The DGT smart cones will soon begin to be used as a tool to reduce the accident rate of road workers
In 2001, 27 people (police, pedestrians, crane and maintenance operators) lost their lives as a result of being run over while providing assistance or working on the road. Reducing this figure to zero is the goal of the DGT’s smart cones, an innovative device that sends signals every 1.6 minutes warning of the presence of stopped vehicles and other incidents on the road.
The three V-16 lights certified by the DGT
geolocated cones
The geolocated cones are connected to the DGT platform 3.0. Its objective is to prevent traffic accidents in sections of works or places where an incident has occurred in order to increase the safety of maintenance workers, crane drivers and civil guards.
When an incident occurs, the smart cones will collect the exact location and send it to the platform; This, in turn, will launch an alert to drivers through the variable signaling panels (the luminous ones that cross the roads), the navigation systems and connected mobile devices.
The information that the geolocated cones will send once they are installed will be collected by the DGT Traffic Management Centers. These will send it, in real time, to the DGT 3.0 platform and the National Access Point.
To alert drivers who are approaching the affected section, the DGT’s intelligent cones emit light flashes. While for them to send an alert to other vehicles, whether private or emergency, they must be equipped with the V-27 device (not to be confused with the V-16 light).
Objective: save lives
According to data from the National Registry of Victims of Traffic Accidents in 2021, in Spain, 158 traffic accidents related to maintenance and conservation works on the roads were registered. Of these, 17 involved operators who worked or walked on the road or its surroundings as pedestrians.
To this figure, we must add the traffic agents of the Civil Guard who have lost their lives or have been injured while providing assistance on the road.
To reduce these figures, the DGT has reformed the roadside assistance protocol. In it, the new signs that cranes must carry to improve their safety are collected, as well as the obligation to communicate electronically the location of a damaged or injured vehicle.
In addition to this, Traffic has included surveillance of sections under construction as part of its special campaigns (along with seat belts, alcohol and drugs, speeding…). In the last one, at the end of 2022, the behavior of more than 140,000 drivers was controlled when approaching and crossing areas marked by works.
Almost 5,000 of these drivers were sanctioned for not respecting the rules; most (73%) for not slowing down and adjusting to specific directions. In addition, 153 were fined for using mobile phones and another 53 for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Cover photo: DGT
