Four leading vehicle restraint system (VRS) manufacturers are gearing up to appear at Highways UK to showcase their innovative solutions – each designed to support sustainability and reduce deaths and injuries on the roads.
Asset VRS, Varley and Gulliver, Hardstaff Barriers and Hill and Smith Barriers, part of Hill and Smith Limited, will be exhibiting their range of tested and approved VRS solutions, at the event at the NEC, Birmingham on November 2 and 3, at stands H12 to H15 in Hall 1.
Vision Zero
Every day on the UK’s roads, five people are killed, more than 60 are seriously injured and hundreds more are slightly injured, on average. Each of the four companies work hard to manufacture innovative products and deliver solutions that help highway authorities to reduce these staggering statistics.
Every VRS system, bridge and pedestrian parapet, crash cushion and passive safety post they manufacture or supply plays a vital role in reducing the impact and the level of devastation caused in the event of a collision.
These solutions help highway authorities to work towards National Highways’ critical goal – that no one should be killed or injured on the strategic road network by 2040.
They also support the global Vision Zero strategy – to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.
Visitors to Highways UK can see some of the Group’s established barriers solutions, Zoneguard, Rebloc and Flexbeam, as well as more recent additions such as Rondino Roads Timber barriers. Pitagone, a prevention of work area vehicle incursion, which is light-weight, easily transportable and can be assembled by one person, yet is capable of stopping a 7.5 tonne truck travelling at a speed of 30mph; will be on display.
Varley and Gulliver’s HiMast passive sign post will also be showcased, providing a safer alternative to traditional structural steel poles. HiMast is designed to shear or breakaway following a vehicle impact to minimise the harm to the vehicle’s occupants.
Made of aluminium, the HiMast is multi-directional and can be impacted from any angle and still provide the same performance.
Sustainability
Event visitors can learn about a unique solution, developed by Hardstaff Barriers, to manufacture precast concrete barrier foundations offsite – speeding up the installation of VRS systems by more than three times.
While precast concrete barriers are routinely manufactured off site, the foundations that host the barriers are usually created in situ at the roadside, using a less efficient, traditional approach.
The offsite precast concrete barrier foundation manufacturing method offers a wide range of sustainability benefits, including: a swift barrier installation process; reduced traffic and emissions on-site; reduced site waste; and a reduced workforce required at the roadside, lowering the risk to road worker safety and wellbeing.
With environmental protection high on the agenda for highway authorities, this solution, alongside the companies’ overall commitment to sustainability, will help highway authorities to support the Department for Transport’s sustainability strategy.
Peter Wilkinson, Managing Director of VRS Solutions Group, which represents all four companies, said: “We recognise the vital role we play in protecting the world through the provision of sustainable infrastructure products and by minimising environmental impact.
“Our solutions themselves also have a critical part to play in protecting road users and workers and helping them to return home safely to their families and communities at the end of each day.”
He added: “We recognise this very important responsibility, and innovation and collaboration are now more important to us and our customers than ever before.”
“We recognise the vital role we play in protecting the world through the provision of sustainable infrastructure products and by minimising environmental impact.”Peter Wilkinson, Managing Director of VRS Solutions Group
