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CITI driver warning initiative seen as springboard

NSW Centre for Road Safety hopes research in other areas can now get a head start

A technology trial that will allow trucks to transmit and receive warnings about road hazards will pave the way for other researchers, the New South Wales Centre for Road Safety says.

It’s taken the department 18 months to plan the initiative and gain funding – a measure that can be challenging for others interested in undertaking their own research, the NSW Centre for Road Safety technology manager John Wall says.

The centre is trialling the Co-operative Intelligent Transport Initiative (CITI) on a 42 km route from Port Kembla to the Hume Highway at Picton Road interchange near Wilton – a route known for its crash history involving trucks.

Thirty trucks will be fitted with anti-collision devices in the second half of this year.

The first stage has received funding of $1.4 million from the Federal Government’s Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program, the NSW Government and IT research organisation NICTA.

No money has been set aside for the second stage of the trial that will involve up to 120 vehicles.

“We are hoping to get this up and running so if people want to come and look at the benefits of greenhouse gas emissions they can come and do that in our particular area and they don’t have to set up their own,” Will says.

“It will cut back the cost of research and also enable the researchers to get their research done in a much quicker period of time than if they had to start from the beginning and get all the licences and legal agreements going.”

The project has attracted a strong interest from the transport industry, he adds, mostly for car carriers and long-haul vehicles.

“What we’re trying to do is have quite a few vehicles travel around with these systems on board and then also being able to test things like adverse weather conditions and transmit information from work crews that may be working on the road to allow trucks to know where they’re ahead,” Will says.

“We’re trying to build a place where developers and researchers can come and play with the technology which at the moment they can’t do in Australia today.”

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