US20150252540A1

US20150252540A1 - Road equipment for preventing traffic accident

Info

Publication number: US20150252540A1
Application number: US14/564,605
Authority: US
Inventors: Jun Woo Lee
Original assignee: CONSTRUC STANDARD TESTING CENTER Co Ltd
Current assignee: CONSTRUC STANDARD TESTING CENTER Co Ltd
Priority date: 2014-03-06
Filing date: 2014-12-09
Publication date: 2015-09-10
Also published as: KR101399582B1

Abstract

A road structure is capable of giving a warning to certain drivers to prevent a major accident by forcibly stopping a vehicle when the possibility of an accident is very high. The road structure includes: a speed sensor which senses a speed of a vehicle which drive on a road; a buried block including a housing, a weight sensing unit, a light-emitting unit, a lifting projection and lifting crushing needle, a projection driving unit and crushing needle driving unit, and a signal processing unit; and a controller.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a road structure which is installed in a road for safety accident prevention, and more particularly, to a road structure which is configured to give a warning to a driver at the time of an over-speed, drowsy driving, and drunken driving.

BACKGROUND ART

Currently, irregular roads of a certain distance are formed in curved roads, downward roads, or in front of tollgates in expressways in order to prevent the over-speed of vehicles or the slip of vehicles.
Specifically, in the case of a road made of cement, belt-shaped grooves are formed at regular intervals, and in the case of a road made of asphalt, the ascon job is performed on the surface of the road in order to form irregular roads.
Such irregular roads lower passenger's comfortable feeling, wear tires, and lower the vehicle's mileage. Especially, the irregularities fixed on the roads, and thus even those safe-driving drivers also need to face all such disadvantages of the irregularities.
Further, over-speeding drunken driving drivers finally cause an accident regardless of such irregularities, and thus the effects of such irregularities have also been questioned. In addition, the car accident ratio is changed according to several external conditions such as the road condition or weather, but no technology for giving warning to drivers in consideration of such external conditions has been suggested, and thus there has been a limit in preventing accidents.

PRIOR ART LITERATURE

Patent Literature

(Patent Literature 0001) KR 10-1115280 B

DISCLOSURE

Technical Problem

An object of the present invention is to provide a road structure capable of giving a warning to only over-speeding, drowsy-driving, or drunken-driving drivers, preventing a major accident by forcibly stopping a vehicle when the possibility of an accident is very high, and giving a warning to drivers in consideration of a plurality of external conditions.

Technical Solution

In order to solve the above problem, a road structure for preventing a safety accident includes: a speed sensor which senses a speed of a vehicle which drive on a road; a buried block including a housing of which the whole or part is buried so that an upper part is exposed to an external side, a weight sensing unit which is installed on an upper side of the housing and measures a weight of a vehicle which steps on and passes the housing, a light-emitting unit which is installed on an upper part of the housing and irradiates light to a driver of a vehicle which forwards toward the housing, a lifting projection and lifting crushing needle which is installed inside the housing in a structure that may be lifted to be projected to the upper surface of the housing, a projection driving unit and crushing needle driving unit which lifts the lifting projection and lifting crushing needle, and a signal processing unit which transmits a signal generated from the weight sensing unit to an external side, receives a signal which is received from an external side, and transmits a signal to the light-emitting unit, the projection-driving unit, and the crushing needle driving unit; and a controller which transmits an operation signal of the light-emitting unit to the signal processing unit if the speed of the vehicle which drives on the road exceeds a first reference speed, transmits an operation signal of the projection driving unit if the speed of the vehicle which drives on the road exceeds a second reference speed, and transmits an operation signal of the crushing needle driving unit to the signal processing unit if the speed of the vehicle which drives on the road exceeds a third reference speed, wherein a plurality of buried blocks are installed in a longitudinal direction of the road at regular intervals.
The housing may be buried so that the height of the upper surface coincides with the height of the upper surface of the road
An end of the lifting crushing needle 240 may be inserted into a tire of the vehicle 20 which passes over the housing when the lifting crushing needle 240 rises to the upper surface of the housing, and the diameter of the lifting crushing needle 240 may be less than 5 mm.
When the road has two or more lanes 14, a first buried block 200 a installed on a first lane 14 and a second buried block 200 b installed on a second lane 14 may be arranged side by side in a direction that crosses the road, and, when a left tire and a right tire of the vehicle 20 respectively pass the first buried block 200 a and the second buried block 200 b, the controller 300 may transmit an operation signal of the light-emitting unit 200 and an operation signal of the projection-driving unit 232 to the signal processing unit 250 regardless of the speed of the vehicle 20.
If a phenomenon that the left tire and the right tire of the vehicle 20 respectively pass the first buried block 200 a and the second buried block 200 b is continued by more than a predetermined distance, the controller 300 may transmit a crushing needle operation signal to the signal processing unit 250.
As the weight of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road increases, the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed may decrease.
The road structure may further include a rainfall and snowfall sensing unit which measures the amount of rainfall or snowfall around the road, and, if the amount of the rainfall or snowfall exceeds a reference value, the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed may be set lower according to a preset weight.

