructure than other transport solutions.

Put simply, a trackless tram looks similar to a light rail vehicle, however they have rubber tyres and no tracks.

They operate at the speed of a light rail vehicle but are quiet and run on electric traction from batteries.

While they are autonomous vehicles, trackless trams can be overridden by a driver for added safety.

Trackless tram technology emerged from China and, right here in Perth, we could see one of the first trackless trams implemented in Australia.

The City of Stirling is championing the concept, with the city currently working on a business case to take trackless trams along Scarborough Beach Road, receiving $2 million in Federal Government funding under the Urban Congestion Fund.

Scarborough Beach Road is a well known stretch of road that is often congested at several key points,

The chair of the trauma committee at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Dr John Crozier, said that the pandemic had "galvanised" the national response and generated a much greater, more regular interaction between the jurisdictions and the Commonwealth.

This co-operation, in turn, has generated nationally consistent data on COVID-related hospitalisations, cases, tests and deaths, and a focused response across the country.

"We have proved we can do this with our COVID response; why can't we approach road trauma with the same national cohesion and urgency?," Dr Crozier said.

"We have tens of thousands of people hospitalised across the country every year as a result of road trauma but we still don't have nationally consistent data which gives us a clear and concise picture of this silent epidemic.

"And what we know for certain is: good data informs good policy."

The latest National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30 is aiming for a 50 percent reduction in road deaths and a 30 percent reduction in serious injuries.

The strategy follows on from a lengthy period of public consultation by the joint select committee on road safety, chaired by former federal transport minister and Nationals MP Darren Chester.

The new document adopts what is described as a "social model" approach, identifying road safety as a shared responsibility "by all parts of society including the logistics and transport, health and social services sectors, law enforcement, education and justice, planning and industry".

Dr Crozier agreed with this approach. He believes that roads should be star-rated like vehicles, with the higher the star rating, the safer the road.

Road trauma carries an A$30 billion annual cost to the national economy. By comparison, in the May federal budget, A$2.2 billion was pledged to road safety including A$1 billion for the road safety program and A$1 billion for the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program.

The Victorian Government is trialling a new road maintenance technology which includes dronemounted, high-resolution cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) software.

Serious injuries on our roads are increasing, and have been doing so at a rate of 3.3 percent every year since 2013.

AI tech to bolster Victoria’s road safety

A trial of the Australian-owned AI software is now underway in the state’s north east, helping to map and assess the condition of more than 4,000km of arterial roads and roadside assets.

The federal government's attempt to peg back the toll and the trauma during its first national strategy, which ended in 2020 with road deaths 9 percent higher the baseline target, was judged widely by road safety experts as an "implementation failure".

Identified as a key omission from the document was the importance of local government upskilling and capacity building to deliver safer regional and country roads, where a significantly higher proportion of accidents - often at higher speeds occur.

Local governments are responsible for regional road maintenance but are inevitably stretched in funds and resources to perform the job, particularly over road networks which span thousands of kilometres.

One of Australia's foremost road safety experts who reviewed the previous decade's strategy, Dr Jeremy Woolley, has advocated for several contentious changes including risk profiling roads around the country "so that we can compare and communicate the transformation of the road network".

The software has used footage captured by vehiclemounted cameras to automatically detect, categorise, and assess the condition of more than 160,000 individual road assets, including signs, line marking, trees, and safety barriers, as well as the road surface itself.

This allows the crews in charge of managing these assets to better understand the network’s current state and allocate funding and resources where they are needed most.

The software will map the thousands of kilometres of road sections in a matter of weeks – a fraction of time compared to traditional methods that would take around three years to collect and assess.

To be continued…….. www.roaddata.co.nz email:urban@roaddata.co.nz

Capturing assets and road defects with cameras also means inspectors no longer need to leave their vehicles.

blacktop that bind Los Angeles together, there’s one asphalt-exacerbated issue that the city is now tackling head on: the urban heat island effect.

Instead, they can travel at the speed of the traffic, making significant improvements in safety and effective use of time.

As CBS Los Angeles explains, dark-coloured asphalt positively bakes when temperatures rise, absorbing 80 percent to 95 percent of the sun’s rays. On a sweltering summer day when the mercury reaches 38 degrees, the surface temperature of L.A.’s roads can climb to as much as 10 degrees higher. And when these roads reach sizzling hot status, ambient heat radiates into surrounding neighbourhoods.

This results in stifling and unhealthy conditions for residents. It also causes energy usage to spike — as all those fans and air conditioners are switched to maximum cool.

In the state’s west, crews are taking to the skies to take a closer look at vital pieces of road infrastructure.

Road maintenance experts can use high-resolution cameras mounted on small drones to capture footage from hard-to-reach or dangerous locations, including underneath bridges and sound walls on busy freeways and storm barriers.

The high-definition images captured by the drones depict even the most minute details, such as hairline cracks, and remove the need for staff to use boats or work at heights to carry out these inspections.

The drones have also been used in recent emergencies, giving engineers a bird’s eye view of the damage caused by storms and bushfires, assisting with planning for clean-up and repair works.

L.A. is beating the heat with whitepainted streets

Although heat-absorbing asphalt isn’t the only culprit behind the urban heat island effect, a phenomenon that can raise the average air temperature 12.2 degrees in cities compared to outlying areas, it's relatively easy to counter.

