Crash-friendly reinforced concrete signposts

1604 FSP has bought the intellectual property rights for the Frangible Post System from 152 3M.

It is now supplying the passive safety market with reinforced composite posts that will carry signs on motorways and other busy roads.

The FSP product (as previously commercially developed and marketed by 3M) is designed to be strong enough to withstand turbulent weather conditions, but light and flexible enough to collapse on impact, protecting the driver and passengers and causing minimum damage to the vehicle.

FSP says that it is estimated that collisions with roadside features (sign posts, lamp posts, trees and crash barriers) cause 15% of all road fatalities. Because these objects cannot always be removed from the roadside, the objective has been to provide solutions to reduce the consequences when hit.

"This is the principal behind 'passive safety,' a modern concept in roadside engineering that has the full support of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the backing of the 1441 UK Highways Agency, and increasing interest from many motoring/safety organisations," says FSP.

"The FSP passively safe 140mm diameter post was independantly certified at 777 TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) while owned by 3M and achieved the highest safety ranking awarded to any make of sign post to date achieving NE:3 status. The FSP 140mm post has been designed to meet the European standard for Passive Safety (EN12767)." FSP is now making significant investment in the development of a full range of alternate sized posts of the crash-friendly product to meet demand, and other posts (168mm and 219mm diameter) will be launched in mid-2010.

The company has appointed 3054 ASD metal services(part of Klockner) as its exclusive distributor in the UK and Ireland.