MIRA Hosts 2012 UK Roads European Crash Demonstration Day
Passive safety was the main focus of the 2012 UK Roads European Crash Demonstration day. The event, held at MIRA’s extensive Highway Safety and Protection of Infrastructure Test Centre on the 17th May featured exhibits from many of the world’s leading manufacturers of road safety furniture as well as a variety of cutting-edge safety products and services.
Over three hundred people attended the annual event that featured five live 80kmp/h high speed crash demonstrations carried out by MIRA’s safety experts; aimed at showcasing the latest developments in passive safety systems. These included collisions involving four separate saloon cars and: a fibre composite traffic signal post, a 60m length of road safety barrier, a seven and a half metre high shored-up sign structure and an aluminium traffic signal post with pedestrian push button panel and light assembly. A crash demonstration was also carried out involving a seven and a half tonne commercial vehicle travelling at high speed and a vertical concrete barrier.
Miles Dadson, MIRA Principal Engineer who hosted the event said:
“The Highway Safety and Protection of Infrastructure Test Centre team are pleased to support the UK Roads initiative – aimed at reducing the number of injuries caused by road collisions through the design and use of passively safe roadside furniture.
“By carrying out demonstration days such as this at MIRA’s Highway Safety and Protection of Infrastructure Test Centre we’re able to show people first-hand the benefits of using passive safety systems on European roads.”
The man responsible for organising the event, UK Roads Managing Director Andrew Pledge commented:
“We really enjoy and value our relationship with MIRA, and this is definitely the best place to hold such an event. The ability to watch high energy passive safety demonstrations makes MIRA a wonderful venue for road safety education, and the visual impact of crash testing adds tangibility to this important form of engineering.
“Next year we hope to see even more people attending this event, and it would be great to see both active and passive road safety systems on show.”
More information about UK Roads and details of their upcoming events can be found on the UK Roads website:
