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Automated cone truck mitigates risk for road workers

cone truck

Arrowes, a leading manufacturer of roading safety solutions, has just launched its biggest innovation yet, the Automated Cone Truck (ACT).

Developed over the last three years at the company’s manufacturing facility at Brendale, Brisbane, the ACT is a new vehicle that uses proprietary mechatronics to automatically deploy and retrieve cones from work sites with a single operator, removing two people from being exposed to the risks of live traffic and potentially saving lives.

Each year, according to Safe Work Australia and the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, an average of 11 people die as a result of being struck by a vehicle or truck and 750 people are injured at road works in Queensland.

Neil Scales, Director General Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland, said the innovation goes a long way to improving the safety of road workers responsible for deploying cones across Australia.

“It is a priority that we keep up everybody’s attention and focus on road safety. Any innovation that can help protect workers and everyone else on our roads, is welcomed by my department,” he said.

With a capacity of 400 cones, the ACT can retrieve cones from both sides of the vehicle, while driving forward or reversing and is equipped to close over 9km of highway without stopping – this is over twice the capacity of most conventional cone trucks.

Cones can be deployed and set at one every five seconds and they can also be placed at any set spacing. For example, when deployed with 12m cone spacing, the ACT can place cones at 8km/hr or at 24m spacing at 16km/h.

The current load requires a cab chassis of 11T. It can be higher spec from this but not lower.

The Isuzu truck used by Arrowes to demonstrate the ACT is a 11T Auto and LWB (model: FRR110 260). Isuzu contributed the cab chassis to the development and based on client feedback, many had a preference for Isuzu, said a spokesperson.

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