ROAD SAFETY SYSTEM WITH SIGNALING LIGHTS RADIO-CONTROLLED BY THE MOTOR VEHICLES" DESCRIPTION The invention is aimed at the implementation of a road safety system for roads and/or motorways and includes a multiplicity of groups of fixed or flashing light senders, arranged one after the other and operated by a command given by the motor vehicles speeding on the roadway. On motorways the system should be employed to signal danger to the following vehicles, especially in case of insuffi- cient visibility or with foggy weather, in order to avoid accidents. On normal roads the signals, which have to be sent forth at the same conditions and following the same procedure, are meant for warning also the drivers coming from the opposite direction. The goals described above are achieved through the imple- mentation of a road safety system with signaling lights that are radio-controlled by the motor vehicles, which, in conformity with the main claim, is characterized in that it comprises: - a multiplicity of groups of light senders positioned along the roadway; - a multiplicity of radio-frequency receivers, each one positioned in correspondence with said one or more groups of light senders and electrically connected with said light senders by means of lighting devices; - at least one control unit installed in said vehicles and consisting of a radio-frequency transmitter suitable for interacting with said receiver and of actuators suitable for operating said radio-frequency transmitter to switch on or off said light senders. According to a practical application chosen among many, the system includes a multiplicity of groups of luminous elements, connected in series or in parallel with one

1 another and fed with low or high tension or by means of

2 batteries or even solar cells, said luminous elements being

3 properly spaced, e.g. at a distance of 6 metres from one

4 another and making up, for example, a length of 100 me-

5 tres .

6 The system comprises also a radio-receiving unit for each

7 length, provided with antenna and capable of receiving the

8 signals coming from a transmitter controlled by a push-

9 button panel that is installed in the vehicle or, in any

10 case, is within the driver's reach.

11 Each receiving unit has connections with the groups of

12 luminous elements at its output point, and in particular:

13 -a first connection sends the "on" or "off" command recei-

14 ved from the vehicle to the luminous elements;

15 -a second connection sends the intermittent lighting com-

16 mand to the luminous elements.

17 The remote control is also provided with switching-off .push

18 buttons and with a frequency selector that makes it possi-

19 ble to pass from the frequency set to activate the luminous

20 elements of a lane to a different frequency set to activate

21 the luminous elements of the opposite lane, said frequen-

22 cies being signaled in the corresponding lanes by signals

23 arranged along the road.

24 On normal, two-way roads this distinction between the two

25 frequencies isn't necessary and the controls are operated

26 with a single frequency, independently of the direction

27 from which the vehicles are coming, always to signal the

28 presence of the signaling vehicle to the following ones.

29 On the roads with two opposite lanes, like the motorways,

30 for example, the series of luminous elements can be posi-

31. tioned at the edge of the emergency lane or even in the

32 middle of the road, in correspondence with the guardrail.

33 On normal, two-way roads the lights can be installed on

34 both sides of the road or on one side only, depending on

35 the particular conditions of the road itself.

According to a possible application, the lighting of the luminous elements can be obtained automatically by means of an inertial contactor mounted on the remote control. In a different application the inertial contactor can be applied to the vehicle and interconnected with the remote control. The system is described in detail here below and illustra- ted in the attached tables: -Fig. 1 shows a stretch of a two-lane motorway provided with the system that is the object of the invention; -Fig. 2 shows a stretch of a normal road provided with the system that is the object of the invention; -Fig. 3 shows a detail of a stretch of road with a schema- tic representation of the control units; -Fig. 4 shows a schematic representation of the remote control with which the vehicles are provided, set on a first operating position; -Fig. 5 shows the remote control of Fig. 4 set on a second operating position; -Fig. 6 shows a variant of the remote control, fitted with inertial contactor. Fig. 1 shows a motor vehicle 1 speeding in the direction indicated by the arrow on a two-lane road, for example a motorway 20. The driver has a remote control 17, which can be seen in Figures 4 and 5 and consists of a transmitter 31 integrated in a push-button panel 32, where said remote control 17 serves to switch on a multiplicity of luminous elements positioned along the road. By means of the remote control 17 the driver sends a signal that is received by the receiving unit 3, which lights up the luminous elements 2 belonging to the group 21, the length of which, for example, is 100 metres. Said group 21 is placed behind the motor vehicle 1, in such a way as to make the danger evident to the motor vehicle 4 that is

