Spain

Road works are necessary to keep our roads in optimal operating conditions, but their presence generates mobility problems, traffic jams, increased risk of accidents or insecurity. One of the most affected groups is road maintenance workers. According to data from the General Directorate of Traffic, in Spain there were 172 accidents in construction zones in 2022, of which 22 involved personnel working or walking on the road, while the rest affected workers were inside their vehicles. To address this problem, our R&D Department has designed a machine for the automatic placement and collection of cones on the road: Easy – Cone. This system, installed in vehicles of more than 3,500 kg, is capable of automatically placing the cones on the road without the worker stepping on the asphalt, being able to operate the equipment from inside the vehicle. Once the intervention has been completed, the same device collects the marking elements. This avoids the worker's exposure to road traffic, so the accident rate due to run over and/or collision on stretches affected by road work will be minimized.

Work zones on roads are especially dangerous areas for construction workers, drivers and motorcyclists, and are difficult to interpret by driver assistance systems (ADAS). Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists Compliance with the procedures and correct maintenance of both vertical and horizontal signage allows the risks in these areas to be minimized.
An autonomous road inspection, using systems based on Computer Vision and sensors on board vehicles, allows frequent monitoring of vertical signs and objective analysis of the quality of road markings, facilitating instant corrective actions and the storage of evidence of the status of that area after each check.
Institutions such as Interbiak, Provincial Council of Bizkaia and Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa already use the ASIMOB Autonomous Road Inspector for frequent monitoring of their work areas.
This monitoring allows the risk prevention teams at the works to receive notices every time, in each check, a signal changes with respect to the previous check or fails to comply with the established procedure. In this way, immediate corrections are made and the work is maintained in optimal conditions. The solution saves evidence of all checks.

According to the 2023 report from the Spanish General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), run off accidents are the accidents with the highest fatality rates (42% of the total). This figure has seen no improvement in the last five years, but has actually worsened slightly.
With the objective of finding solutions to this serious traffic, social and health problem, and aligned with the EU-supported ‘Vision Zero’ strategy, Metalesa has led pioneering scientific research in cooperation with the University of Valencia.
Using official accident data from police databases, up to 56,607 run off accidents with victims were analysed. One of the conclusions is the need to install approved vehicle restraint systems (passive road safety), while the other main conclusion is that installing them with embedded new Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies may prevent up to 43.5% of all run off accidents (active road safety).
Armed with these results, Metalesa has developed a versatile and innovative technology system, PLUG&META®, that integrates into any road equipment and – through a network of sensors – is able to detect risk scenarios on the road, warn users in real time of hazardous situations and report the data to the competent authorities.
PLUG&META® allows any existing passive equipment to be transformed into smart and connected ones. This is what we call “Active Road Safety for infrastructure”. It is easy to install, affordable, and versatile enough to be incorporated into any road system equipment. It prevents run off accidents by identifying risks in real time and signalling them in order to alert road users. Some of the main risks that can be detected and warned about include:
- Crashes against the equipment
- Problematic time zone
- Limited or reduced visibility
- Risk of ice on the carriageway
- Strong gusts of winds
- Presence of cyclists, pedestrian or animals on the road
- Excessive speeds
- Nearby traffic jams
- Roadworks
- Tight or dangerous bends
- Coordination with traffic lights

All data and control of the different uses and configurations of the technology is via the PLUG&META® TRACE platform. This management platform allows municipal or road administrators to monitor the different smart infrastructures from anywhere thanks to its remote connection.
Through the platform, administrators can check the correct functioning of each device, the road safety alerts that have been registered, the signalling method for each risk scenario, the road safety statistics generated by the smart infrastructures, user and role management and alert validation, among other options. It is a responsive platform, which can be used remotely on any device with an internet connection.
It also allows integration with other third-party management platforms already used in the administrations.
The technological system described and proposed for the award is totally innovative worldwide for its ability to integrate (in a simple, effective and economical way) all these features in a single device at the same time, simply using a plug&play connection for the sensors, those that each administration needs in each scenario.
With this solution, any road administration, and society in general, would have a wide and varied network of equipment available that can ensure the safety of users autonomously and in real time, signalling only those situations that pose a potential risk.
Roads therefore become a safer, dynamic, interactive, protected environment, which will contribute to reducing the number of road accidents.
In summary, the innovative system described above is composed of two well-structured and coherent axes: scientific-technical research on run off traffic accidents + innovative and patented digital technology that provides the infrastructure with Active (preventive) Road Safety. This is an important step in the roadmap towards Smart Roads, facilitating modal coexistence between users, and contributing to reducing the likelihood of run off accidents, which, as previously mentioned, is one of the most serious problems for road safety, as it is the type of accident that causes the most victims each year in Spain and Europe.

