Ready to rumble? New safety system

Tests by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in the UK show that the use of rumble strips could significantly reduce crashes. The rumble strips could be installed quickly and cheaply on single lane roads or on roads with a single lane in either direction. These would help reduce the risk of drivers running off the road (RoR), or of inadvertently crossing over into oncoming traffic. The rumble strips can be installed easily and at low cost using simple milling equipment, with this system already in use in many US states as well as elsewhere in the world.

At present, raised rumble strips are only used in the UK along dual carriageways. However TRL says its research offers a good opportunity for Highways England to bring single carriageway sections of the strategic road network up to the same safety standard as the dual carriageway sections.

In the UK, rumble strips are placed primarily on the edge of dual carriageways. However, many other countries also place rumble strips along the edge as well as the centre line of dual and single carriageways to mitigate head-on, side swipe and RoR incidents.

New innovative rumble strip patterns, such as the sinusoidal design which produces less external noise, are increasingly being utilised in the USA and Europe for their higher benefits compared with traditional types.