Advantageous Effects

According to a road structure of the present invention, a warning may be given to only over-speeding, drowsy-driving, or drunken-driving drivers, a major accident may be prevented by forcibly stopping a vehicle when the possibility of an accident is very high, and a warning may be given to drivers in consideration of a plurality of external conditions.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a road structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a buried block cut along the A-A line of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 to 5 illustrate operation of a buried block.

FIGS. 6 and 7 schematically illustrate a vehicle passing a buried block.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of a road structure according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a road structure according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a buried block cut along the A-A line of FIG. 1. FIGS. 3 to 5 illustrate operation of a buried block.
The road structure for preventing a safety accident is used to prevent a car accident by giving a warning to a driver when the speed of the vehicle 20 exceeds a reference value by measuring the speed of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road. The road structure includes a speed sensor 100 which senses a speed of a vehicle 20 which drive on a road, a buried block which is installed on a path which the tires of the vehicle pass by on the road, and gives a visual or tactile warning to the driver, and a controller which controls the operation of the buried block 200.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the buried block includes a housing of which the whole or part is buried so that an upper part is exposed to an external side, a weight sensing unit 210 which is installed on an upper side of the housing and measures a weight of a vehicle 20 which steps on and passes the housing, a light-emitting unit 220 which is installed on an upper part of the housing and irradiates light to a driver of a vehicle 20 which forwards toward the housing, a lifting projection 230 and a lifting crushing needle 240 which are installed inside the housing in a structure that may be lifted to be projected to the upper surface of the housing, a projection driving unit 232 and a crushing needle driving unit 242 which lift the lifting projection 230 and the lifting crushing needle 240, and a signal processing unit 250 which transmits a signal generated from the weight sensing unit 210 to an external side, receives a signal which is received from an external side, and transmits a signal to the light-emitting unit 220, the projection-driving unit 232, and the crushing needle driving unit 242. Here, a plurality of buried blocks 200 are installed in a longitudinal direction of the road at intervals, and a plurality of speed sensors 100 are also installed in a longitudinal direction in order to sense the speed of the vehicle for respective points.
The light-emitting unit 220 and the lifting projection 230 are components for informing the driver of the over-speed of the vehicle 20. The light-emitting unit 200 visually gives a warning to the driver, and the lifting projection 230 gives a tactile warning to the driver by causing vibration in the vehicle 20. Further, the lifting crushing needle 240 forcibly decelerates the vehicles 20 by forming a hole on the tire of the vehicle 20 by a rise when the over-speed level of the vehicle 200 is very serious. At this time, the light-emitting unit 220, the lifting projection 230, and the lifting crushing needle 240 are not promptly operated at the time of the over-speed and are sequentially operated according to the level of the over-speed. That is, the controller 300 is configured to transmit an operation signal of the light-emitting unit 220 to the signal processing unit 250 if the speed of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road exceeds a first reference speed, transmit an operation signal of the projection driving unit 232 if the speed of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road exceeds a second reference speed, and transmit an operation signal of the crushing needle driving unit 242 to the signal processing unit 250 if the speed of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road exceeds a third reference speed.
For example, in a road of which the speed limit is 100 km/h, if the speed of a vehicle 20 exceeds 120 km/h, the light-emitting unit 220 is operated so as to give a visual warning to the driver as illustrated in FIG. 3, and thus the driver is given an opportunity to voluntarily decelerate the vehicle 30. Likewise, in a section where there are projections or speed bumps, the driver decelerates the vehicle 20 for vehicle protection or preventing the passenger's uncomfortable feeling. As illustrated in FIG. 4, even when the lifting projection 230 is projected to the upper side of the housing, the deceleration effect of the vehicle 20 may be obtained. At this time, the light-emitting unit 220 may be turned off not to irradiate light any more, may maintain the continually operating state as illustrated in the present embodiment, or may emit light of different colors to give a greater visual warning or emit light with a blinkering pattern.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, even if the vibration is applied to the vehicle 20 according to the rise of the lifting projection 230, if the vehicle 20 is further accelerated to exceed 160 km/h, a major accident may occur, and thus the lifting crushing needle 240 is lifted to make a hole on the tire of the vehicle 20. If a hole is formed on the tire, the air in the tire is discharged to the outside, and thus the vehicle 20 cannot normally drive and thus the vehicle is forcibly decelerated. At this time, if the diameter of the lifting crushing needle 240 is too large and thus the hole of a 5 mm or greater diameter is formed, the tire may be punctured and thereby the vehicle 20 may be significantly shaken. Hence, the lifting crushing needle 240 may be preferably formed in a circular shape having a 5 mm or less diameter so that the tire is not punctured and the air may be slowly discharged from the tire by forming a hole of a 5 mm or less diameter.
Likewise, the road structure according to the present invention may significantly reduce the car accidents by inducing the drivers to decelerate their vehicles by giving a visual and tactile warning to the drivers and puncturing tires when the drivers accelerate their vehicles to a level that make cause a major accident.