Painting blacktop white reduces surface temperature The surface temperature of streets treated with a special water-based coating called CoolSeal is 5.5 to 8.2 degrees cooler than the temperature of standard blacktop roads.

The new, no-brainer solution embraced by city officials? Painting blacktop white.

Los Angeles is a strange place. For most first-time visitors, particularly those fleeing parts of the country where the winters are frigid and unforgiving, one of the most remarkable things about L.A. is how green it is. A bonanza of exotic and beautiful flora, the city seems to exist in a largely season-less void as a verdant — and problematically water-dependent — paradise where you can find lushness in even the smallest urban corners.

But as green as L.A. is, it's also oppressively gray. A sprawling, freeway-laced metropolis where car culture still reigns supreme, the city’s most distinctive feature, for better but mostly worse, remains its roads. Although many Los Angelenos are choosing to buck tradition and eschew cars, one old axiom remains mostly true: Nobody walks in L.A. The urban heat island effect And while there are numerous qualms to be had with the thousands upon thousands of miles of

Headed by the City of Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services, the city’s street painting crusade began in earnest last year in designated pilot neighbourhoods. And according to preliminary testing, it’s been a success. Per the bureau, roads that have been treated with off white-ish CoolSeal, a water-based asphalt emulsion that reflects the sun’s rays instead of absorbing them, have shown to be an average of 5.5 to 8.2 degrees cooler than roads with traditional, untreated blacktop.

CoolSeal, which is typically applied in two coats, has also passed crucial durability and wet skid testing.

In the notably toasty San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Canoga Park, where the pilot program kicked off, the surface temperature of one major street treated with CoolSeal was found to be a whopping 13 degrees cooler — 21 degrees versus 34 degrees — when compared to a nearby intersection not painted white.

"The city’s going to get hotter because of climate change, particularly this neighbourhood of the west San Fernando Valley," said Greg Spotts, assistant director of the Bureau of Street Services, told the Los Angeles Daily News last spring. "The phenomenon called the heat island effect means the city is hotter than the surrounding countryside."

"We’re exploring ways to reduce the heat island effect by reducing the absorption of heat in the built environment," he adds.

City lawmakers like Councilman Bob Blumenfield, whose district includes Canoga Park, are all in. He calls the scheme "very cool — both literally and figuratively." However, he notes one downside: "We won’t be able to fry eggs in the street."

It's expensive but worth it Average temperatures in Los Angeles have increased 3 degrees in the past 100 years due in part to the urban heat island effect. During the summer months, average temperatures are even higher. The constantly expanding built environment — roads and freeways, rooftops, buildings, parking lots and the like — continues to drive that number upwards. This makes the need for city-cooling tactics like white roads, cool roofs and a multitude of shade-providing trees even more urgent.

But as CBS Los Angeles relays, the cost of turning blacktop white doesn’t come cheap: for every single mile of newly cooled asphalt, roughly US$40,000 comes out of city coffers. What’s more, the coating only lasts seven years.

Still, advocates are confident that advances in asphalt technology will drive down the cost. There’s also the related economic benefits to consider: in once-sweltering neighborhoods where streets are now painted white, residents will be less likely to crank the air conditioning on full blast, leading to significant savings on energy bills and decreased emissions. What’s more, the highly reflective nature of white-coated asphalt means that street lighting doesn’t have to kick in quite as early in the evening, saving additional energy. Public health will also get a boost, particularly during potentially dangerous heat waves made worse by heatradiating asphalt.

Other warm weather cities are considering it Outside of Los Angeles, leaders of other warm weather cities made uncomfortably warmer by the urban heat island effect such as Phoenix are paying attention to see how these test areas fare — 15 in total, each a block-long and located in mostly lowtraffic residential areas around Los Angeles.

"We’re going to try to make Los Angeles as cool as possible," Jeff Luzar, national sales director for GuardTop, the Orange County-based asphalt coating manufacturer that produces CoolSeal.

"We’re going to be the coolest island in Southern California."

While GuardTop has applied CoolSeal to parking lots and playgrounds in the past, this is the first time that public streets in Los Angeles — or anywhere in California, for that matter — have received the same, temperature-lowering treatment.

While Phoenix has no immediate or specific plans to render its blacktop white, the city’s Street Transportation Department is looking into methods of lowering temps made higher by the built

environment. To that end, AZCentral reports that Phoenix plans to release an urban heat island master plan later this year. Much of this plan will revolve around maintaining, protecting and expanding Phoenix’s urban canopy. Currently, the city’s canopy is between 9 percent and 12 percent.

The goal is to reach 25 percent tree coverage.

"I’ve come back to the same question multiple times as have many others, which is how much can you cool a city through these different strategies?"

David Sailor, director of the Urban Climate Research Center at Arizona State University, explains to AZCentral. "There’s more than one way to cool the environment."

It also would include ongoing work with public and private partners to define roles and responsibilities related to implementation.

AASHTO and FHWA release answers to help implement MASH AASHTO and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on Monday released responses to three questions regarding testing of roadway safety hardware under the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH), 2016.

AASHTO council unanimously supports resolution to convert MASH into a performance spec The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’s (AASHTO) Council on Highways and Streets voted to support a resolution to convert the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) to a specification.

