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-   -   HPCL: Sound & warning system for blind corners (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/186427-hpcl-sound-warning-system-blind-corners.html)

HP Lubricants and Leo Burnett India have come together to introduce an innovative warning system for India's national highways that is aimed at minimising chances of an accident due to blind corners. The project has been called Roads that Honk.

Leo Burnett India has conceptualised and developed a technology that uses SmartLife poles that can be planted on each side of major hairpin bends. These poles are connected to each other through advanced networking devices that employ wireless communication techniques. Each pole is further equipped with a Radar and an anti-collision warning system. All these devices run on electricity that is generated through solar photovoltaic cell modules.

The Radar system in the poles is capable of reading and analysing data to detect the speed of vehicles that are approaching the hairpin bends. If vehicles are approaching at high speeds on both ends, the poles make a honking sound to alert the drivers to slow down and cross the bend safely.

The system has currently been launched and is operational on NH1, along the Jammu-Srinagar highway. The companies claim that post the installation of the collision avoidance system, number of accidental cases have reduced significantly. HP Lubricants and Leo Burnett plan to study the response of the installed system and eventually spread it across the country to further minimise the cases of fatal accidents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5DqvAYUdTA
Link to Team-BHP News

Thanks for sharing. It is a wonderful initiative by HP in reducing avoidable accidents.
Hope it is implemented across the country on major ghat roads.

Why wouldn't a simple convex mirror work?

I wonder how the system will react when there is moderate traffic. Will it keep honking all the time? I guess a video camera with display makes most sense.

I have a (bad? dangerous?) habit of NOT honking at all, either on ghat roads or even hairpin bends.

Do we really need this technology? Does this problem require such a complex solution? A convex mirror is so much simple and serves the purpose and they were already installed on the Jammu - Srinagar highway even 5 years ago. This might work better for autonomous cars but with human drivers, I think it is being used just for the heck of using it.

PS: Isn't the internet abuzz talking about noise pollution and its ill-effects?

Simply driving safely at proper speeds and taking proper precautions is all that is necessary.

I'm all for any gadget that improves safety, but it is a shame people can't get their own basic act together. There is no excuse at all for collisions at blind corners.

A nice PR stunt.

Could have solved the same with a warning board and slow down sign. Anyway, it works only if people drive with common sense and obey the traffic warning signs.

What I hate the most about the video is the fact that 80% of the accidents occurs at this particular curve and it took HPCL to bring a solution. I'm glad they are doing it but what about the government? I think government can crowd source information, GPS location of accidents, etc using app. And address the hotspots, by bringing in solutions like what HPCL has done here.

I remember reading about a Shell petrol bunk employee from Chennai helping the fellow motorists by pasting reflective tapes on unmarked divider near the bunk where he worked. After that, there has been reduction in number of accidents.

properly maintained rumbler strips before the hairpin bends on the descent side would work too.

The system looks good on video and lets hope it would be maintained well too.

I vaguely remember seeing some kind of device/box in front of the driver of buses, that runs in the high-ranges of Kerala during the 80s and I was told that this gives an indication when there is another vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. Does anyone know about such a system?

I agree with @avingodb

Honking do not slow down the vehicle. Especially with some cars who are playing music louder than the disco. Proper rumble strips does get the message across to the driver.

No need to spend on developing specific purpose radar technology. No need to use solar cells, batteries. No need to send a technician periodically to maintain the system.

And... Honking? Really? They want more honking in this country?

Do we really need fancy tech to make drivers slow down? What about rumbler strips or small speed breakers just before the bend to make sure all vehicles slow down before they approach the bend?
It's welcome if it helps in reducing collisions/accidents but I believe this will keep honking on a moderately busy ghat section and will surely annoy drivers.

Very likely that this 80% number is hugely exaggerated. Not sure where they got this data.

Also, a quick Google search reveals that there is no "Turn of Death" anywhere. Since this concept was developed by Leo Burnett (an ad agency) - all this is perhaps advertising speak. Or perhaps maybe they heard this (80% accidents & Turn Of Death bit) from one or two locals whom they spoke to, at a roadside dhaba

In an ideal world, we wouldn't need this technology, but this is India. We encounter morons who don't understand traffic rules, drive with utter disregard to safety and fellow road users.
We have a thread documenting the antics of Bad drivers we encounter stretching to 612 pages.
So any tech that might reduce any fatalities or accidents is always welcome.

Many people seem to suggest here that some sort of mirror would serve the purpose. A mirror at the body of the hair-pin bend won't serve the purpose as it is in hills. The roads are not on the same level - thus effectively reducing the visibility. Another thing is by the time one driver realizes there is another vehicle coming down, it may be too late.

This Radar system is placed at some distance and hence would be in a position to warn well in time to make the drivers slow down.

It is always a safe practice to honk in hills before a turn. Even then a horn may be hard to discern in heavy foggy or rainy conditions.

Agree 100%. The real question should be, how can you effectively identify a vehicle coming from opposite side of a bend when you are concentrating on navigating the turn itself. A sound horn uses your another sense. Works for people who have poor visibility or use specs or the visibility itself is very poor. We will need a really large mirror to effectively see the other side of the curve, besides who says mirrors won't need maintenance? Anything on road accumulates, dust, and debris and a rain can make the mirror worse. Again, the horn system works

In a traffic situation, I guess the speeds will be less and therefore the system won't honk. The video says that the horn is sounded if the vehicle is approaching at a speed that is considered unsafe.

This doesn't seem to be a complex solution. It uses a radar and wireless. It's been around for years and easy to implement. I don't see what is complex in this.

How we wish all drivers were like that.

Well, if everyone were considerate and had common sense in our country, there wouldn't be as many different kind of problems as we have today. Further, if the govt functioned so well in our country, a lot of things would be much easier. Can we really expect that at this time? Where govt's fail, people pitch in and try to improve things.

This is a good initiative in my opinion to try and reduce accidents. A horn (where use well) can definitely avoid collisions

Easy for people who are decscending, but harder for loaded vehicles that are climbing. While not completely useless it just makes it harder on steep bends.