What is SafeZone?
SafeZone is a battery-powered, radio-controlled, in-road flashing LED beacon that is placed in the road every 3 to 5 metres, in line with the lane markers. SafeZone lights are activated and monitored by roadside radio repeater system but have in-built 'smarts' that in certain applications (such as school zones where the times they are on is known in advance) allows them to switch themslves on if the roadside control system fails.
SafeZone was originally conceived as a better way of advising drivers that they were entering, or in, an active School Zone, even if they'd missed the road-side advisory signs at the start of the zone. Developed by Sydney-based electronics designer and manufacturer PNE Electronics (a division of Inventis Technology Pty Ltd) because of the concerns expressed by many drivers that road-side (or over-road) flashing signs were not always visible due to obstructions such as trees or other vehicles, or weather conditions such as rain or fog, SafeZone's in-road warning element is more effective because:
- drivers pay more attention to what's in the road in front of them, not what's off to the side
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road-side signs often only appear at the start of a School Zone, so they can be missed .... or simpy forgetten by the time drivers have traversed the length of the zone.
SafeZone therefore places the visual warning system where it's most likely to be seen, and less likely to be obstructed: IN THE ROAD!
It's performance advantages include:
- the use of long-life storage batteries, not solar cells, giving far superior operational lifetimes in a range of situations
- in-built 'smarts' that ensure 'fail active' operation in areas such as school zones, meaning the lights can still turn themselves on if it's a school day, even if the roadside command system fails
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being more effective as a warning as there is no single point of failure: there are many high-lumen output LEDs in each SafeZone in-road light, and a zone would typically include remain effective even if several if the lights in the array fail, because one failure doesn't automatically result in all others failing (eg because the inter-connecting power cable was damaged).
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Following school zone trials in NSW in 2007 as part of a NSW RTA evaluation program, SafeZone is being further developed in partnership with a leading Sydney-based road traffic management system company called Traffic Tech for applications such as:
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