The vote took place during the Council’s meeting as part of AASHTO’s annual meeting in San Diego in late October 2021.

AASHTO maintains MASH and commissioned the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to conduct a scoping study on the idea of converting MASH 2016 to a specification. The study was completed this year, according to a presentation by Maine Department of Transportation Chief Engineer Joyce Taylor, who serves as vice chair of AASHTO’s Committee on Design. The association also held two webinars in June with state and industry officials to address opportunities and challenges the conversion would bring.

The move to convert MASH into a performance specification is aimed at “developing a more consistent testing of roadside hardware,” according to the Council on Highways and Streets resolution.

The matter would need approval by the AASHTO Board of Directors.

To start the proposed conversion process a work plan is to be developed “to investigate the issues and concerns raised during the webinars and work with states and industry in addressing these concerns and making modifications to the conversion plan as needed,” the resolution states.

The guidance is available online and includes all new and prior questions and answers dating to May 2018.

A joint AASHTO/FHWA technical working group developed the latest responses, which are created to help manufacturers, crash test laboratories and transportation agencies apply the guidelines to roadway safety devices.

Transverse rumble strips: another tool for rural road safety?

Minnesota Transportation research Rural intersections account for 30 percent of crashes in rural areas and 6 percent of all fatal crashes, representing a significant but poorly understood safety problem.

Transverse rumble strips are one low-cost measure that some states have deployed to reduce rural intersection crashes.

More common to Minnesotans are traditional rumble strips, which are pavement indentations usually applied along the shoulders or centerline that cause noise and vibration when a vehicle drives over them. They are widely used on Minnesota roads and have been successful in alerting

motorists that stray from the travel lane, reducing Minnesota crashes (especially head-on collisions).

that includes Scott Thompson, District 7, and Marc Briese, State Aid.

Transverse rumble strips, however, are located across the lane (or exclusively in the main wheel path), with the purpose of signalizing an upcoming intersection with a stop sign along a rural roadway, so that drivers don’t unintentionally run the stop sign, especially during times of low visibility.

Lund, who is actively involved in MnDOT’s rural safety research and with four other research projects, happened to have studied under Hallmark during graduate school and is excited to collaborate with her on this study.

The effectiveness of transverse rumble strips has shown mixed results. However, this may be partly due to collisions caused by driver misperception of traffic gaps, rather than failure to stop for stop signs.

“There is a lack of consistency in the placement and pattern for transverse rumble strips among U.S. transportation agencies,” said Shauna Hallmark, director of the Institute for Transportation at the Iowa State University.

Hallmark has over twenty years of transportation research experience on effective countermeasures for reducing crashes on our roadways.

Although the majority of crashes at rural intersections are due to driver misperception of traffic gaps, transverse rumble strips could still play an important role in rural road safety and getting Minnesota Toward Zero Deaths.

In addition to evaluating their effectiveness, Hallmark’s team will look for a design that is palatable to Minnesotans.

“People have a love-hate relationship with rumble strips. Drivers love the protection they offer, but nearby homeowners hate the noise. We want to identify the most effective, yet also quietest design possible,” she said.

Vehicle tech becoming a distraction for drivers, advocates say

In a new research project, funded by the Local Road Research Board, Hallmark and other researchers from Iowa State University will assess the effectiveness of transverse rumble strips, as well as the best design, for possibly more widespread application in Minnesota.

Researchers will test three to five different transverse rumble strip designs—varying placement, the number of panels, and patterns.

They plan to collect video data before installation, one month after, and six months after to assess changes in driver behaviour.

“Transverse rumble strips are one tool in the rural safety toolbox. We want to learn when and how to best use this tool—so we can get it back in the hands of local practitioners,” said Victor Lund, St. Louis County Traffic Engineer, who is leading an advisory panel of county and state traffic engineers

A driver sitting behind the wheel of a new vehicle could be scrolling through their Spotify app looking for the right album when they get an incoming call or text, only to have a warning bell go off about the outside temperature while their steering wheel vibrates because they’re drifting closer to the edge of their lane. All the while, they’re supposed to be on the lookout for pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles.

Automakers have been installing increasingly hightech features and infotainment systems in vehicles, but that doesn’t mean they’re becoming safer.

The most high profile example is Tesla, which recently drew criticism for allowing video games to be played on the console while the vehicle is in motion. But even standard options like changing the music or using the navigation system can create serious distractions for drivers.

Given the lack of regulatory oversight into the issue, safety advocates are working to raise regulatory and consumer awareness about the risks of increasingly complex vehicle controls.

“This is a major and an increasing issue,” said Ian Jack, head of public affairs at the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA). “It’s becoming increasingly challenging for people to manage these things inside their vehicle.”

Most of the features are likely fine on their own, but it’s the overall load on the driver that’s the problem, said Jack.

“The sheer quantity of potential distractions that technology is adding is really what the issue is.”

CAA is planning to soon launch a public awareness campaign to better inform drivers of the risks of distracted driving with a focus on so-called infotainment systems.

The campaign comes as distracted driving, which includes tasks such as eating, talking with passengers and using vehicle technology, has been a rising contributor to fatal and serious collisions.

The most recent statistics from the Traffic Injury Research Foundation show that as of 2018, distracted driving contributes to one in four fatal crashes.

demands, with some tasks taking upwards of 48 seconds. Further research found that older drivers are especially prone to potential distractions from systems.

