A University project aimed at reducing the number of collisions at a busy roundabout has received two national honours.
Research conducted at Sheriffhall on the Edinburgh City Bypass led to the introduction of innovative LED-powered, intelligent road studs to encourage drivers to stay within their lane.
Over the past decade, the six-arm, spiral-marked roundabout, which forms a junction with an important link to the Borders and a key local route, has seen more collisions than any other roundabout on the Scottish trunk road network.
In the first scheme of its kind in the UK, the studs now draw drivers’ attention to the delineation of the existing markings and guide them through the roundabout.
Edinburgh Napier worked closely with project partners Transport Scotland, Clearview Intelligence, BEAR Scotland and Amey Highways.
Now the scheme has received two major national awards in addition to accolades received earlier this year.
On October 6, the project was awarded “Road Marking of the Year” at the Highways Magazine Excellence Awards. The award was presented by the BBC News presenter, Huw Edwards, at an awards ceremony held at the Radisson Portman Hotel in London. The judges commented that “the developed solution is transferrable to numerous other sites throughout the UK”.
The following week, on October 13, the project was awarded “Most Innovative Transport Project” at the National Transport Awards. Proceedings were overseen by Radio 4 presenter, Hugh Dennis, at the Westminster Park Plaza hotel in London. The judging panel, which included representatives from central Government and major industry figures were very impressed with the scheme.
Richard Llewellyn, Lecturer in Transportation Engineering, who is leading the research project, said: “It was a great honour to collect the award on behalf of the university in front of such a large cross-section of industry professionals. The feedback received on the night was incredibly encouraging and has generated significant interest in our work.”
Professor Tom Rye, Director of the University’s Transport Research Institute, said; “This is an excellent example of working in partnership with industry and directly demonstrates the impact of our research on society.”
Monitoring of the performance of the roundabout is ongoing, with Richard’s research now looking at other applications of the road studs across the Scottish road network.
The pictures show Richard Llewellyn with Nick Lanigan, Director of Clearview Intelligence, and the BBC’s Huw Edwards with the project team.