Publications
Partners
LONDON, England - A UK plan to put up high screens at crash scenes to deter the ghouls who like blood and broken bones could work much, much better in South Africa though buying enough screens could be a problem.
Over the first month of the 2012/13 holiday season we had THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE times the number of road deaths as did the British Isles where only THREE people were killed on the roads.
A report in the London Daily Mail tells how the UK government has bought more than 3000 crash-screen panels to hide the blood and mayhem of crashes from ogling eyes.
NO PEEKING
The screens have cost the government the equivalent of about R31-million with each set priced at about R300 000. Each set can be loaded on a purpose-built trailer and can screen 75m of highway while the police and paramedics get on with their jobs unhindered and the passing traffic keeps, well, passing.
The government estimates that the scheme will save the UK economy “tens of millions of pounds” a year.
The department for transport told the Mail: “The planned roll-out of incident screens will shield collisions and prevent rubbernecking. Time savings associated with screens alone can save several hundred thousand pounds per incident.”
A well as the screens, the department has helped fund 38 3D laser scanners that enable police to capture crash evidence quickly by mapping out where vehicles and wreckage lie in the road.
Other initiatives include the launch of a hands-free smartphone app that notifies of incidents and congestion.
KEEP TRAFFIC FLOWING
UK roads minister Stephen Hammond said: “This will be another great advantage not only for clearing up collisions but also for getting the roads moving afterwards. People will recognise the screens, recognise that something's happening behind it, but realise it won’t affect their driving – there’s nothing to see and we want to keep the highways flowing.”
RAC Foundation director Stephen Glaister told he Mail: “Incident screens reduce traffic disruption and help emergency services, ensuring that drivers not involved in the incident complete their journeys safely and on time. The economy relies on an efficient road network. Traffic jams after incidents increase frustration and the risk of low-speed collisions.”
Over the first month of the 2012/13 holiday season we had THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE times the number of road deaths as did the British Isles where only THREE people were killed on the roads.
A report in the London Daily Mail tells how the UK government has bought more than 3000 crash-screen panels to hide the blood and mayhem of crashes from ogling eyes.
NO PEEKING
The screens have cost the government the equivalent of about R31-million with each set priced at about R300 000. Each set can be loaded on a purpose-built trailer and can screen 75m of highway while the police and paramedics get on with their jobs unhindered and the passing traffic keeps, well, passing.
The government estimates that the scheme will save the UK economy “tens of millions of pounds” a year.
The department for transport told the Mail: “The planned roll-out of incident screens will shield collisions and prevent rubbernecking. Time savings associated with screens alone can save several hundred thousand pounds per incident.”
A well as the screens, the department has helped fund 38 3D laser scanners that enable police to capture crash evidence quickly by mapping out where vehicles and wreckage lie in the road.
Other initiatives include the launch of a hands-free smartphone app that notifies of incidents and congestion.
KEEP TRAFFIC FLOWING
UK roads minister Stephen Hammond said: “This will be another great advantage not only for clearing up collisions but also for getting the roads moving afterwards. People will recognise the screens, recognise that something's happening behind it, but realise it won’t affect their driving – there’s nothing to see and we want to keep the highways flowing.”
RAC Foundation director Stephen Glaister told he Mail: “Incident screens reduce traffic disruption and help emergency services, ensuring that drivers not involved in the incident complete their journeys safely and on time. The economy relies on an efficient road network. Traffic jams after incidents increase frustration and the risk of low-speed collisions.”
