AMEY BOLSTER THEIR TRISS FLEET TO KEEP NORTH EAST TRUNK ROADS SAFE AND FLOWING

Amey’s five new Trunk Road Incident Support Service (TRISS) vehicles are now on patrol across north east Scotland helping keep the network safe and flowing.

The Mercedes Sprinter TRISS vehicles will be based at Amey’s Kinross, Perth and Nairn depots, providing critical support and advanced information to road users as part of Transport Scotland’s improved roads maintenance contract in north east Scotland.

Historically the TRISS fleet has supported and rescued thousands of stranded motorists, removed countless hazards from the road network and have helped keep traffic moving by delivering regular traffic updates.

Pioneering Road Safety

Pioneered and trialled by Amey, on behalf of Transport Scotland, and rolled out across Scotland’s Road network in 2005, the TRISS function has evolved into a service which is fundamental to Scotland’s road infrastructure, immeasurably improving safety for road users and reducing the impact of disruption caused by incidents.

Senior Fleet Manager at Amey Group, Jason Clement, said; “In 2005, 18 years ago, our team worked with Transport Scotland and the Police to develop a unique trunk roads service designed solely to support motorists and the emergency services with the ultimate aim of keeping Scotland moving and improving road user safety.

“These new vehicles will further enhance our TRISS operation, which has gone from strength to strength and has proven essential in reducing the impact of disruption caused by incidents. These latest vehicles, with their cutting edge technologies, will ensure we continue to offer a high level of support to the many motorists across the region.”

Fitted with CCTV camera and monitor

The Mercedes Sprinter vans have been converted to TRISS specification by vehicle conversion specialists Qi Van Systems Limited, based in Telford.

Starting with a 3.665m, standard wheelbase panel van, Qi lined the inside of the vehicles with polypropylene and added an anti-slip phenolic floors, storage racking units were added. A full suite of R65 approved lighting was installed, including two Amber LED Lightbars, Amber LED lights mounted to the front grill and rear door pillars, four scene lights, one swivel work lamp and two internal load area PIR lights. All lighting is controlled via a Vigil Link control system which has an interface touch control monitor screen fitted.

The vehicles are fitted with a RACAM mobile CCTV camera and monitor, utilised by either a powered mast, which allows the CCTV camera to be raised and lowered as required through the vehicles roof, or a front and rear camera system.

For safety these feature both an audible and an LED warning, warning the driver that the mast and Variable Message Sign board needs to be lowered back into place before driving the vehicle.

LED Variable Message Sign

Rennicks UK supplied the roof mounted LED Variable Message Sign board along with a controller interface, this allows the TRISS vehicle crew to update and enhance road user information during road closures and traffic incidents.

Once the TRISS team are on scene and functional they start beaming live feed video footage to the 24/7 Operational Control Room and Traffic Scotland National Control Centre where it can be viewed by Police Scotland Officers. This visual high-definition information assists with instant updates ensuring that the correct remedial action can be taken by all parties involved.

Boosting Traffic Flow And Safety

Jason added: “The many major trunk roads and motorways that cross Scotland are, as you can imagine, heavily trafficked, and our integrated TRISS system helps maximise both traffic flow and road user safety, which at the same time, very much helps support the economy by keeping everyone moving.

“Our Incident support operation, with the assistance of our TRISS vehicle fleet, enables us to quickly and efficiently arrive at the scene of an incident, accident or scene of congestion. Once set up we start beaming information to the relevant parties, assist with the management of the safe flow of traffic and attend to the safety of any involved motorists.

“All of the TRISS vehicles are manned by a team of highly experienced people, whom are trained to provide critical support to road users.”