BUSINESS
represent high quality and innovative products but they are also
highly functional, like the road barriers protecting motorcyclists. This
means that the level of passive safety is continuously improving,
which is a crucial point for our testing institute,” says Jiří Studnička,
director of the Technical and Engineering Services Office of the
Constructions Technical and Testing Institute in Prague, which is
the only testing body in the Czech Republic providing testing for all
safety systems on Czech roads.
Road barriers help to reduce fatalities and serious accidents
The main safety element on roads is drivers behaving decently.
However, this is the least reliable factor. Therefore, it is necessary
to provide for passive safety on roads. And this, to a great extent,
is ensured by road barriers. Road barriers help to reduce fatalities
and serious accidents because they are installed on risky sections of
roads with rigid obstacles like trees or rocks near the roads.
“Over the last 15 years, road barriers installed on risky sections
of roads have helped to reduce fatalities by 38 and serious
%
accidents by 49%,” confirms Jiří Zlý, head of the Road Police
Department of the Moravian-Silesian Region Directorate of the
Police of the Czech Republic.
New models of safety barriers produced by ArcelorMittal Ostrava
Magnelis® = self-healing coating
Innovations include the Magnelis® coating, a new form of
anti-corrosion protection of steel. The Magnelis® coating will
provide protection to steel road barriers for twice as long as
regular hot dip galvanizing, i.e. for 40 years. This is possible thanks
to the unique chemical composition of the coating, which contains
aluminium and magnesium in addition to zinc. An interesting
feature of Magnelis® is its self-healing capability. It protects
the exposed areas that are liable to corrosion: cuts, welds,
and scratches. Before steel starts corroding, a thin
layer of protection containing magnesium will
develop over the damaged area to shield it from
climatic impacts.
under the road barriers, which often causes serious injuries. At the
same time, during the accident it reduces the effects of the collision of the motorcyclist with the road barrier as it partly absorbs
the kinetic energy. Motorcyclist-friendly road barriers are installed
alongside dangerous stretches of roads, such as long bends. They
are already found on dozens of kilometers of roads in the Czech
Republic.
The SMART road barriers have brought the first smart solutions
Between 2008 and 2012, ArcelorMittal Ostrava, in cooperation
with the University of Zaragoza participated in the development
of a SMART road barriers which are equipped with three types of
built-in sensors. The first sensor type is able to evaluate the climatic
conditions at the given location. The second type is able to notify
possible problems with traffic on the road section and the third
sensor type can immediately send a signal to rescue system agencies in case of a collision with the road barrier.
The SMARTer road barrier as a successor of SMART road barriers
Between 2015 and 2016, ArcelorMittal Ostrava, in cooperation
with the University of Zaragoza and other partners, worked on
the preparation of an even smarter road barrier using the most
recent technologies. The main task for the new type of road barrier was to ensure not only primary but also secondary and tertiary safety, including the activation of a drone during the accident
for scanning and sending up-to-date data on the current situation
to rescue teams. Additionally it facilitates two-way communication, the possibility of data collection, energy self-sufficiency (solar
panels) and modularity – the possibility of connecting to existing
restraint systems.
Micro-alloyed steel road barriers offer
lower weight and improved safety
parameters
In 2012, the company developed
a new series of restraint systems.
They are made of micro-alloyed
steel, which has a higher strength
than low-carbon steel. This allowed
a reduction in thickness from 4 to
2.8mm, representing more than
a 25% reduction in weight. This
makes the installation of road
barriers on the roads easier. Even
with less material, crash testing has
confirmed better safety parameters.
Motorcyclist-friendly road barriers reduce the risk of fatal accidents
The company has developed road barriers with a bottom strip to improve the
protection of motorcyclists. The bottom
strip prevents the motorcyclist from passing
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