Dorman Varitext
A division of Unipart Logistics North America. The only choice in traffic calming and road safety products for municipalities everywhere. We cater specifically to highway safety engineers, schools, and emergency services in providing innovative independently proven safety standards unparalleled in the traffic calming industry.
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It’s a Win-Win, VATCS do reduce fatalities and will benefit economy
When used downstream from fixed plate warning signs on curve locations with an accident history, VATCS have been independently proven to reduce speeds and accidents for the long term.
Ohio is the latest state to trial the technology, see two of the installations pictured south of Columbus in Franklin County.
VATCS is the only traffic calming display technology approach that has been independently large scale field tested to prove long term effectiveness with driver respect of the technology being maintained over a 3 year period with the TRL548 report (hyperlink TRL548 to research page on site) being the only internationally recognized study of its kind...
University makes educated decision as VATCS make the grade
‘Never has there been a greater need for fresh ideas to address social challenges.’
DVNA are delighted that after much research, VATCS technology was selected by the University of British Columbia for traffic calming on Campus.
The University of British Columbia, established in 1908, educates a student population of 50,000 on major campuses in two cities and holds an international reputation for excellence in advanced research and learning.
The initial pilot program of VATCS has met with very encouraging feedback and it was the educational theme to the technology along with independent research to support this consistent approach that secured the award.
VATCS on Florida DOT approved products list
Dorman Varitext are delighted to be able to announce that the VATCS family series of traffic calming signs have been approved onto the Florida Department of Transportation’s Approved Product List.
VATCS is seen as the future industry standard for traffic calming providing an MUTCD compliant, consistent approach to educating drivers and tackling speeding concerns and related fatalities.
Staying ahead of the curve in Minnesota
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Dorman Varitext are delighted to announce that the Minnesota State University’s , ’Center for Excellence in Rural Safety’ in conjunction with Minnesota DOT and FHWA will be installing a number of Dynamic Curve Warning VATCS trial sites across three-county locations within the state.
Congress created the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety in July 2005 as part of a broader, multiyear, multimillion-dollar directive establishing four national centers for surface transportation excellence in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) transportation funding legislation. These VATCS test sites will be in addition to the FHWA national study on the unique new technology where the Dynamic Curve VATCS are being strategically deployed across the USA rural road network in 7 other states.
The Minnesota test sites should go live later this fall , for more news on this and other exciting rural road safety initiatives in the state please feel free to drop us a line or visit the CERS website at www.ruralsafety.umn.edu
VATCS make front cover news
Dorman Varitext were delighted to see that their Unique Dynamic Curve Warning VATCS product range has made front
cover news of the July edition of the IMSA ‘International Municipal Signal Association’ Journal www.imsasafety.org .
Records show that Thomas A. Edison and the Edison Electric Company were associate members of IMSA back in 1901
and Dorman Varitext’s engineering team should be congratulated at emulating the innovative origins of such illustrious
company.
A big thank you goes out to IMSA for this recognition.
Calgary pioneer VATCS in Alberta
Dorman Varitext are delighted to announce that after much considered research the City of Calgary have selected to trial the VATCS traffic calming technology.
Bruce McDougal M.A . Transportation planner at the City was looking for a display based technology with a proven traffic calming background in maintaining long term speed reductions and what very much appealed was that rather than displaying driver speeds, the VATCS uniquely provided a targeted reminder of the speed limit In force combined with a slow down request and dynamic flashing beacons.
17 solar powered VATCS are to be installed across the City this summer including two signs which will feature in the Mayland Heights Community Traffic Study. See plan attached.
Spencer Beier, Dorman Varitext’s west coast representative commented "It has been a pleasure working with the Calgary City traffic planning team on this unique new approach, and this pilot project, together with the recent introduction of the technology in North Vancouver, BC. Calgary has really raised the bar in display based traffic calming and put the new technology on the map in Western Canada."
SynchroGUIDE receives accolades in Oklahoma as NEW MUTCD to adopt Sequential Warning Light Benefits
Regular visitors to our site will be aware that SynchroGUIDE was awarded the 2007 “Top Rollout” award category for innovation from the ‘Better Roads’ publication at the end of 2007 after being first launched in north America earlier that same year.
Dorman Varitext and Dicke Safety Products are further pleased to report tangible safety benefits are now arriving from the field. Such an example being Oklahoma DOT who have been field testing the technology at a number of problematic workzone sites on I35 at which arrow boards were already deployed. SynchroGUIDE once installed provided the solution. The added safety factor that the technology imparted received a number of accolades from the driving public and an excellent testimonial from the DOT resident engineer Cary ‘Red’ Raley. Read OKDOT testimonial below.
There were 835 fatalities and over 41,000 injuries in work zones during 2007 and it has been shown that over 85% of the fatalities in work zones are drivers or passengers in cars entering the zone. Motorists and workers are being increasingly exposed to work zones as the federal stimulus expenditure on road infrastructure investment kicks in during 2009 and the introduction of Synchroguide’s proven improved lane discipline couldn’t be better timed.