Automakers have been working to address distraction issues, such as improvements to voice commands, but those can pose their own risks, said Robertson.

Canada introduced guidelines in 2019 for limiting distractions from displays, but they’re not enforceable.

Transport Canada spokeswoman Sau Sau Liu said in a statement that the agency “encourages vehicle and electronics manufacturers to design devices that are compatible with safe driving and to follow all relevant safety guidelines and best practices.”

Automatic lane closure system to be trialed on National Highways’ network in England VIDEO An automatic ‘taper’ system which can close off lanes in minutes and saves road workers having to put out cones in the face of oncoming traffic is to be trialed on England’s National Highways network.

The innovation, SwiftGate, can be fully deployed in around five minutes compared to the 25 minutes it takes road workers to put out the taper of cones directing often fast-moving traffic away from a live lane.

That’s roughly on par with impaired driving, said Robyn Robertson, chief executive of the foundation, though in distracted driving the victims are less likely to be driver.

“Distracted driving is really even more of a concern because it’s other people who are at risk, other road users who are at risk, and more likely to be killed and injured.”

More complex infotainment systems could be contributing to the problem. Research by the University of Utah in collaboration with the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that infotainment systems in the vehicles from the 2018 study often put a very high demand on drivers through a combination of visual, mental, and time

SwiftGate is being installed at the A3 Hindhead Tunnel in Surrey which requires regular closures for essential maintenance work. To enable maintenance to be carried out safely, workers cone off the entrances on the north and southbound carriageways.

During 2019 there were 14 vehicle incursions into these roadworks putting the lives of workers at risk.

Now National Highways has teamed up with Kier and Highway Care to trial the automated taper gates which will be installed on the north and southbound carriageways of the tunnel.

The gates clearly and safely filter traffic out of the traffic lane. Cones can then be put out beyond the taper to clearly mark out the closed-off lane.

As well as avoiding the need for workers to manually set out tapers, the arms are a strong visual deterrent which will help avoid incursions, particularly at night-time.

“If successful, SwiftGate is another step to zero live lane working for our workforce as we work towards our goal of ensuring nobody is harmed while working or travelling on our roads.

“The automated tapers free up workers to do other jobs and can be put out in just 50 seconds meaning work can begin straight away with less disruption for road users. We look forward to seeing SwiftGate in action at Hindhead Tunnel.”

SwiftGate follows the successful trials of an automated cone laying machine by National Highways, Highway Care and Kier. The Falcon ACLM vehicle puts out and retrieves cones, avoiding the need for a two-man team to lift and drop cones from the back of a moving vehicle.

A second automated cone laying machine being developed by King Highway Products through the National Highways’ innovation fund is due to undergo further off-road testing shortly.

National Highways has a ring-fenced pot, the Innovation and Modernisation Fund, which is helping to maximise the opportunities offered by technologies such as automated vehicles.

Head of Lean and Continuous Improvement, Martin Bolt, who has been overseeing the innovation for National Highways, says, “Installing and removing a taper of cones in the face of traffic exposes our road workers to risk, particularly on elevated sections of road, bridges or tunnels where there may not be an embankment or place of safety.

“If successful, SwiftGate is another step to zero live lane working for our workforce as we work towards our goal of ensuring nobody is harmed while working or travelling on our roads.

“The automated tapers free up workers to do other jobs and can be put out in just 50 seconds meaning work can begin straight away with less disruption for road users. We look forward to seeing SwiftGate in action at Hindhead Tunnel.”

Head of Lean and Continuous Improvement, Martin Bolt, who has been overseeing the innovation for National Highways, says, “Installing and removing a taper of cones in the face of traffic exposes our road workers to risk, particularly on elevated sections of road, bridges or tunnels where there may not be an embankment or place of safety.

It is part of National Highways’ Digital Roads 2025 vision which will fundamentally change how our roads are designed, built, operated and used. The strategy sets out how the growth of digital technology and the move to electric, connected and autonomous vehicles will create the roads of the future.

Automated Class 8 trucks are delivering real freight Robert W. Poole, Searle Freedom Trust reports Recent months have seen a growing number of announcements of planned and under-way examples of big-rig trucks hauling commercial freight for mainstream trucking companies in Texas. These trucks are equipped with SAE Level 4 automation, which means they can operate without a safety driver on specific types of roadways (e.g., limited-access Interstates) and in certain types of weather (e.g., not yet in snow and ice).

Last northern summer J. B. Hunt announced plans to test Class 8 trucks using Waymo automation to haul freight between Houston and Fort Worth along I-45. Embark Trucks, which automates existing trucks which it uses to haul freight, announced

plans to serve a route between Houston and San Antonio, presumably along I-10. The company has been working with Texas A&M University to test its autonomous capabilities before putting them into service on public roads. Aurora, another developer of truck automation, plans to operate a subscription-based freight hauling system with Uber Freight. That service launched in December between Dallas and Houston. Uber Freight’s local partners handle the last-mile portions of these trips. In the shorter-haul sector, Gatik opened an autonomous trucking hub in Fort Worth for its 20 ft. and 24-ft. Level 4 box trucks, which make “middlemile” delivery runs from warehouses to retailers.

for increased trucking productivity which Level 4 automation can bring about.

Want to stop car crashes? Study the nearmisses A pilot program in Bellevue, Washington State is using anonymized video and big data to stop crashes before they happen For once, something intuitive turns out to be true: near-miss car crashes are a very good predictor of actual crashes on that same roadway — and cities can save lives by changing road designs in highconflict areas before more people die, a ground breaking new traffic study shows.

In a first for any U.S. city, Bellevue, Washington collected over 5,000 hours of data from a network of high-definition video cameras throughout its street network, cameras that analysed persistent patterns of dangerous driver behaviour to observe road conditions that most frequently lead to traffic “conflicts” (a.k.a.: near-miss collisions) on their streets.

I have increasingly come to see freight hauling as the most likely initial success for vehicle automation, because there are clear economic benefits. Once safety regulators are comfortable with omitting the onboard safety driver, a 600-mile run that currently takes 22 hours for a driver to complete manually (due to mandatory non-driving time under federal Hours of Service regulation) could be accomplished in 12 hours. That’s a major cost-saving. (Without a driver on board, if the automation encounters a situation it cannot handle, a fail-safe system must be able to slow and stop the truck out of traffic lanes and call for help.)

Another promising approach may be truck platooning, in which only the lead truck has a human driver, with several others trailing behind without drivers, under control of the lead truck’s automation. One of the pioneers in this approach is Locomation, which last June announced an eightyear agreement with flatbed carrier PGT Trucking.

Under the agreement, Locomation will deploy 1,000 autonomous relay convoy (ARC) systems on more than 30 of PGT’s routes.

As with robotaxis and automated air taxis, these are still early days for truck automation. But major truck original equipment makers (OEMs) are nearly all investing in automation platforms, as Daimler is currently doing with Waymo. They see the potential

The results show that crashes happen where the near-misses happen.

“To me, the best type of research is the kind that puts hard data behind something that you know in your gut,” said Noah Budnick of Together for Safer Roads, which helped facilitate the study. “And in the last 20 years or so, as more and more governments have moved towards data drivenmanagement they’re looking for better data to fulfil that ‘evaluation’ pillar of Vision Zero to help make roads safer.”

Anonymized video traffic footage has long been a crucial page in the street safety playbook, but usually it’s deployed near single road-calming projects for limited periods of time, simply to assess what’s working and what’s not.

The Bellevue project was unique because it collected traffic conflict data across 40 cameras spanning an entire city— and because is used stateof-the-art artificial intelligence to isolate patterns in the data.

The city worked with Transoft, which automatically identifies road user types, and speeds, trajectories, and vehicle sizes — without collecting anyone’s personal information. (The cameras are unable to isolate license plate information, are not equipped

with facial recognition technology, and are not marketed to law enforcement agencies.)

Then, Transoft’s machine learning capabilities automatically aggregates the data from throughout the study period to identify persistent driver patterns that might indicate that a lot of people are driving irresponsibly, and it may be time to change the design of the road.

For the data nerds, here’s an example of how the software charted the severity of traffic conflicts at a single intersection; each black dot represents a distinct near-miss, and it’s charted relative to the speed of the driver who initiated the conflict and her “post encroachment time” (in rough layman’s terms: how near of a miss the crash was, presumably in seconds; the dots in the red quadrant represent were the closest calls.)

Transoft’s technology is unique in that it enables traffic engineers to observe the actual footage of the worst traffic conflicts, while also employing machine learning to help them quickly analyse patterns of driver behaviour over time — two things that are arduous if not impossible for the people who plan our roads to access.

Engineers who want to make data-focused road safety improvements in the U.S. typically are forced to rely on years of painstakingly collected car crash data sourced from police reports, which is often imperfectly reported — and even when it is rigorously collected, crash data only provides meaningful information to engineers after tons of people have already been in car crashes.

The Transoft Solutions safety analytics platform leveraged Bellevue’s traffic cameras and captured data about 20,000 serious traffic conflicts associated with 8.25 million road users in a single week.

“We don’t need to wait five years to wait for people to get hurt and become data points,” said Franz Loewenherz, principal transportation planner for the city of Bellevue. “With this tech, we can get so much data that we can essentially compress five years worth of the information [we’d get from a more traditional traffic data source] into a single week. Conflicts are the canary in the coal mine; they can give us that early warning of what’s going to be a problem, so we can start thinking about ways to change the design before people get hurt.”

What Lowenherz and his colleagues observed on the streets of Bellevue quantifies realities that will be sadly familiar to non-drivers across America.

Cyclists, for instance, represented just 0.1 percent of observed road users on the city’s streets, but were ten times more likely to be the victim of a near-miss crash than motorists. That’s in part because the cameras also observed that more than 10 percent of Bellevue drivers were speeding when they passed a camera, and half of those drivers were breaking the local limit by 11 miles per hour or more.

That data helped the DOT understand why their traffic violence crisis was so disproportionately effecting pedestrians and cyclists. From 2010 to 2019, 5 percent of all collisions in the city of Bellevue involved non-drivers, but vulnerable road users represented a staggering 49 percent of serious injuries and fatalities, according to Lowenherz.

“What we observe of the crash data is confirmed in the conflict data,” he added. “And now that we know, we can look out for persistent conflicts and make strategic changes there.”

