Revolutionising Road Safety: Australia's Adaptive Traffic Sign
A fire warning traffic sign from Australia that can be adapted to an emergency warning sign is set to change the landscape for natural disaster management across the globe.
Although some high-profile and influential public figures are convinced that climate change is a fallacy, the documented evidence would suggest that it is entirely real. Wildfires in Canada are a prime example of how the change in the planet’s climate is causing natural disasters in parts of the world where even 20 years ago they were unthinkable. This year alone we have seen unprecedented floods in Italy, apocalyptic scenes from Maui and destructive fires in Greece.
Meteorological experts are predicting that this summer was not an isolated, freak event and that we should expect something similar every year.
One piece of good news is that an award-winning, trailer-mounted Electronic Fire Danger Rating Sign (EFDRS) from Australia is poised to break through into the road safety market. The sign has been credited with saving numerous lives in its native country where it has been used primarily to warn of bushfires across different states.
The difference to products already on the market is the sign can be easily adapted to be an emergency warning sign for other factors of climate change, flooding and also severe snow and ice.
THE TRAFFIC SIGNS ARE ALL THERE
EFDRS uses super-bright LED indicators and an LED message sign for notifications, combined with GPRS communication and a web-based interface to remotely send information almost instantly to a sign or network of signs. The severity of the prevailing conditions is represented by bespoke, colour-coded segments that can be designated and labelled according to the individual customer’s needs.
The severity of the prevailing conditions is represented by bespoke, colour-coded segments that can be designated and labelled according to the individual customer’s needs
Providing the public and motorists with fast, reliable, and accurate information, via a dynamic variable message panel, regarding the forthcoming potential danger. With a change of the front decal the sign can also be used for other natural disasters such as flooding or even an avalanche warning, meaning that the adaptable sign has the capability to save hundreds of lives every year by warning of dangers ahead.
The Bartco Australia-produced EFDRS sign, winner of the Australian Fire Awareness Product Design award, is currently a static pole-mounted sign commonly deployed in areas prone to natural disaster, warning of bush fires in the local region. UK sister company MVIS have produced a portable trailer-mounted concept, allowing the sign to be used as an emergency sign and easily relocated to the area that needs it, depending on the season and higher chance of unpredictable weather conditions.
The clever innovation could be seen recently when it went out on a market research venture to The Emergency Services Show at the NEC in Birmingham, with the potential to attract interest from the ‘blue light’ sector across the UK.
Without the intervention of solar or battery-powered signs that can be updated at the click of a button, there is a potential risk to life with local authorities potentially having to send a member of staff to manually change the display on current products, often necessitating them to drive towards the danger that the signs are alerting the public to avoid.
The portable, trailer-mounted concept allows the sign to be used as an emergency sign and easily relocated to the area that needs it
So not only does an automated sign save lives, but it also has the by-product of saving manpower and ultimately being more advantageous for the environment.