In addition Night work is increasingly being used to manage work zone delay and reduce exposure, and with the SynchroGUIDE safety factor enhanced in night time applications, the technology is truly starting to make its mark as a potential life saver.
New VATCS Partners join as awareness of VATCS safety benefits grows
Dorman Varitext’s quality list of regional affiliates has grown further during Q1 of 2009. Jerry Britton Head of Business Development for Dorman Varitext commented ’We are delighted to announce the new partnerships for 2009 and are pleased to be associated with partners of this stature who lead by example and are acknowledged as the market ‘go to’ people in their respective territories’
New Regional Affiliates are:
Inprotect Systems Inc. – British Columbia.
Alberta Traffic Supply Ltd. – Alberta.
Guardian Traffic Services Ltd. – Saskatchewan, Manitoba.
Coral Sales Company – Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska.
JTB Supply Company – Southern California, Southern Nevada, Arizona.
VATCS add their shine to the Big Nickel
The City of Greater Sudbury, the regional capital of North Eastern Ontario renown the world over for its metal ore mining heritage have commenced trialling the posted speed limit VATCS as part of its traffic calming policy.
The city chose the innovative technology after it was impressed by a combination of the TRL548 independent long term effectiveness data and local case studies in the province since its introduction in 2007.
Signs will be trialled on South View Drive and if as expected prove successful the city is expecting to expand the coverage during 2009. The Sudbury install follows on the back of other successful deployments earlier this year in the province at Halton Hills, Oxford and Ottawa as VATCS maintains momentum in expanding its coverage and lead position in display based traffic calming technology within it’s home province.
The message is CLEAR
The Town of Halton Hills are deploying VATCS to ‘send a message’ to speeding drivers entering the town on Mountainview Road South to Slow Down. The town is pioneering the technology in the region after first learning of its successful deployment in the City of Brantford.
Traffic engineer Matt Roj has confirmed that the VATCS has the potential to be an effective traffic calming measure on arterial routes where other forms of calming are limited. Emergency services and Police have both been impressed by the technology which provides drivers with additional education on speed behaviour in the posted community safety zone.
Matt, who will be evaluating the performance of the VATCS through the on board speed data collection feature, has also received a lot of interest from other communities in Southern Ontario and is confident more signs will be deployed in the longer term in Halton if the data speed reduction is maintained. See the unveiling Here.
Microsoft Sponsor VATCS
The City of Redmond with the support of the Microsoft corporation have kicked off 2009 with the deployment of VATCS traffic calming technology as an exciting new tool in the City’s neighborhood traffic calming policy.
The unique posted speed limit traffic calming signs were commissioned during February on West Lake Sammamish Parkway and are currently undergoing a detailed performance evaluation.
Dorman Varitext were delighted to be selected as the sign technology provider on the project and look forward to working further with both partners in the future to support driver education and behaviour change towards speeding. Working towards the joint goal of ‘Making Roads Safer’ in the community.
One year on for VATCS in Brantford School Zone
Dorman Varitext were delighted to receive client feedback from one of the first School Zone Dual Diagram VATCS sign installation in Canada at Brantford, Ontario, this week.
One year on from when the signs were first installed, the VATCS continue to be effective at keeping the speeds down on Shellard Lane. The City traffic engineering team found that the one year results were better than the initial two week evaluation after installation tests...9 to 10 % reduction to the 85th percentile, as summarized and noted below:
Large scale VATCS evaluation underway
Further to the initial pilot VATCS trial in 2006/07 the City of Brampton have now expanded the trial into a large scale evaluation.
The findings of the initial pilot were very promising with the VATCS affording a 15% improvement on previously deployed speed feedback display technology.
FHWA to trial Dynamic Curve Warning VATCS
Dorman Varitext are delighted to announce that the unique Dynamic Curve Warning VATCS have been selected to feature on a national FHWA traffic safety study to evaluate the effectiveness of the technology on traffic speed and hazard awareness on horizontal curves in rural roadway applications.
Speeding continues to be one of the most significant contributing factors to fatal crashes. One of the major issues for speed related crashes is the impact of horizontal curves, especially in rural roadways.
UNIPART NORTH AMERICA to Support Traffic Calming Innovator DORMAN VARITEXT
Unipart will be supporting their latest talent acquisition Dorman Varitext to help implement their exciting innovative business model onto the North American traffic calming sector. The group will ensure clients wherever they are based across the USA and Canada will receive the unparalleled customer service support of the Unipart group within the industry.
Dorman Varitext places the highest importance on the relation between the distinction of its customers demands to its technology solution development and believe the group as a whole can ensure these unique benefits are available to every progressive traffic safety engineer across North America.
For more information on the Unipart group please click here www.unipartlogisticsna.com