Login | Register


Engineering News

Latest news of interest to engineers. Sourced from GlobalSpec's Engineering News

Previous in Blog: Diagnosis 2.0 - A New Blood Test Promises to Spot Cancer and Alzheimer's Long Before You Get Sick   Next in Blog: New Japanese lightweight robot on wheels can talk
Close

Comments Format:






Close

Subscribe to Discussion:

CR4 allows you to "subscribe" to a discussion
so that you can be notified of new comments to
the discussion via email.

Close

Rating Vote:







Solar-powered LED road markers could light future roadways

Posted November 21, 2007 10:00 AM

From Autoblog:

Night-time travel is a necessary part of the busy world in which we live, but due to decreased visibility, traveling in the dark can be dangerous. The British have shed some light on night driving with the invention of the Astucia SolarLite flush road stud. The stud emits LED light, which is powered by small solar panels. The new stud tech is present on 120 British roads, and night-time accidents are down a dramatic 70% since the devices were installed. Amazingly, the SolarLite road stud gives drivers 900 meters of visibility, which increases reaction times to over 30 seconds. Reaction time with standard reflector studs is just 3.2 seconds. With thousands of Americans dying on night roads every year, any incremental price vs. reflector studs would likely be a drop in the bucket when compared to the incredible savings in insurance claims alone. The government mandates billions of dollars in safety equipment on our cars and trucks, and both the automakers and customers foot the bill in the name of safety. If the SolarLite road stud is nearly as effective as it claims, the governments incorporating them could effectively reduce the likelihood that many automotive safety features would never need to be deployed.

Read the whole article


Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.
Guru
New Zealand - Member - Interested in everything- see my Profile please Engineering Fields - Electrical Engineering - Member Engineering Fields - Power Engineering - Member Engineering Fields - Civil Engineering - Member Hobbies - Musician - Autoharp and Harmonica Hobbies - Hunting - Member Hobbies - Fishing - Member

Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Christchurch, (The Garden City), South Island, New Zealand
Posts: 4554
Good Answers: 223
#1

Re: Solar-powered LED road markers could light future roadways

11/24/2007 4:55 AM

The article is interesting, thank you.

Let's hope they use Li-ion rechargeable batteries inside the units, because otherwise unit life is limited to the charge/discharge maximum, perhaps only a few short years....

__________________
"The number of inventions increases faster than the need for them at the time" - SparkY
Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

Previous in Blog: Diagnosis 2.0 - A New Blood Test Promises to Spot Cancer and Alzheimer's Long Before You Get Sick   Next in Blog: New Japanese lightweight robot on wheels can talk
You might be interested in: Handheld and Portable Computers, Desktop Personal Computers, Notebook and Laptop Computers