How does SafeZone work?

In a world filled to over-flowing with signs and messages of all types, how do you overcome people's innate tendancies to ignore unimportant or non-urgent warnings? By putting warning signs where drivers are more likely to see them and pay attention to them - in their immediate field of vision as they're driving along - signs can be made more effective.

                                       

Several behavioural studies in Europe and the USA in the last few years have looked at the relative effectiveness of flashing lights as warning systems; and have uncovered a very simple trend: that warning lights in the road are more likely to be noticed than flashing signs over the road, which in turn are more likely to be noticed than signs at the side of the road.

SafeZone is comprised basically of two parts:

  • a row (20-100 typically) In-Road Warning Lights, and
  • several (1-3 typically) Road-Side Controllers  

    SafeZone In-Road
    Warning Lights

    SafeZone IRADs (In Road Alert Devices) are the in-road flashing light beacons you'll see on the roads in School Zones. A Zone may have between 20 lights and 200 lights, spaced at approximately five metre intervals, depending on the length of the zone.

    The top of the device, which contains the flashing LEDs and the radio antenna, is visible on the surface of the road. The pylon, containing the battery and the electronics, is below the road surface, and is used to secure the device into the tarmac.

    The lights have LEDs on both sides, so can be seen from both directions, making them very obvious. They're slightly larger than standard reflective cats eyes and are activated by the roadside controller system via a radio signal. Because they're wireless and totally self-contained, they can be installed relatively quickly and without the need for in-road power cables.

    When the School Zone is active, the ultra-high brightness flashing LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) flash at a rate designed to catch your attention. They're activated via an encrypted signal sent from the Road-Side Controllers, and in turn can talk to the Road-Side Controllers to provide performance and maintenance information, making them a 'smart light'.

    SafeZone Road-Side Controllers

    ADCs (Alert Device Controllers) and ADRs (Alter Device Repeaters) are the road-side controllers you'll see positioned on poles at the side of the road. Depending on radio coverage, they may be at the start of a School Zones, or somewhere along its length. They're solar powered and contain the radio system that communicates with the in-road lights, as well as back to the RTA control system.

    The roadside controller allows the RTA to control the SafeZone system remotely (ie turn the zone lights on and off), and also remotely monitor the system and carry out diagnostics if required.

    With a radio coverage of several hundred metres, only two or three road-side controllers are required to control the in-road lights in most School Zones.

    The road-side controllers do not have any warning lights on them, but can be connected to road-side lights (provided by others) as part of an over-all School Zone warning system.

    Together, the in-road and road-side elements form the basis of the SafeZone system.

     

    • For more details, download the SafeZone Alert System Datasheet. (PDF 831kb)

    Because each light is self-contained (ie internal power and a wireless communications system), and because lights are not connected by wires to each other, should any one light be damaged or fail, the rest of the system will remain active, and therefore, effective as a warning system.

    This high level of redundancy, ie, where there is no single point of failure that can render the system inoperative, is just one of the unique features of SafeZone that we think makes it a "better warning system", compared to road-side flashing lights.

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