Highways England has awarded Vision Techniques’ autobraking system with the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Safety.
Highways England has awarded Vision Techniques’ pioneering autobraking system Banksman with the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Safety.
Through its partnership with Aggregate Industries, Bomag, Munihire and DE Plant who operate around 60 quarries in the UK, Vision Techniques has successfully developed an anti-collision system that can be adapted to the vehicle’s working environment.
The Banksman Autobraking system uses sophisticated radar detection. Its microwave technology detects potential hazards within the programmable detection zones and then activates the brakes if a collision is about to take place. The system can also adapt its response times and vision range depending on each specific vehicle or operation, which increases safety and reduces the amount of false alarms. No other radar system can operate in this way.
The system incorporates in-cab visual and audible alarms and, when integrated with VT cameras and DVR, sends a downloadable video footage clip to a designated person as soon as the auto-braking system is activated, which allows for an immediate real-time assessment of the scenario for investigative and training purposes.
“Unlike other systems, the size of the exclusion zone can be adapted for the operation”, explained Andrew Kendall of Vision Techniques. “For example, if the vehicle is in fast traffic like a motorway, it narrows the exclusion zone to about 2.3m, whereas it can widen it to over 10m if it is operating at low speeds in a busy environment like a worksites or quarry.”
Since its installation, there have been zero reversing incidents reported on sites where Banksman has been deployed.