GB2492568A

GB2492568A - Vehicle warning system

Info

Publication number: GB2492568A
Application number: GB1111494.9A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gregory Christopher Lawton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2011-07-05
Filing date: 2011-07-05
Publication date: 2013-01-09
Anticipated expiration: 2031-07-05
Also published as: GB201111494D0; GB2492568B

Abstract

A sensor 1, which may be infra-red lidar, an inductive loop, or a camera with image processing, detects a oncoming vehicle 2 as it approaches a hazard such as a bend in the road or a blind summit. Control unit 3 processes the sensor output. Status beacon 4 uses the output of a diagnostic system to indicate to other road users 5 that the warning system is in operation. Indicators 6 such as flashing light sources (LEDs) in the road (similar to â catâ s eyesâ ) provide the road user 5 with advance warning of the oncoming vehicle 2 when road user 5 is detected. This may be continued until the vehicles have passed. Continuous illumination of the light sources indicates that the system is operational.

Description

Oncoming vehicle warning equipment for use at unsighted road locations The invention relates to road safety, specifically to reduce the number of accidents at locations on roads where hazards exist due to the approach of oncoming vehicles being obscured from the view of other road users. Examples of such locations are bends in the road, humps or dips in the road of sufficient height or depth to hide an oncoming vehicle from view. The aim of the invention is to warn road users that there is an oncoming vehicle so as to allow the road user to take action and avoid collision with the oncoming vehicle.

Figure 1 shows the invention installed at a bend in the road. The method of installation shown here is equally applicable to the other types of hazards already mentioned. For clarity figure 1 only shows the invention installed so as to provide warning of oncoming vehicles in one direction only, however it would be usual to install a second instance of the invention to also provide warning of oncoming vehicles in the other direction. Tt is likely two such installations would share a single control unit (3) With reference to figure 1 the invention consists of a sensor (1) to detect the presence of an oncoming vehicle (2), a control unit (3) to process the sensor output, a status beacon (4) to indicate to road users (5) that the invention is operating and finally indicators (6) that emit a visual warning signal thereby warning the road user (5) of the oncoming vehicle (2) The invention operates as follows. The sensor is located at the approach to a hazard. The sensor is able to detect the presence of any oncoming vehicle as it approaches the hazard. The sensor may be realised by a number of means as appropriate for each particular installation. Any type of sensor can be used that detects the presence of the oncoming vehicle in a timely manner sufficient for the invention to operate correctly. One example of a sensor may be an inductive loop set beneath the road surface that can detect the presence of large bodies of ferrous material such as vehicle engines passing above them, another type of sensor may use the reflections of a line of sight infra-red beam (or other electro-magnetic wave technology) directed towards the oncoming vehicle that are then processed to detect the presence of the oncoming vehicle, a third possible type of sensor is the use of cameras and real-time image processing to detect the oncoming vehicle. When the control unit has detected the presence of an oncoming vehicle it illuminates the indicators in a repeating flashing sequence thereby warning other road users of the presence of the oncoming vehicle. The indicators will continue to flash in the repeating seguence for a period of time after the onconing vehicle has passed the sensor. The duration of this period of time depends on the hazard being negotiated but should be long enough for the indicators to be flashing while the oncoming vehicle passes through the hazard but short enough to prevent the indicators from continuously flashing in moderate traffic. The indicators are a series of high visibility lights such as light emitting diodes (LED) mounted in the road at regular intervals and facing towards any road user that needs to be aware of the approach of the oncoming vehicle. The indicators may be co-located with existing cats eyes' where present, where cats eyes' are not present the indicators may be mounted in a protective housing of similar design to the cats eyes.

A status beacon informs the road user if the invention is in operation. This can be by the simple mechanism of an illuminated sign indicating the invention is in operation.

Another version of the status beacon integrates the beacon's functionality into the indicators. In this embodiment when the invention is in operation all the indicators are continuously illuminated, the presence of the oncoming vehicle would be indicated by the repeating flashing sequence as previously described, following the period of time previously described the indicators would return to continuous illumination.

The control unit activates the status beacon when power is available and deems the sensor to be operational using diagnostic information from the sensor.

The oncoming vehicle is typically a motor vehicle of some kind such as a motor car, motor cycle or commercial vehicle such as a lorry, wagon or van.

The road user is typically another motor vehicle but may also be a pedestrian, pedal cyclist or horse rider.

Claims

<claim-text>Claims 1. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment comprising a sensor to detect an oncoming vehicle approaching a hazard in the road; a control unit to process the information from the sensor and to control the other parts of the eguipment; a method of indicating to road users that the equipment is in operation; and indicators located in the road that emit a visual warning signal to warn road users of the oncoming vehicle.</claim-text> <claim-text>2. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises an inductive type device to detect the presence of ferrous material within the oncoming vehicle.</claim-text> <claim-text>3. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises the use of reflections from an electromagnetic beam to determine the position of the oncoming vehicle.</claim-text> <claim-text>4. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises the use of cameras and image processing to determine the position of the oncoming vehicle.</claim-text> <claim-text>5. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said sensor comprises any type of device that can detect the presence of the oncoming vehicle in a timely manner sufficient for the equipment to operate correctly.</claim-text> <claim-text>6. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said method of indicating to road users that the equipment is in operation comprises the illumination of a sign.</claim-text> <claim-text>7. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said method of indicating to road users that the equipment is in operation comprises continuous illumination of all the indicators.</claim-text> <claim-text>8. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said indicators comprise a series of high visibility lights mounted in or on the road surface at intervals along the trajectory of the road.</claim-text> <claim-text>9. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said visual warning signal consists of illuminating the indicators iii a repeating flashing sequence.</claim-text> <claim-text>10. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said control unit uses diagnostic information from the sensor to determine that the oncoming vehicle warning equipment is able to operate correctly and then activates the method of indicating to road users that the equipment is in operation.</claim-text> <claim-text>11. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said control unit uses information from the sensor to detect the presence of an oncoming vehicle and then activates the indicators to emit the visual warning signal.</claim-text> <claim-text>12. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 1 in which said control unit continues to activate the indicators to emit the visual warning signal for a period of time after the sensor no longer detects the presence of the oncoming vehicle.</claim-text> <claim-text>13. An oncoming vehicle warning equipment of claim 12 in which the period of time mentioned depends on the equipment insta11aton and is suffHciently long enough for the visual warning signal to be active while the oncoming vehicle passes through the hazard but short enough to prevent the visual warning signal to be continuously active in moderate traffic.</claim-text>