Highway Road Safety Products – Top Solutions for Accident Prevention

Highways: High Speed Higher Risk

How much do you think highways cover our Indian roads? You will be shocked that only 2% of the Indian road network is covered by highways and expressways while their contribution to yearly accidents is up to 40%. Have you ever thought about why highways are so prone to accidents? There can be numerous reasons for them but the biggest contributors are lack of visibility at night, high speed limits, and road safety  medians.

Highways are more prone to accidents than normal roads so they need multiple Road safety equipment Ranging from markings to barriers. Proper markings and signals with defined information should be placed on highways. They instruct and alert drivers about the situations ahead on highways and can slow down in case of any emergency or accident-prone zones. There are many solutions our government should do to decrease road accidents. we are going to discuss in this blog and you can also visit Crash Barriers India to read more deeply about road safety.

How to Maximise your road visibility on highways?

Studies have shown that most of the accidents on roads occur at night. As per NHTSA (National highway Traffic safety administration) 50% of all fatal accidents occur during nighttime.

High reflective road markings

• Increasing driver’s visibility helps drivers to easily navigate on the road even in nightimes. Reflective markings use retroreflective material like glass. It reflects the vehicle’s headlight towards the drivers which sharply increases the driver’s capability to see surroundings and better navigate their way.
• Multiple types of road markings can be found in the market like reflective tapes, reflective paints, reflective studs etc. One can use whatever they want but reflective studs are preferred by more people as they are more reliable and sturdy.
• Many newly constructed highways by the Indian Government use reflective road markings like Delhi-Meerut Expressway and Bangalore-Mysore Expressway. They have shown considerable effect reducing accidents specially for foggy and dim lit areas.

Use of brighter signage, cones and Delineators:

• Brighter signage can give clear instructions to drivers. There are higher chances that signage won’t go unnoticed by drivers if it is bright and reflective. Using different colors with longer wavelengths is a good strategy so that it can be seen from far away.
• Cones are very effective in conveying messages and isolating dangerous regions. Using different color schemes to convey different messages has proved to be quite effective in every region of the world. Traffic cones are also quite cheap so even if someone mistakenly breaks one it’s not a big issue.
• A light on top 3.5 feet poles cannot go unnoticed by anyone. Delineators also help drivers with distinguishing their path and route. Curves and turns can be seen easily from quite far away with the help of delineators. Even with fog or at night times.

What do safety barriers do?

Stopping accidents completely and turning this big number into 0 is not possible. Then what can we do? Our best option is to reduce the impact faced by passengers and decrease the fatality numbers of accidents. Road construction manufactures provide best solution for this in the form crash barriers:

Concrete crash Barriers

• Most solid and heavy duty barriers are concrete barriers. They are made with steel rods in the starts giving it a lengthy F shape and then pouring concrete over it. This makes the barriers quite rigid and weighty.
• Concrete barriers are used in accidental prone areas or in cities with heavy traffic. Their rigid structure and their high impact resistance naturally makes them a suitable choice for high traffic areas. Road safety equipment manufacturers in Delhi Are popular for their strong Jersey barriers
• In Yamuna Expressway after facing multiple high speed accidents, the Government installed Jersey barriers on the critical stretches to prevent vehicles from going off roads. After Applying this solution authorities were able to manage the situation of Yamuna Expressway(Delhi to Agra)

Cable Barriers

• These barriers are quite flexible as they are made from 2 or 3 steel cables over an Iron Pole of 27  to 33 inches height. These are also known as rope barriers. They are used to absorb the impact and throw back vehicles after spreading the force.
• They are mostly used on Medians, Sharp curves, places with steep elevation changes and areas with high traffic. Rope barriers successfully redirect vehicles back to their lane if it crosses the median accidentally.
• On NH10(Hisar to Dabwali) section Haryana authorities applied a rope barrier system and found satisfactory results. Road barrier system is quite cost effective and also reusable so authorities should use it more to properly use taxes.

Beam Barriers

You must have seen wavy structures running alongside you on Highways and Expressways. Those metal structures are Beam barriers. They are the most popular type of barriers and there are two types of bean barriers: W beam crash barriers and Thrie beam barriers.

How speed management helps with road safety?

On lanes with High speed limits crashes are more easy to occur. Vehicles easily lose balance and crash in road barriers or different things. Easiest and most effective solution to this is to make vehicles travel on lower speeds and to alert driver’s senses while on high speeds. Some ways to reduce speed on roads And make people follow road safety rules are these.

Speed monitoring and enforcement system

• You must have seen rash driver’s on the roads. To ensure that such driver’s follow traffic rules Speed cameras are good options. With technologically advanced cameras catching and knowing offenders became very easy. Fear of getting caught by a speed camera makes people follow rules and travel at lower speeds.
• While travelling at a uniform speed for a longer time people can experience speed paralysis. This reduces rider’s attentiveness to alert driver’s variable speed limits on different stretches of road is a useful strategy. This makes riders perform action and keep them attentive. Also at slower speeds in disaster prone zones vehicles can be easily controlled.

Rumble strips on road increase driver alertness

• When people drive vehicles straight for longer hours they experience laziness and feel sleepy. They tend to ignore it, especially professional workers delivering things. Rumble strips on roads can shake up the driver’s and make them alert of their surroundings. If a driver is going off lane, rumble strips can also alert him and he can steer back in lane.
• Studies have found multiple types of rumble strips on road have multiple effects in reducing off road accidents. Center line rumble strips have shown 20% to 30% reduction in cross center line crashes. Shoulder rumble strips have shown up to 20% reduction in run off road crashes.

Conclusion

Highway road safety product manufacturers in India have made many technologically advanced products for all types of situations. There are ways to increase visibility in nights and foggy areas like reflective tapes and brighter road signs. Now it is public responsibility to follow them dutifully to save their and others lives. In case, some mishap happens and you suffer from a road accident there are numerous crash barriers to reduce risk of fatality and save more lives.

Concrete, cable and beam all types of barriers Are fit for the purpose they serve; the only thing remaining is how you use them. Speed cameras and rumble strips alert drivers, placing them before severe zones make drivers attentive. Investing in highway Road safety products is a must by authorities and as a responsible citizen it’s on you to follow those protocols and save your and everyone’s life on roads.

Don’t wait for accidents to happen!! Contact today for MORTH-certified barriers, signage solutions with Crash barriers India.