Even those who might never set foot in the city of Bellevue in their lives could potentially benefit from the first-of-its-kind study, too. That’s because Transoft’s software also aggregates data across all 80 cities it works with around the world, and uses that information to help make recommendations

about road interventions that have actually worked.

“The more data we collect, the more we can partner with engineers to help recommend effective designs — not just for a single city, but for cities around the world,” said Charles Chung, vice president for transportation safety at Transoft.

“We’re producing cameras, but we’re also producing a shared knowledge base that we’re able to share with other cities to save lives.”

“Collectively, as an industry, we don’t just want a data pool — we want a data lake,” said Loewenherz.

“We want communities all over the world to be able to say, ‘I’ve got this kind of an intersection with these kinds of road features and these kinds of conflicts keep happening; which communities have something similar? What have they done? What’s worked?’…

“The good news is that we have been testing a roadside solution that uses Artificial Intelligence to automatically spot when someone is using a mobile device or not wearing a seatbelt, and we’re therefore able to automatically identify those rulebreakers. This means we can take pictures of their offence, let a human double-check it, and then any penalty can be issued.”

As a Vision Zero city that wants to end roadway deaths by 2030, we want to be proactive. We want to move beyond crashes as an indicator of where we should intervene. And now we can.”

The UK team at Jenoptik have been working with Acusensus, an Australian company who have already successfully implemented the solution to great effect in New South Wales, operating as the world’s first illegal mobile phone use enforcement camera program. Since the commencement of the program in 2019, there has been a significant and sustained reduction in NSW road fatalities compared to other states and territories in Australia.

As UK looks to tighten laws on in-vehicle phone use, ITS leaders promise enforcement The UK Government has announced new laws that will ban drivers from using their phone to take photos or videos, scroll through playlists, or play games, meaning anyone caught using their handheld device while driving will face a £200 fixed penalty notice and six points on their licence.

Now, traffic enforcement experts are calling for technology to be used to police mobile and seatbelt use.

A director of leading enforcement technology company Jenoptik is welcoming the tightening of laws, and says proven solutions exist to enforce the rules automatically.

“Our role at Jenoptik is to make the roads safer, and so we fully support these new rules because they will close loopholes that have meant irresponsible people getting away with dangerously using their mobiles, while driving,” says Jenoptik’s Geoff Collins. “But as we all know, there’s a difference between a law being in place, and people obeying it; and for that you need appropriate enforcement.

“Being part of a global organisation means we can take effective solutions from one part of the world and bring them to the UK market,” Geoff Collins continues. “We are confident in our solution, consistently identifying hundreds of potential violations every week. An enforcement officer makes the final check, but the technology sifts out the dangerous drivers to vastly increase the chances that those irresponsible enough to use their phone whilst driving will be caught.”

Recharge an electric vehicle in five minutes?

A new kind of cable for charging electric vehicles (EVs) is under development by engineers at Purdue University, with patent protection pending. The problem with fast charging today is the heat generated by energy traversing the cable. The Purdue invention uses a new way to cool the charging cable that reportedly can deliver a current 4.6 times that of the fastest existing chargers. If this pans out, it could lead to fast charging in as little as five minutes. The research is part of a joint

Purdue/Ford Motor Co. R&D program. The Purdue news release notes that, as of November, the prototype had not yet been tested on EVs. But laboratory tests show that it can handle a current of more than 2,400 amps—far more than the 520 amps delivered by today’s fastest chargers. If this proves to be both feasible and affordable, it could dramatically change EV charging.

L3Pilot achieved pan-European testing environment and evaluation of automated driving The world is in a process of transformation: global warming, resource scarcity, demographic changes, and urbanisation are uncertainties that also influence the automotive industry and challenge it to respond. The transformation would go much further than safe and sustainable travel. It would enable innovations in mobility, logistics and new services benefitting societies widely. L3Pilot project responded to this challenge by large-scale piloting of automated driving.

European Horizon 2020 project L3Pilot (L3Pilot.eu), led by Volkswagen AG and co-funded by the European Commission, came to its successful end with its Final Event in conjunction with the ITS World Congress in Hamburg 2021. Running from 2017 to 2021, the project consortium brought together stakeholders from the whole value chain, including car manufacturers, suppliers, academia, research institutes, infrastructure and governmental agencies, user groups and the insurance sector. The experience of the partners in large-scale testing intelligent vehicle technologies made it possible to create a pan-European testing environment.

the areas that still require further development before entering the product refinement and the deployment of automated vehicles (AVs). And above all, we need to have more knowledge of user experiences and needs for marketable products.

The objective of the L3Pilot project was to test and study the viability of automated driving as a safe and efficient means of transportation, explore and promote new service concepts to provide inclusive mobility. To achieve this overall goal, several technical objectives had to be defined and met before we could present first empirical data-led indication of the potential of automated driving in changing transportation.

Field experiments and global survey The large-scale piloting part comprised of some 750 test persons driving more than 400,000 kilometres on motorways and more than 24,000 km in automated mode in urban areas. The test participants experienced automated driving of level SAE level 3 (L3) either as a normal driver or on the passenger seat. Also, SAE L4 functions were tested in parking applications.

A novel common data format (CDF) was derived to transform the widely varying data already at the vehicle level into a compact data stream that could be processed by all analysis partners. The CDF is available to the public.

