TMS has recently had an upturn in project work with the Technical Team involved in various road safety engineering schemes.

The following are examples of the type of work carried out over the past few months:

• University of Warwick Campus – Assessment of vehicle, pedestrian and cycle routes along shared surface streets around the campus and within new car parks

• West Sussex Operational Hub – Assessing the road safety implications of pedestrian and cycle provision for a new waste and recycling facility using risk assessment matrix methodology

• Navigator Terminals, Thames, Grays, Essex – Review and assessment of pedestrian and cycle routes from main entrance at workplace to the public highway, taking into account the diverse nationalities of personnel working on ships and travelling to local commercial facilities

• Manchester Airport Transformation Programme – Safety Assessment of internal airport infrastructure including road realignments and improvements to a roundabout

• Manor Kingsway, A38/A511 Island, Derby – Assessing the road safety impact of development traffic on a busy roundabout on the strategic road network

• Safety Assessment of School Access and Drop-off facility, Nuneaton – Determining the operational risks of new highway arrangements outside a school, taking into pedestrian and vehicle movements at school peak time

• Review of Traffic Calming for a residential development in Gloucester – Assessment of the effectiveness of traffic measures for a large residential development on outskirts of Gloucester

TMS has extensive experience in providing specialist consultancy and research services in traffic management and road safety engineering to a wide client base in both the public and private sectors in the UK and overseas. If you require our services in this field, please contact Lorna Styring on 024 7669 0900 or email us.

During the course of a safety audit in Hertfordshire, TMS safety auditors Harminder Aulak and Mark Steventon came across a novel swale drainage system for a new large residential development. The system is designed to capture rainwater using a sustainable drainage system along the primary infrastructure “green corridor” roads, rather than a traditional closed gulley system which discharges into storm sewers.

The principle of the open grass swales is to retain as much surface water on the site as possible to achieve the Environment Agency’s requirement of keeping runoff from the site at its current level.

The open grass swales are positioned between the carriageway and footway, with surface water channeled into the system by providing lowered kerbs. A photograph of the system is shown to the left.

Steve Proctor, an Honorary Associate at TMS Consultancy, recently chaired a Passive Safety Workshop in Solihull, organised by UK Roads. Passively safe products are designed to be more forgiving if struck by vehicles, reducing the risk of death or serious injury to road users.

The event was attended by Harminder Aulak and Robert Cyples, technical engineers at TMS Consultancy, who said:

“The workshop provided valuable advice regarding the upcoming passive safety classification standard EN 12767:2019. It is important that engineers consider factors such as speed, energy absorption, occupant safety, post backfill type, pole collapse type, direction of impact and vehicle roof indentation when specifying passively safe products. We will need to be aware of these issues when carrying out road safety audits, safety assessments and accident studies.”

This year has been very busy at TMS, with the company having recently completed its 15,000th Safety Audit.

The 15,000th road safety audit was carried out by the Audit Team Harminder Aulak and Robert Cyples for a development site in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Harminder Aulak, Technical Director – Engineering Services, said:

“We have a very wide client base all over the country and many come back to us due to our efficient turnaround times and quality of our work. Our clients range from Government departments, Multi-National Consultancy and Engineering Companies, Developers, through to individual House Builders. All clients can expect a friendly service with staff being approachable and able to resource work at short notice.”