Motorcycle Friendly, Smart and Ecological: Road Studs! |
|
|
File under Ecology Safety
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
|
|
British company Astucia  produces accident reduction technologies, which on its own is very good for motorcycle riders like us. Anything that reduces our risk on the road is a plus. But now, Astucia have a new product that not only helps us when we're riding, but is also ecological. Their new SolarLike is a road stud, that lowers the risk to us bikers, as well as dramatically improving night time visibility.
The new SolarLite sits inside (flush) in the road surface, so it's not something that's going to make a bump noise when we ride over it. The SolarLite has a smaller footprint (no pun intended) than standard studs, with only 112 mm of surface. So less surface to slip on...
The stud stores solar energy during the day, and then at night, it automatically turns itself on, illuminating the road from dusk to dawn. The riding path can be seen 900 meters, which is fantastic if you think about it. That's 10 times more than current reflective studs (plus your high beams must be directed towards them, which is not the case in a curve).
Martin Dicks, a former London firefighter, is a keen motorcycle rider, and designed the system with motorcycles in mind.
In the UK, Astucia road studs are currently installed on roads in Lothian in Scotland, the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, in Essex, Buckinghamshire, Norfolk and Oxfordshire, where they have demonstrated a reduction in serious accident levels of over 70%.
The Astucia solar powered studs are being used on cycle routes in and out of the city of Peterborough and in locations such as Addenbrookes and between Girton and Oakington on the outskirts of Cambridge. By combining pedal power with solar power, the studs provide a sustainable solution to waymarking the routes for cyclists, providing demarcation of combined pedestrian and cycle paths so that cyclists and pedestrian remain separated. They also provide delineation of the edges of cycle paths so that cyclists can safely stay on track even if being dazzled by the headlights of oncoming vehicles on adjacent roads.
Click here for more information
|
|
|
Click here to Show/Hide 
