Traffic safety is one of the main tasks on the roads of the European Union and Lithuania, with the aim of preventing incidents with wild animals and reducing related costs (injuries and deaths of people, deaths of animals, damage to motor vehicles).
Currently, the most widely used measures to protect animals from entering onto the road, both in the European Union countries and in Lithuania, are net fences, which are combined with other measures such as jump ramps and one way door-gates. The most environmentally friendly, relatively efficient, but the most expensive means (both its design, construction, maintenance and support) are green bridges, which are quite widespread in EU countries and are also planned in Lithuania. However, these expensive measures are usually only used on highways, so there is a need for alternative animal warning measures that are not very expensive, but are also effective. In Lithuania, additional protection measures could be perfectly applied on district and rural roads, where the traffic intensity at night is low, but the migration of animals in those areas, especially in forested areas, is intense and where the installation of basic measures would not be appropriate due to the high cost or other related reasons. Smart technologies (predictive LED signs, motion-responsive cameras, radio wave sensors, etc.) have been developed and applied on roads in foreign countries for a long time, but the devices themselves, their installation and maintenance are very expensive and not always efficient enough.
The solution to the problem is an innovative R&D result- a self-contained smart technology device, installed on existing road bollards, which is designed to protect drivers and animals from wild animals running onto the road. It is an effective tool that helps to effectively reduce collisions between motor vehicles and wild animals both on highways and regional or country roads.
The system registers device activation cases, collects and transmits data about registered objects, registration time, frequency. In this way, the monitoring of the movement of subjects is carried out, the data is transmitted both to the Lithuanian Road Directorate for assessing the safety of road sections, and to the environmental protection authorities in order to assess the movement of animals when crossing roads.
The device is installed on each road bollard located in dangerous road sections (every 50 meters). The devices are autonomous (autonomous energy source), so in the absence of high animal activity, they can be easily moved to other, more dangerous road sections.
Several modifications of device prototypes and product design were created during the project. The products were tested in real conditions – the final version was tested under normal and extreme conditions on specially planned road sections coordinated with the Lithuanian Motor Road Directorate. During this activity, the devices were tested, calibrated and adjusted. Information about device performance and usability is collected.
Preparation of the final version for the market: taking into account the colected test results and user feedback, the final version of the device is prepared for the market.
The project was carried out together with SE “Dok innovacja”.
Project funding:
This research project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund according to the 2014–2020 Operational Programme for the European Union Funds’ Investments under measure No. 01.2.2-MITA-K-702 “Promoting the Commercialisation and Internationalisation of R&D”.
Project results:
Autonomous smart devices installed on each road bollard in dangerous road sections (every 50 meters).
Period of project implementation: 2021-01-01 - 2022-04-30
Project partners: Kaunas University of Technology
