Security & Safety Briefs — November 8 - November 14

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The Latest Headlines:

• States Use Cable, Dots to Make Roadways Safer
• Samsung Acquires Minority Stake in Cargo Container Security JV
• Volvo to Build Traffic Accident Research Center in China

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States Use Cable Barriers Make Roadways Safer

In a search for lower-cost ways to prevent highway fatalities, several states have started installing cable barriers, the Associated Press reported Sunday.

Ohio has spent $5.5 million to install cable barriers along more than 80 miles of highway and is in the process of raising cables along 30 additional miles of its roadways at a cost of about $2 million.

Missouri has raised cables along 200 miles of its interstate highways. AP said only one of every 20 vehicles that have collided with the barriers have snapped the cables.

Illinois has installed cable barriers in the counties of Will and Kankakee counties and engineers are exploring other areas where the barriers would be effective, AP reported.

A 2003 study by the Washington state department of transportation pegged the cost of cable barriers at about $44,000 a mile, compared with $72,000 for a guardrail and up to $419,000 for a concrete divider, AP said. Transport Topics

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Samsung Acquires Minority Stake in Cargo Container Security JV

Samsung Group’s construction and trading business, Samsung Corp., has acquired a minority stake in CommerceGuard AB, a cargo container security joint venture between GE Security, Mitsubishi Corp., and Siemens Building Technologies.

Under the agreement, Samsung will have exclusive marketing rights for the container security system in certain parts of Asia.

The CommerceGuard system is capable of detecting when a cargo container’s door has been open via a magnetized container security device mounted inside the container. Transport Topics

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Volvo to Build Traffic Accident Research Center in China

Truck manufacturer Volvo said it is setting up a traffic accident research center in China.

“We must gain more knowledge about the increasingly intensive Chinese traffic environment to ensure that our high-tech systems function optimally even there”, says P-O Boström, director of traffic safety for Volvo Group.

The number of traffic fatalities in China was approximately 110,000 in 2003, Volvo said in a statement. Transport Topics

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