Traffic Safety Expo Is Like SEMA For Safety Equipment, And It's Filled With Cool Tech That Keep Roads And Workers Safe

Learning about devices that keep road workers safe is about as interesting as watching paint dry for most folks, but this is Jalopnik, so odds are you're not like most folks. We celebrate learning about the mundane minutiae that doesn't even cause a blip on a normie's radar, and that includes the innovations shown at the Traffic Safety Expo, hosted this year in Houston, Texas by the American Traffic Safety Services Association. YouTuber Road Guy Rob went to the ATSSA Traffic Safety Expo and highlighted some innovative new tools for roadway safety.

Between 50 and 150 people die in roadway construction zone crashes each year, including road workers and drivers alike, and though the untrained eye may not immediately recognize it, there are multiple safety innovations at every construction zone that aim to prevent those deaths. From barriers that prevent cars from slamming directly into stationary concrete structures to work truck technology and innovations that protect road workers and allow them to perform their important jobs more safely, there's a lot that goes into keeping road construction zones safe. This video explores a few of those innovations.

The first tool that Road Guy Rob looks into is the Alpha Overwatch work zone intrusion alarm. It uses LiDar to scan the construction zone and sound a 135 dB train horn should a distracted or intoxicated driver enter the construction zone, or to alert workers of a potentially deadly situation.

To prevent those distracted drivers from smoking themselves off the face of the Earth, the next safety tools covered are improved "crash cushion" barriers that are designed to safely decelerate a speeding vehicle with deformable water-filled segments. Would you rather crash into an immovable concrete barrier or deformable barriers? There are also mobile crash cushions that are attached to the back of a work truck that can be parked between the workers and the flow of traffic in almost any road work site to protect both drivers and workers.

There are even customized work trucks that are designed to make responding to accident sites or road work sites safer by minimizing human exposure to traffic. From trucks with ploughs on the front that scrape the roadway clear of debris from accidents rather than having a human sweeping the freeway to trucks with specialized safety innovations to make the sometimes dangerous task of setting out caution cones much safer, it's all covered in this video. So go ahead, nerd out on roadway safety a bit. You never know, it may be a category at your next bar trivia night.