Lucy Zodion uses Vizion CMS to enhance school safety with advisory 20mph warning signs across the borough

Background

Bolton Council has assigned a £1million pot to repair and provide new flashing speed warning signs throughout the borough. The money is being used to install 120 advisory 20mph warning signs outside 56 schools which are not covered by the 20mph speed limits currently operating on residential roads.

Challenge

Lucy Zodion worked with Bolton Council and their contractor to develop a solution that best met the key objectives of the project. Bolton Council requested that Lucy Zodion provide a solution that will increase road safety, reduce speed of motorists and meet budget restraints.

Objectives

  • Lighting signals must only work at key school opening (drop off) and closing (pick up) times
  • The advisory 20mph warning signs must be easy to control
  • The lights should encourage motorists to slow down when approaching schools

Solution

Lucy Zodion proposed an intuitive Central Management System (CMS) that is easy to control and programme to run at school opening and closing times, only. This system links to a series of bespoke street lights that also house instructional signs, warning motorists of the speed limit when lights are flashing.

Results

Once installed, the lights provide motorists with a physical reminder of the speed restriction on residential roads throughout the borough with a warning signal created by a series of advisory 20mph warning signs. Controlled by Lucy Zodion’s CMS, the Council can now manage all roadside school lights throughout the borough and ensure all are working how and when required, with the ability to isolate faulty or failing systems, for quick repair or replacement.

Safety – Ultimately, the Council’s key objective was to increase road safety within residential school areas.With 120 advisory 20mph warning signs installed outside 56 schools throughout the borough, pupil safety is inevitably increased by warning motorists of the speed limit with both flashing lights and roadside signs.

Operational hours – To ensure the safety of staff and pupils at crucial times, the Lucy Zodion CMS can be pre-programmed to switch flashing lights on and off during a number of periods throughout the day. This means that traffc flow is impacted only in school hours, reducing the instance of congestion in busy commuting hours. Another advantage of this unique system capability is that energy supply is only used as and when the lights are operating, increasing effciency and reducing any additional running costs.

Control – As the lights are centrally controlled and monitored by Council staff, it ensures all lights work in a sequence that relates to the opening times and dates of schools within the borough. With the ability to pre-programme lighting patterns, councils can ensure lights will be working at the critical hours required to enhance safety. The CMS is also able to monitor performance, which means faults can be found remotely and repaired more effectively – running costs can also be calculated more accurately for further budgeting requirements.

Bolton Council’s executive cabinet member for environmental services, Nick Peel, said:

All the evidence shows that if motorists slow down to 20mph, or under that, injuries sustained in an accident are less severe. It is common sense to slow down where there are schools and many young children about

Headteacher of Bolton Parish Church CE Primary, Debra Meekings, said:

Road safety is an essential part of our school curriculum and I am really pleased that children at the school will benefit from this

Gemma, a pupil of Bolton Parish Church CE Primary, aged 10, said:

It’s a big improvement. If drivers look at the signs and slow down it helps children and their parents who are walking with them