Eight supplementary studies were complementing large-scale piloting by providing a possibility to get deeper in the behaviour and experiences of subjects either in a simulator environment, with a Wizard-of-Oz vehicle or on a closed test track without jeopardising the safety of the test persons.

These studies were also extensive comprising totally of some 600 test persons.

In responding to the need to address users’ global differences in attitudes and opinions on automated driving, the L3Pilot Global User Acceptance Survey was conducted to analyse user acceptance, attitudes, expectations towards AD with a particular focus on SAE L3 technology. The survey was large and covered some 36,000 respondents.

Evaluation results

Large-scale piloting in real road traffic conditions was needed to understand the potential and further enhancement needs of driving automation.

The data gathered from road tests would pinpoint

The Global survey results indicate that overall, the respondents were very satisfied with the SAE L3 ADFs providing high ratings of (expected) comfort and safety, usefulness, ease of use and perceived enjoyment. They indicated a high intention to use

conditionally automated cars, which is a common proxy to measure acceptance given that conditionally automated cars have not been commercialized yet.

The results from the pilots indicate benefits for the society owing to the introduction of SAE L3 ADF on motorways, in urban environment and for parking.

Results of the impact assessment on safety show potential reductions in injury and fatal accidents on European level within the operational design domains both in motorway and urban traffic. As for the efficiency and the environment, the results scaled up for Europe indicate a slight decrease in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, and a slight increase in travel times compared to the baseline.

Driving with the automation lead to a reduction of lane changes and approaching scenarios. More driving time was spent in stable scenarios like carfollowing. An overall conclusion is that automated vehicle’s behaviour is similar to that of human driving in the urban environments.

For more information about the project and its results, please visit project website for all deliverables and other publication in L3Pilot.eu/downloads.

Satu Innamaa satu.innamaa@vtt.fi VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Finland

Transforming road markings National Highways, UK research The challenge We’re always looking to improve how we operate and maintain our roads.

When road markings need to be altered or removed, for example when lane layouts change, faint traces of the original markings can remain.

These 'ghost lines' can confuse motorists, particularly in very bright or wet conditions.

The trial In partnership with Roadcare and Kier, We launched a global search for effective roadmarkings that:  can be completely removed without damaging the road surface  don’t leave ‘ghost lines’.

We used our Innovation Designated Fund to help finance the competition.

Wheel over testing, Spain We received thirty-six entries from around the world. We chose seven winners and tested their materials including:  lab trials in Madrid, where products were subjected to two million 'wheel overs'  real-world all-weather testing on the M5 motorway in South West England.

The results After laboratory testing, we installed the winning solutions on the M5 in April 2019. We tested their performance periodically and assessed the results against data from the laboratory turntable testing.

We also tested five removal systems on each of the markings.

After two years of testing in all weathers on a stretch of road that saw 31 million vehicles pass through in that time, we have produced a full report of our findings.

The findings are to be considered as part of a road markings action plan within National Highways.

Ma(r)king the roads readable for selfdriving cars CAV, V2X, C-ITS, CCAM – the acronyms are differing, but they all have in common that they denominate the linking of road infrastructure and vehicles with the aim to improve traffic flow, reduce emissions and make traffic safer and our journeys more convenient.

Vehicle automation is often mentioned as one of the biggest disruptive technologies, both economically and environmentally. But for that to ever happen, the surrounding infrastructure must be adapted to support automated vehicles when it comes to efficiency and safety. A connected infrastructure is key for the design and certification procedures as well as for testing environments that need to be deployed. Within this scenario, the connectivity between the infrastructure and the vehicles is also necessary to ensure operational conditions in the transition period, which can last for decades.

Apart from the automotive and C-ITS aspect in managing the traffic of self-driving cars, another important issue must not be neglected: the road itself and its readiness to be read by driver assistance technologies. Harald Mosböck, Swarco's Vice President Road Marking Systems for Europe and the APMEA regions and Vice President of the European Union Road Federation (ERF), knows about the role of road markings for human and machine vision. He answers the questions whether

our roads are ready for the advent of self-driving cars with “not really”.

“Lane markings are currently read by two kinds of sensors: camera and lidar. Even the most advanced vehicles equipped with high-definition maps need such sensors in order to capture the lane markings and traffic signs and to determine whether all the data is really comparable and fitting together. The point is that road markings and traffic signs still lack uniformity on roads. There are too many differences. Improving uniformity is a prerequisite to increase the reliability of readings by different types of sensors,” explains Mosböck.

On an international level, it is mainly the Japanese, the American and the European standardisation bodies who push to improve and standardise road markings. The latest edition of the North American Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) is to contain a requirement for major roads that normal lines be 150 mm (six inches) wide and markings more uniform, which was one of the key deficiencies for CAV implementation.

Just recently a major standardisation body proposed to the Federal Highway Administration that lane markings on the highway network in the future should not only have a standardised width, but there should be a general requirement for dotted lines at highway exits and a standardised gap width of interrupted lines. Right now, there is work in progress addressing the topic of better retro reflectivity, a very challenging subject.

Another issue is how lane markings in roadwork zones can be improved to attain a reliable and consistent machine readability for automated or assisted driving.

Addressing the predominant actions in Europe, pushed also by industry associations like the European Union Road Federation, in terms of improving road markings, Harald Mosböck hints at the European Commission’s demand in the Third Mobility Package that “Member States shall ensure that road markings and road signs are properly designed and maintained in such a way that they can be easily and reliably recognised by both human drivers and vehicles equipped with driver assistance systems or higher levels of automation.”

In 2019, the European Council decided to revise the road safety management directive and charged the European Commission to form an expert group and work on how road markings and traffic signs should be done to be best readable for vehicles and, of course, for humans as well. The expert group took

up work, but due to the pandemic the entire process is delayed. First results were expected by the middle of 2021 but won’t now be available before spring 2022. “In general, we can say the communication between carmakers, industry associations and Brussels on the expectations for the quality of road markings has already greatly improved,” Mosböck comments.

One recommendation elaborated by the ERF is very similar to the tendencies in the USA. The formula was created taking into account only the human eye, with the goal to improve road safety.

Interestingly, several studies proved that what is good for the human eye to support safe and comfortable driving also works very well for machine vision. The “150 x 150 formula” recommends a line width of 150 mm and a retroreflectivity (RL) > 150 mcd/m²/lx under dry conditions (RL > 35 mcd/m²/lx under wet conditions).

To find out more about the performance of cameras and lidar to read lane markings, Swarco carried out tests in the world’s biggest climate tunnel in Vienna with Austrian partner company ZKW, a leader in automotive lighting technology.

We put eight different kinds of lane markings from standard to high performance systems and had them read by three different kinds of cameras and eight different kinds of lidar sensors. We simulated 24 different weather conditions, such as perfect daylight to nighttime conditions, wind, stormy weather, heavy rain and foggy conditions.

When it comes to the findings of the tests, the rule of thumb also expressed by Mobileye, the worldwide leader in in-vehicle camera technology was confirmed: What a camera can read, is also readable by the human eye. What the human eye

can read, may not necessarily be readable by a camera.

“On the one hand, a strong point of the cameras is their identification of contrast. On the other hand, they show a weakness when they have to read when glare light is coming from vehicles on the oncoming lane. When we are talking about the lidar sensors, some highly retro-reflective road markings are absolutely increasing the readability and detectability by lidar,” says Mosböck. “Also, when we are going even to a near infrared range with some special pigmentation, the lidar can read an orange road marking very accurately. This is important in the light of ongoing discussions in the USA whether lane markings in roadwork zones should be orange in the future. The lidar proved to not be affected by glare. So, if you combine camera and lidar in a car, you will end up with a really good readability and reliability for the assisted driving.”

Of course, there is also a financial aspect in improving road markings, which still has a question mark.

“Whenever you discuss higher performance of lane markings with the automotive industry or road authorities, the first question is always: Who is going to pay for that? My belief is that all over Europe we need better performing lane markings on the road networks. Once we have achieved a level which is most suited for the human eye, then it will work for automated vehicles as well. There is still a long way to go, because due to the road authorities lacking sufficient funding, I doubt that they will be able to finance high performance lane markings for all road networks. That is why I hope for major progress in better road markings for human and machine vision first on the longdistance arteries of the Trans-European Networks,” Mosböck looks optimistically into the future.

Safety experts slam Tesla “Assertive” mode that automates dangerous driving A software update on certain Tesla vehicles in the US has added a new “Assertive” mode that tailgates other vehicles, zig-zags through traffic, and will roll through stop signs rather than come to a halt.

Road safety experts are dumb-founded by Tesla’s new “Assertive” mode, part of the latest autonomous driving update on certain models sold in the US. According to information on the Tesla display screen, “Assertive” mode will deliver “a smaller follow distance, perform more frequent speed lane

changes, will not exit passing lanes, and may perform rolling stops.”

All of the above actions are illegal in New Zealand – not keep safe distance from the car in front, unsafe lane change, hog overtaking lanes, and not stop at stop sign.

“Assertive” driving mode was introduced in October 2021 on certain Tesla cars in the US equipped with a high level of autonomous driving technology.

The feature was removed a couple of days later amid concerns some cars were making illegal and unsafe turns at intersections.

However, the various autonomous driving modes – “Chill”, “Average”, and “Assertive” have since reappeared in the menu options.

NZTA/NZRF T 8 and T 12 The T 8 and T 12 applicator testing programme is a key component of industry self-regulation.

NZTA P 22 specification states in Section 6: At the time of tender contractors shall forward copies of current T/8 certificates for the plant they propose to use on the contract. The applicator(s) certification is to be kept valid for the period of the contract.

There is a .pdf version of the applicator certificates associated with each registration line.

Originals of certificates are no longer being mailed to contractors and the website register is evidence of registration.

Upcoming Events ATSSA Conference and Traffic Expo Tampa Convention Center, Florida 11th to 15th February 2022 www.atssa.com Intertraffic Amsterdam RIA Amsterdam 29th March to 1st April 2022 www.intertraffic.com RIAA/NZRF Conference and Exhibition Opal Cove, Coffs Harbour, NSW 27th and 28th July 2022 www.riaa.com.au

These can be accessed via a hyperlink off the certificate registration number.

The certificates include a photograph of the applicator.

T 12 certificates include schedules setting out the scope of certification covering plain flat markings, structured markings and audio-tactile markings or any combinations of these.