Further, the road structure according to the present invention does not give any visual or tactile warning to a driver which does not overspeed, and thus safe-driving drivers may drive in a comfortable environment. At this time, if the height of the upper surface of the housing is formed higher than the upper surface of the road, the function of inducing the deceleration of the vehicle 20 may be performed as in the speed bumps, but this may make the passengers feel uncomfortable, and thus the height of the upper surface of the housing may be set to be preferably the same as the height of the upper surface of the road.
Further, the projection driving unit 232 and the crushing needle driving unit 242 may be configured to raise or lower the lifting projection 230 and the lifting crushing needle 240 by having a rotation camera at the inside or may be configured to make the lifting projection 230 and the lifting crushing needle 240 to be reciprocated by having a solenoid at the inside. That is, the projection driving unit 232 and the crushing needle driving unit 242 may be formed in any structure if it is possible to raise and lower the lifting projection 230 and the lifting crushing needle 240. Likewise, the driving unit, which reciprocates one component, is already well known in the corresponding technical field of the present invention, the detailed description thereof is omitted here.
Heavy-weight vehicles such as trucks or buses have a higher possibility of a car accident at the time of the over-speed, and one accident may lead to a major accident, and thus it is preferred that a warning signal is given to drivers of heavy-weight vehicles even at a slight over-speed.
Hence, the controller 300 may forcibly decelerate the vehicle by giving a warning to the driver earlier or making a hole in the tire by lowering the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed as the weight of the vehicle 20 increases. For example, when the weight of the vehicle 20 is 5 tons or greater, the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed may be respectively set to 110 km/h, 120 km/h, and 130 km/h. As such, in a road of which the speed limit is 100 km/h, if the speed of the vehicle 20 exceeds 110 km, a visual warning may be given to the driver, if the speed exceeds 120 km/h, a tactile warning may be given to the driver, and if the speed exceeds 130 km/h, the vehicle may be forcibly decelerated.
Further, even at the same speed and the same weight of the vehicle 20, the possibility of accidents may increase according to the road condition. For example, when it rains or snows, the vehicle 20 may easily slide even at the speed which is common on a sunny data, and thus the possibility of accidents increases.
Hence, the road structure according to the present invention may be set to maintain the speed of vehicles lower when it rains or snows. That is, the road structure according to the present invention may further include a rainfall or snowfall sensing unit (not shown) for measuring the amount of rainfall or snowfall around the road and the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed may be set lower according to the preset weight if the amount of rainfall or snowfall exceeds the reference value.
For example, on a road where the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed are respectively 120 km/h, 140 km/h, and 160 km/h, if the reference value of the rainfall is 10 mm and the deceleration weight at the time of a rainfall is set to 20%, the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed may be set to 96 km/h, 112 km/h, and 128 km/h which is 20% reduced from the original speeds when it rains by more than 10 mm. Further, when it snows, the accidents more frequently occur. Hence, when the reference value for the snowfall is set to 10 mm and the deceleration weight for the snowfall is set to 40%, the first reference value, the second reference value, and the third reference value may be set to 72 km/h, 84 km/h, and 96 km/h when it snows by more than 10 mm. Here, the deceleration weights for the rainfall or snowfall may be variously set according to various conditions such as the slope, radius of curvature, and paved condition of the road.
Likewise, if the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed are set to be lower according to the road condition as well as the car speed or weight, the car accidents may be significantly reduced.
FIGS. 6 and 7 schematically illustrate a vehicle 20 passing over a buried block 200.
The car accidents often occur by a drowsy driving or a drunken driving.
The road structure according to the present invention may be configured to give a warning to the driver or forcibly decelerate the vehicle 20 when the vehicle 20 staggers by a drowsy driving or a drunken driving.
That is, when the road has two or more lanes 14, the first buried block 200 a installed on the first lane 14 and the second buried block 200 b installed on the second lane 14 are arranged side by side in a manner that crosses the road. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 6, when the left tire and the right tire of the vehicle 20 pass one buried block 200, a separate warning is not given to the driver. However, as illustrated in FIG. 7, if the left tire and the right tire respectively pass the first buried block 200 a and the second buried block 200 b, the controller 300 may be configured to transmit the operation signal of the light-emitting unit 220 and the operation signal of the projection-driving unit 232 to the signal processing unit 250 regardless of the speed of the vehicle 20.
Likewise, if the vehicle 20 continually straddles a lane 14 despite a visual and tactile warning, i.e., if the left tire and the right tire respectively pass the first buried block 200 a and the second buried block 200 by more than a predetermined distance, the controller 200 may forcibly decelerate the vehicle 20 by making a hole on the tire by transmitting the crushing needle operation signal to the signal processing unit 250.
Further, if the vehicle 20 passes over the central line and passes the buried block 200 of the opposite road 10, it may be configured to promptly decrease the vehicle 20 by promptly raising the crushing needle regardless of the speed or the driving distance.
As described above, by using the road structure according to the present invention, a warning may be given or the vehicle 20 may be forcibly decelerated even at a drowsy driving or a drunken driving, and thus the safe accidents may be significantly reduced.
The embodiments described above are used to illustrate the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and it is obvious that the embodiments can be changed to other embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