Currently, infrastructure maintenance services equip vehicles with variable message panels with luminous arrows and chevrons. At Alvac, we are enhancing safety by connecting these systems with Waze, DGT 3.0, and the National Traffic Access Point.
This integration offers numerous benefits for road safety and traffic management. It would provide real-time information to drivers about the location of maintenance work through car navigation systems, allowing them to adjust routes and speeds to reduce accident risks.
Precise and timely alerts would increase the visibility of maintenance work and protect workers on the road, reducing the likelihood of accidents. Additionally, navigation applications could automatically plan alternative routes to avoid work zones, minimizing congestion and improving traffic flow.
Shared information would facilitate a quicker and more coordinated response from emergency services in case of accidents near work zones. Furthermore, data collected by Waze and DGT 3.0 could be analyzed to identify patterns and improve road safety and traffic management.
In summary, connecting the ASPA Flecha system with Waze, DGT 3.0, and the National Traffic Access Point would significantly enhance safety and efficiency on the roads.

The Autonomous Community of Cantabria and adjacent communities, such as Asturias and the Basque Country, offer spectacular mountain scenery and numerous roads through mountain passes, picturesque towns and villages. In addition, these regions are known for their delicious gastronomy.

This attractive scenery and the rich culinary offerings attract numerous motorcyclists every year, both national and foreign, who wish to travel the roads, climb the mountain passes and enjoy the local environment and gastronomy.

Motorbike tourism has been growing over the years, as has the evolution of the accident rate. From 2012 to 2023, an increase in the number of motorcyclists killed in road accidents in Spain has been detected, from 218 in 2012 to 286 in 2023. 77% of these drivers killed in road accidents were driving on conventional roads.

For this reason, the Directorate-General of Traffic (DGT) and Brittany Ferries have set up a collaboration project so that all motorcyclists disembarking in Cantabria have prior information on the current traffic regulations in Spain, with the aim of reducing the number of motorcyclists killed and making the roads safer for everyone.

Classic road safety equipment has always been passive, waiting for drivers to lose control, leave the road and suffer an accident against it. In that moment, they are necessary to contain and redirect the vehicle, as well as to reduce its severity and consequences. However, despite their generalized deployment in our roads, we still face deaths and severe injured.
PLUG&META® technology brings a new paradigm for road equipment, allowing the infrastructure to be proactive, to start talking to users and prevent accidents from happening. It also gathers road safety data and events for the road administration.
It is a digital system that can be integrated both into new or existing equipment, for example guardrails, bridge parapets, noise barriers or acoustic wall cladding for tunnels, crash cushions and others.
This worldwide innovation, patented and fully developed by Metalesa, provides active road safety to infrastructure, that is to say, the connected and smart infrastructure will have the capability to autonomous and continuously identify risks on the road (ex: ice, bad visibility, cyclist/pedestrians/animals on the road, excessive speed...) and activate in real time an adaptative LED signalling system to make drivers aware of the risk, and hence, allowing them to anticipate safer decisions. Thanks to PLUG&META® technology, key variables of risk detection, signalling and data collection can be configured from an open intuitive management platform, called PLUG&META® TRACE.

With our innovative project we want to involve university students in road safety. Slow City is a campaign based on the creation of various short videos made by the students about the benefits of speed reduction in our cities, especially saving lifes. Our main goal is to engage the students, but also the general youth by posting the videos and raising awareness peer-to-peer.