European Patent No. EP3749947, US Patent No. 10,775,295, US Patent No. 6,928,857, Canadian Patent No. CA 2,994,127 (Apparatus for Measurement of Road Surface Friction)

Reduce Highway Skidding Incidents Through Friction-based Road Testing.

Name: Continuous Road Testing Limited
Address: Box 53600 Ellerslie P.O., Edmonton, AB, T6X 0P6, Canada
Telephone: 1-780-446-8044
Price range: $$$

Continuous Road Testing offers technology that provides data on winter road conditions to municipalities and transportation infrastructure specialists. This data can be used to identify potential areas of danger on public roadways and provides immediate, actionable knowledge of winter driving conditions.

Through data-driven analysis of real driving conditions, our technology provides friction results that can help pinpoint areas that require changes to maintenance strategies and roadway engineering.

This technology can also be applied to fleets that may benefit from driver notifications of real time road conditions to inform road maintenance operations, or even commercial fleet applications.

Continuous Road Testing Limited

Winter road contaminant sticks to the road and is found in various forms, adhering ice, compact snow, slush and combinations of those. This contaminant is a contributing factor in many of the most serious vehicle collisions. The statistics vary by region but in Canada the average over the past twenty years is about 5% of fatal collisions have winter road contaminant as a contributing factor. These may be referred to as skidding collisions. The misjudging of the road seems to be the reason most skidding collisions occur since drivers travelling at higher speeds must rely on the visual appearance. We make equipment to prevent those collisions.

Friction lends to vehicles the ability to steer, brake or accelerate.

The continuous friction report facilitates quick decision-making for driving, applying materials to the road, lowering the speed limit or closing a road to traffic. Our reports include a screen display that scrolls and has a two-digit value for friction. Any driver with our friction software can see what was recorded, where it was recorded, by driving in the same lane after the initial measurements were recorded. For quick decision-making there is a need to recognize a sudden downward fall of friction that could be more hazardous than a gradual descent. A sudden downward trend or “patch” of clear or translucent ice can be a major cause of skidding since traffic is travelling far too fast if the road has been bare up to that point. Hazard recognition capability in your testing apparatus is a key to collision prevention.

Friction lends to vehicles the ability to steer, brake or accelerate.

The Roadtester is a CFME, short for Continuous Friction Measuring Equipment. This CFME was designed for winter contaminant and therefore can reveal every small variation in available friction on the road surface in an accurate manner on a GPS-connected scrolling X-Y line graph. Our measurement of available friction is converted to a two decimal place number between .10 and .90 (coefficient of friction). We use a time-stable reference to keep measurements consistent. The testing can be performed without interruption for at least 800 kilometers so that a continuous data file can be recorded. For the most part the only maintenance required during the winter is changing tires and periodic calibration checks.

The Roadtester has introduced an innovation not seen on any other equipment – One test tire on the left side (wheel path or wheel track) and a second test tire on the right side. These two modules measure and record independently of each other so that irregular ice patterns on the highway are better defined. This is a “fail-safe” safety feature as well as contributing to hazard recognition capability. The earlier and more accurately that hazards are recognized the more time that the driver will be given to make a decision that could avert a skidding collision.

The Roadtester is not just for winter maintenance purposes; it can be used by anyone with a truck to tow an 800 pound capacity trailer. It is planned that introductory products will include light galvanized trailers (galvanized due to the road salt corrosion) equipped with a CFME assembly on either side. A towed trailer is perfect for some friction-testing applications while not as suitable for others. Our CFME assemblies may be installed on certain makes and models of pickup trucks using attachment points on the frame. Examples of the Roadtester installed on F-150 pickup trucks can be seen in the photos. The distinguishing feature of the Roadtester that makes it stand out among the crowd is the accuracy of the data. Being able to test at highway speed as well as having accuracy makes winter contaminant friction measuring feasible for long distance applications.

Get in touch for more information about the RoadTester system

Email:
leasing@roadtester.com
glenbrown@ice-check.com

Phone: +1-780-446-8044

Mailing address:
Continuous Road Testing Limited
Box 53600 Ellerslie P.O.
Edmonton Alberta T6X 0P6
Canada