Ice-warning lights to go
A trial of blue lights on the centre line of Otago roads which flash in icy conditions has ended with questions about their reliability.
The Dunedin City Council, NZ Transport Agency and the Central Otago District Council said they did not plan to install more lights, and those in place would be removed.
However, the NZTA says it will continue to work with the company that manufactures them to come up with a product that works.
The company says the problems have been ironed out, and it hopes the technology will still be rolled out on New Zealand roads.
Pateye raised pavement markers were developed by Christchurch company SolarBright.
Similar to cat’seye road markers, Pateyes incorporate a sensor which tracks environmental elements including moisture, humidity and ground temperature.
The intention was when it dropped to a certain level, the blue LED lights started flashing.
The lights were meant to switch off when the temperature rose.
Pateyes were installed in 2012 on North Rd, Northeast Valley, and Main South Rd, at Sunnyvale.
The NZTA trialled nearly 300 road markers in areas including the Northern Motorway, Taieri River Bridge and two sites in the Manuka Gorge.
The Central Otago District Council installed more than 70 of the devices around Earnscleugh Rd, Springvale and Dunstan intersection, and the Clyde and Bannockburn bridges area.
Dunedin City Council transport group manager Richard Saunders said the council had discussed the lights with the NZTA, and the feedback it was getting was they were inconsistent.
The council did not want to install any more.
‘‘The concept is a really good one.
‘‘Anything that can provide that live information to road users to improve safety we certainly are supportive of.’’
However, the council had to be sure that technology was working as it should.
‘‘That really is the issue at the moment. It’s been found that they can be inconsistent in terms of not flashing when they they should be and flashing when the temperature wouldn’t indicate necessarily that they should.’’
Mr Saunders said the Pateyes would be removed ‘‘to ensure drivers do not receive incorrect information about road conditions’’.
‘‘We will continue to discuss options with the NZTA, and should a product be developed which meets the appropriate performance specifications, we will investigate installing these around the council network.’’
NZTA senior safety engineer Roy Johnston said the trial showed many drivers did slow down when they saw the blue lights shining on the road, regardless of the temperature or presence of ice. However, product reliability was not sufficient for the use of the current Pateye devices being taken further.
The NZTA was ‘‘working closely with SolarBright’’ and the company had been invited to have input into new specifications covering active road markers.
The Pateyes which remained on highways were being removed as crews prepared the roads for winter.
An NZTA spokeswoman said there were also problems with adhesion to roads.
Upgraded Pateyes were supplied, were replaced in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions, and contractors also trialled other methods of attaching them to roads.
‘‘The issue remains that adhesion was still an issue despite that.’’
SolarBright said the NZTA only installed a small percentage of improved Pateyes, and some were not installed to the manufacturer’s instructions, ‘‘hence [they] came loose or [were] snowploughed off [the] ground’’.
SolarBright managing director Nicola Martin said the company would continue to work with the NZTA, and was putting new specifications together for the Pateye.
She said the invention was the first of its type, and ‘‘obviously there was going to be issues that needed to be ironed out’’.
‘‘We’ve made massive leaps and bounds, and massive [product] improvements.’’
She hoped the NZTA would pick up on that, but said the company had to be patient while the process took place.