The Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) and La Trobe University have announced a new partnership to help boost the safety and road efficiency of Australia's road transport system through new technology.
“With the rapid growth of our cities, there is urgent need to apply the latest developments in information and communications technology to manage road safety and traffic congestion,” said the project’s co-leader, Dr Aniruddha Desai, who heads a team at La Trobe University’s Centre for Technology Infusion in the School of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.
“Known as Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (CITS), these technologies can also help deal with ballooning freight, travel and environmental costs.”
The centre has already had one of its key innovations, designed to reduce level crossing accidents between cars and trains, trialled by the Victorian and Queensland governments.
According to ARRB Managing Director, Gerard Waldron, working with La Trobe will allow the board’s member agencies access to more talented researchers and innovators than before and would help La Trobe to showcase its capabilities nationally.
“In addition, the ARRB staff find working with universities intellectually stimulating and professionally rewarding due to the different perspectives they bring to the table,” he said.
Waldron said initial areas targeted for collaboration include further research and pilot trials for collision avoidance and pedestrian safety; congestion management; disseminating research findings to industry groups; enzyme and polymer stabilisation of soils and the use of geosynthetics in pavement engineering for better road surfaces.
In addition, Waldron also said that La Trobe staff and postgraduate students will join with the ARRB to work on a wide range of industry and community related R&D projects.