Government Business

Traffex 2009 – the 24th international traffic engineering, road safety and highway maintenance exhibition – was co-located with Parkex – Europe’s largest dedicated parking exhibition. Street Design, a new event for urban design in the public realm, also took place at the same time, with all three events sharing a place at the NEC Birmingham from 21-23 April 2009.
 
The combined events proved to be a great success with over 450 exhibitors taking part and 12,200 visitors attending over the three open days. Particularly pleasing was the high turnout from the government sector with visitors representing over 90 per cent of local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales. There was also a strong international presence this year making up 12 per cent of attendees, from over 30 countries.

Money on the mind
Against current industry trends, visitors came with clear spending priorities and objectives with 11 per cent of visitors controlling budgets between £1m-5m per year and a further ten per cent of visitors responsible for annual expenditure in excess of £5m per year. The attendance exceeded the organiser’s expectations, especially considering the current economic climate. 
 
Bill Butler, Event Director, commented: “The three events have been integrated into one hall to deliver innovative showcases from both UK and International companies. We were very pleased to see the industry rising to the challenge of the recession and becoming increasingly proactive in both the public and private sector. It proves that there is business to be done even in these testing times.”
 
Peter Preston, Head of Communications, Mobility Division, Siemens, said: “The numbers of visitors at some of the trade events we’ve been to this year were down considerably, but not here at Traffex. We’ve had a high number of extremely good quality visitors and it was the perfect platform to showcase our latest products.”  
 
Simon Bailey, Director, CSB, comments: “As fist time visitors we didn’t know what to expect and it was great. We’ve received a lot of enquiries and confirmed a job starting the week after the show. We will definitely come back to the next event.” 
 
David Lloyd, Marketing Manager, Parkeon, comments: “The show was busy, which is great. It was a worthwhile investment and we are glad we came along. We will definitely be back next year.” 

Road safety
Road Safety was very much at the heart of Traffex this year. The event was opened with a keynote address from Paul Clarke, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, who thanked the traffic management industry for its part in a huge reduction of the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads and announced the government would now be focusing on improving the road safety of certain groups, including children and young people who are over-represented in the casualty statistics. 
 
He said: “We have been very successful in reducing casualties on our roads over the last decade. Many of you here today have played your part in achieving this success. But with nearly 3,000 people still dying on our roads each year, there remains a great deal of work to do. Our vision is for Great Britain to have the safest roads in the world and the consultation sets out our plans to reduce casualties on our roads further still.” 
 
The Ministers address was just one of the opportunities that visitors had to attend a wide range of topical briefings and insights from the industry’s leading experts. There were numerous sessions covering topical issues such as road safety, casualty reduction, the future of speed enforcement, hospital parking, traffic enforcement across national borders, green infrastructure and energy efficiency. 

Speed enforcement
The highlights included a session by Simon Griffiths, Technical Director of RedSpeed International, looking at the future of speed enforcement. He addressed the move from fixed and spot speed cameras to average speed enforcement cameras, which are demonstrating higher levels of compliance than spot speed enforcement in a number of countries in Europe where it has been deployed. Average speed enforcement cameras extend the enforcement zone beyond 200 meter range of a fixed camera. 
 
Numerous new speed enforcement technologies have been presented at the show such as SPECS3, the new generation of the highly successful average speed systems presented by Speed Check Services (SCS). SPECS3, the first distributed average speed enforcement system, is based on the experience gained from over 200 permanent and temporary installations. Each SPECS3 camera can act as a network node, allowing cameras to communicate back to a remote central installation, which means it can be operated within urban networks, 20mph zones, rural and urban routes as well as major motorways. 
 
Road safety was a highly debated issue. Andy Pledge of Passive Revolution Ltd, held a session discussing the benefits to designers of witnessing crash demonstrations of both passive and non-passive road side items. Passive Revolution Ltd ran the Passive Safety Zone at the show featuring real cars that have been tested with both non-passive and passively safe products as well a special crash sled which allowed visitors the opportunity to experience a simulated crash at 5mph. A series of specially recorded films also highlighted the products in action. 

Energy on the agenda
Energy cost savings have been moving up on the agenda with local authorities, which is apparent from the number of companies launching LED and solar powered technologies. Siemens introduced a new family of ST750P high-performance pedestrian controllers incorporating the very latest LED technology and lower power consumption. The technology is being trailed in Pool, Dorset at a key dual crossing in the city centre, which has already recorded a reduction in energy usage. The use of ELV reduces power and cabling costs, makes possible improved lamp monitoring of very low powered LED traffic and pedestrian signals and provides increased safety for members of the public. 
 
Similarly, Clearview Traffic Group launched a ‘fit and forget’ solar-powered Logging Road Stud which combines solar power with a vehicle-sensing magnetometer to reduce cost and increase versatility of highway data collection. The wireless unit, which is fitted flush with the road surface has the potential to replace expansive to install inductive loop sensors or temporary rubber tube counters significantly reducing the cost and time of installation.

Other popular attractions at the exhibitions included the Passive Safety Zone which featured real cars that had been tested with both non-passive and passively safe products as well a special crash sledge which allowed visitors the opportunity to experience a simulated crash at 5mph. The Ultrascape Challenge, where leading contractors were challenged with laying a mini street in a set time; The Street, an animated urban highway designed with public space in mind, featuring products in-situ from various exhibitors.

The next combined Traffex, Parkex and Street Design event will be held at Hall 5, NEC Birmingham, 3 – 5 May 2011.