Code Red

Even when driving conditions are perfect, drivers have little time to react to a sudden change. But in regions exposed to inclement weather patterns – where frost and ice are a roadway reality – danger is often concealed. Consider the case of black ice – a road condition obscured to the driver’s naked eye.

There is a 70% increase in auto collisions and fatalities when the weather is bad, according to dean of geography at the University of Waterloo Jean Andrey, studying in association with the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR). In 2002, icy-road conditions were associated with 10,850 Ontario accidents. Had the drivers involved in these accidents been appropriately forewarned of the hazards the roads posed, the catastrophic accidents could have been avoided, ICLR executive director Paul Kovacs says.

“The insurance industry is on the frontlines of acknowledging the very large costs and consequences of road collisions that happen during inclement weather,” Kovacs says. “These conditions are very costly and it’s a big part of what insurance is about.”

Fewer accidents result in fewer insurance claims, as Kovacs observes. In the future, that may lead to a decrease in auto-insurance policy premiums. But is it possible to reduce winter-weather accidents? As Kovacs points out, insurers have no control over certain road conditions that are difficult to predict, such as black ice, nor can they control the response to adverse weather conditions of normally low-risk policyholders.

POWER OF PUCKS

Black ice is traditionally difficult to detect. For this reason, there is a need to provide reliable warnings when such conditions arise, according to Tim Leggett, presiden of Traction Tech- nologies. The Kamloops, B.C.-based company is responsible for developing the Icy Road Warning System.

Characterized by a puck-like sensor that is a mere 5 cm in diameter, the road safety technology system provides early warnings of icy road conditions to both unsuspecting drivers and road maintenance crews. By viewing the unique sensors, city crews can determine at what point they should apply salt in order to alleviate or eliminate the hazard.

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) provided financial contributions to the early stages of product development. Leggett says the ICBC recognized the product had the potential to diminish the likelihood of a black ice event. “People have no difficulty recognizing whether a road is wet or dry, or if unsafe snow or slush conditions exist,” Leggett says. “People do have difficulty in determining whether or not a road is sufficiently cold to allow ice to form. So we came up with a device that effectively measures and indicates the road temperature and not merely the air temperature.”

Road maintenance crews currently have access to technology warning them of road conditions, but these products come with a hefty price tag. Portable infra-red thermometers could run as high as $700 to $1,500, and multi-function sensors may run as high as $5,000, according to Leggett, who also wears the hat of auto accident reconstruction engineer. Traction Technologies sensors, on the other hand, cost between $10 and $20 a puck (above prices in Canadian dollars).

In addition to being expensive, the pricey sensors may not be entirely reliable. Leggett notes that because the more expensive sensors are “only installed every 50 to 100 km apart, for example, they may not give you the temperature of a bridge deck, which is prone to freezing before the road is.”

As for drivers, they are only alerted to icy road conditions by means of radio reports, first-hand crash accounts, or “static message road signs” that are only periodically updated and thus don’t represent immediate conditions.

The puck-like warning sensors provide a real-time answer to this problem. The markers contain a thermochromic dye that begins to change color when the road temperature hits 3C. The markers reach a full, bright red color when the road cools to 0C, the temperature at which black ice or frost conditions can form.

The sensory system offers the most value in early spring, early to late fall and early winter. In the middle to late winter, the weather will yield conditions leading to “permanent” road temperatures at or below 0C. At this point, the pucks are rendered redundant.

The sensors are installed by drilling half-inch deep holes – each hole is about 4 inches in diameter – into the pavement. Once installed, the markers will be flush with the surface of the road.

PILOT TESTING

Currently, the markers are in the first year of a two- to three-year pilot-testing phase. This September, after running simulated, in-house testing near their Cherry Creek lab, Leggett began distributing prototypes of the sensors to six Canadian provinces – Ontario, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, B.C. and Saskatchewan – at no charge.

Kovacs says ICLR supports testing the product’s ability to measure the actual temperature of the road. He said it would be useful to analyze the information the sensors may produce about road conditions. “This is positive because we would gain more knowledge about a particular piece of road and how to drive safely on it,” he says.

Louis Zidar is the operations and maintenance project manager for the region of Peel, Ontario. He says the municipality installed the sensors in four locations, each with very distinct characteristics. “One location has a six-lane, divided, super-elevated road section that is sloped in one direction and exhibits run-off problems,” Zidar explains. “The other three locations have bridge structures.”

Zidar says these types of road features are most susceptible to the formation of black ice. By testing the pucks on different types of roads, Traction Technologies can measure the pucks’ ability to adapt to different geographical and road facility conditions while successfully indicating road temperature.

Cassey Dundass, vice-president of Traction Technologies, says the provincial participants in the pilot project are providing valuable insight in measuring the pucks’ performance. These insights will help determine, for example, how long the markers will survive outdoor conditions.

“The puck uses a thermochromic dye that is subject to UV degradation,” Zidar says. “(Traction Technologies) simulated lab testing indicates the pucks should get a three-year shelf life out in the field. So we’re looking to find an easy removal and installation technique.”

PERFECTING THE PUCK

Based on the input of all of the project’s participants, Leggett has proposed some possible areas for improvement. One issue arising out of the field-testing, for example, is that the puck itself does not indicate all of the factors that contribute to the actual formation of black ice – namely, dew point and air temperature. “If pavement temperature falls below the dew point temperature and the air temperature is at or slightly above or below 0C,” Zidar explains, “that is when you get the potential for black ice or frost.”

Zidar says the consortium members of the pilot project have discussed solutions, such as creating a dual-calibrated puck that changes into a different color at alternately calibrated temperatures. “The rationale for this (dual calibration) is that…once you reach -9C to -10C, the salt brine application we use to prevent black ice doesn’t work anymore – it’s too cold,” he says.

The puck prototype currently does not indicate temperatures lower than zero. As a result, road maintenance crews would not know the type of solution required to eradicate the potential of black ice. Without this information, drivers would remain susceptible to hazardous road conditions. “A complimentary puck indicating another significant temperature could provide a visual cue, telling us that we should be changing from a salt brine solution to a solution that has an additive, [thus] lowering the working temperature of the salt brine,” Zidar continues.

At this stage, the pucks’ potential to reduce auto accidents and related insurable claims is uncertain. “We know that the product will work, but whether it will reduce the [auto collision] statistics, that’s what we hope to do a further study of,” Leggett said. “We’ll have to find out from an insurance perspective whether or not the snow, slush and ice accidents [are reduced] as a result of the puck.”