BERLIN: A new road safety device which creates an artificial hole in the road when a driver exceeds the speed limit is making its way onto roads around the world.
After Sweden and Australia, now one of the world's most car-hungry countries is welcoming this new system. The central German town of Hanau is the first in the country to use it to watch over roads where a 20kph speed limit is in force.
Speeding vehicles activate a hatch in the road which lowers a few centimetres, creating an inverted speed bump so drivers get a physical reminder that they are speeding.
Edeva AB in Sweden, which invented and markets the device under the name Actibump, said the active speedbump boosts safety and also reduces tailpipe emissions and noise.
Around 45 Actibumps are in use in Sweden, with four installed at Curtin University in Perth, Australia.
Officials in Hanau said the device was more effective than fixed speed cameras which prove ineffective once drivers get used to them, causing them to slow down only momentarily.
Ambulances and road cleaning vehicles can use a transponder to deactivate Actibump, said Edeva. The firm stressed that only cars driven too fast would be affected, since driving at the prescribed speed does not activate the hatch.
Germany's huge ADAC motoring club remained unconvinced, however: It described Actibump as an "unecessary hazard" which was particularly dangerous for motorcyclists in wet conditions, spokesman Oliver Reidegeld said.
Edeva said trials in Perth showed that after Actibump was installed, only an average of 20% of drivers exceeded the speed limit compared to 73% previously.
