Technology increases plowing, increases safety efforts
This year, the Ministry of Transport of UTAH (UDOT) installs vehicle technology at everything (V2X) in 100 other sinelles in the state to increase the efficiency of plowing operations.
This technology allows plows to clean the roads during large storms – including faster suburban Tuesday – faster.
V2X units are small wireless sensor boxes that connect vehicles and infrastructure and allow them to communicate with each other. Thanks to these communication channels, technology can send a variety of messages, including transit signal preemption.
The pre -emption of the transit signal is currently used by approximately 100 sinelles UDOT to prolong the green times of the traffic signal and even change the light from red to green. This year’s installations will double the total number of plows that can automatically send a request to an intersection to continue moving.
“Pre -emption makes a nocturnal difference in our work,” said Brian Sommer, who drives a plow of snow at the provo / Orem maintenance station in Udot. “If traffic is stopped, we are stopped. And the roads remain worse, the more we are in traffic.”
Keeping the moving plows increases efficiency, but also makes it safer for everyone on the roads. It is difficult to suddenly stop at a red light on the smooth roads for snow-hunting and drivers, and can delay the progress of cleaning roads. But with the preemption of the transit signal, all those who drive near a plow have more time to make safe driving decisions.
“The aspect of the security of it – being able to pass through an intersection without hindering traffic has been excellent,” said the supervisor of the Udot Provo / Orem station, Chad Gasser. “It makes us safer for us, the public and the commuters.”
In the future, V2X technology will be able to send safety messages to drivers, such as warnings in work areas, road conditions or pointed curves.
“In the long term, this technology is supposed to save lives,” said Blaine Leonard, engineer in UDOT transport technology technology. “When this happens, we can give the driver a vehicle information about what’s going on and be able to avoid accidents.”
UDOT has been experimenting with V2X technology since 2015 and is currently using it along several snow course roads in the counties of Salt Lake and Utah.