10: road
12: central line
14: lane
20: vehicle
100: speed sensor
200: buried block
200 a: first buried block
200 b: second buried block
210: weight sensing unit
220: light-emitting unit
230: lifting projection
232: projection driving unit
230: lifting projection
232: projection driving unit
240: lifting crushing needle
242: crushing needle driving unit
250: signal processing unit
300: controller

Claims

1. A road structure for preventing a safety accident, the road structure comprising:

a speed sensor 100 which senses a speed of a vehicle 20 which drive on a road;

a buried block 200 including a housing of which the whole or part is buried so that an upper part is exposed to an external side, a weight sensing unit 210 which is installed on an upper side of the housing and measures a weight of a vehicle 20 which steps on and passes the housing, a light-emitting unit 220 which is installed on an upper part of the housing and irradiates light to a driver of a vehicle which forwards toward the housing, a lifting projection 230 and a lifting crushing needle 240 which are installed inside the housing in a structure that may be lifted to be projected to the upper surface of the housing, a projection driving unit 232 and a crushing needle driving unit 242 which lift the lifting projection 230 and the lifting crushing needle 240, and a signal processing unit 250 which transmits a signal generated from the weight sensing unit 210 to an external side, receives a signal which is received from an external side, and transmits a signal to the light-emitting unit 220, the projection-driving unit 232, and the crushing needle driving unit 242; and

a controller 300 which transmits an operation signal of the light-emitting unit 220 to the signal processing unit 250 if the speed of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road exceeds a first reference speed, transmits an operation signal of the projection driving unit 232 if the speed of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road exceeds a second reference speed, and transmits an operation signal of the crushing needle driving unit 242 to the signal processing unit 250 if the speed of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road exceeds a third reference speed,

wherein a plurality of buried blocks 200 are installed in a longitudinal direction of the road at intervals.

2. The road structure of claim 1, wherein the housing is buried so that the height of the upper surface coincides with the height of the upper surface of the road.

3. The road structure of claim 1, wherein an end of the lifting crushing needle 240 is inserted into a tire of the vehicle 20 which passes over the housing when the lifting crushing needle 240 rises to the upper surface of the housing, and the diameter of the lifting crushing needle 240 is less than 5 mm.

4. The road structure of claim 1, wherein, when the road has two or more lanes 14, a first buried block 200 a installed on a first lane 14 and a second buried block 200 b installed on a second lane 14 are arranged side by side in a direction that crosses the road,

wherein, when a left tire and a right tire of the vehicle 20 respectively pass the first buried block 200 a and the second buried block 200 b, the controller 300 transmits an operation signal of the light-emitting unit 200 and an operation signal of the projection-driving unit 232 to the signal processing unit 250 regardless of the speed of the vehicle 20.

5. The road structure of claim 4, wherein, if a phenomenon that the left tire and the right tire of the vehicle 20 respectively pass the first buried block 200 a and the second buried block 200 b is continued by more than a predetermined distance, the controller 300 transmits a crushing needle operation signal to the signal processing unit 250.

6. The road structure of claim 1, wherein, as the weight of the vehicle 20 which drives on the road increases, the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed decrease.

7. The road structure of claim 1, further comprising:

a rainfall and snowfall sensing unit which measures the amount of rainfall or snowfall around the road,

wherein, if the amount of the rainfall or snowfall exceeds a reference value, the first reference speed, the second reference speed, and the third reference speed are set lower according to a preset weight.