arriving on the same lane. The same can be said for the motor vehicle 5, the driver of which, always by means of the remote control 17 tha sends a signal to the receiving unit 7, switches on the luminous elements 6 belonging to the group 61 placed behind the motor vehicle 5, in such a way as to make the danger evi- dent to the motor vehicle 8 that is arriving on the same lane. It is obvious that the remote controls 17 of the two motor vehicles will operate on two frequencies Fl and F2 that are different from each other. These signals will be visible even in case of insufficient visibility due to fog or rain. To advantage, the frequency of the signals sent forth by the motor vehicles along a lane will be different from that of the signals sent forth by the motor vehicles speeding along the opposite lane, since it is the driver himself- who chooses the operating frequency on the remote control, on the basis of the indications given by special signs posi- tioned along the road and marked, for example, by the indication Fl and F2. On normal, two-lane roads, as shown in Fig. 2, the recei- vers 9 and 11 are placed at the sides of the road, at the center of each group of luminous elements that can be, for example, 100 m long, and are operated by the remote control 17 of the motor vehicle 10 speeding in the direction indi- cated by the arrow. In this case a single operating frequency is provided for, so that the signal coming from any vehicle traveling in any direction controls both the units 9 and 11, switching on the lights arranged on both sides and positioned on the opposite sides of each of said receiving units. Obviously, in case of rain or fog and responding to the remote control the luminous elements will light up on both sides of the road, in such a way as to warn both the vehi-

cles following the signaling vehicle and those speeding in the opposite direction. According to one possible application among many, as shown in Fig. 3, each receiving unit 12 is equipped with an antenna 13 and is connected with the luminous elements 15 of the respective group directly through the connection 14 or indirectly through an intermittence 16 placed between said connection 14 and said luminous elements. Depending on whether the link takes place directly through the connec- tion 14 or through the intermittence 16, the luminous elements will send forth a fixed or flashing light, respec- tively, in such a way as to differentiate the signal for different kinds of danger. By means of the remote control it is possible to choose whether the luminous elements must send forth a fixed or flashing light. As schematically shown in Fig. 4 and 5, the remote control 17 with which the vehicle is provided is fitted with: -a first push button 18 to have the luminous elements send forth an intermittent light; -a second push button 20 to have the luminous elements send forth a fixed light; -a third push button 19 to switch off the intermittent luminous elements; -a fourth push button 21 to switch off the luminous ele- ments that send forth a fixed light. On the same remote control 17 there is a cursor 22 to change the operating frequency Fl or F2. Fig. 5 shows the same remote control shown in Fig. 4 with the cursor 22 moved in correspondence with frequency F2 instead of in correspondence with frequency Fl. The driver, therefore, uses a single transmission frequen- cy, for example Fl, when traveling on normal roads inde- pendently of the direction of the vehicle, while he uses one of the two frequencies Fl and F2 when traveling on one

or the other lane of a two-lane road or of a motorway. In particular, he acts on the first push button 18 if he wants to send flashing signals suitable for warning, for example, about particularly dangerous situations like crashes . In the case of two-lane roads or motorways, the position of the luminous elements with respect to the receiving units is such that by activating the remote control the luminous elements placed behind the signaling vehicle are lighted, thus warning the following vehicles. As far as normal roads are concerned, instead, each unit is placed more or less at the center of each group of luminous elements. If, on the other hand, the driver acts on the second push button 20, the fixed signaling lights are switched on, and this is the case of insufficient visibility and/or of generic danger. Preferably the fixed or intermittent signals can be obtai- ned by connecting the luminous elements with several sepa- rate feeding lines, where if the signal is fixed a line only is activated and if the signal is intermittent more lines are activated alternately. Obviously, the respective signals are then switched off by means of the push buttons 19 and 21. According to a variant, they can be switched off even through timers. For easier control, the switching-on push buttons 18 and 20 can be marked by a particularly visible colour, for example red and yellow respectively, while the switching-off push buttons, for example, can both be black. To advantage, the remote control must make it possible to activate the flashing of the luminous elements both when they are off and when they are sending forth a fixed light, while the return to the "off" position or to the "flashing light" position must be possible only passing through the

"fixed light" position, if the latter had been previously chosen. After the description, even if schematic, of the details regarding the road lighting systems and the remote control supplied to the user, the operation of the system can now be described. When a vehicle, for example the motor vehicle 1, takes the direction of the motorway or of the two-lane road shown in Fig. 1, it provides for setting the cursor 22 of the remote control in correspondence with the operating frequency Fl or F2 , on the basis of the indications of the signals positioned along its lane. The same operation is carried out by the following vehicle 4. In case of good visibility, the activation of the signaling system installed along the road isn't required. On the other hand, in case of insufficient visibility, .due, for example, to fog banks, rain, accidents or to any other reason, the driver acts on one of the push-button controls 18 or 20 to switch on the intermittent or fixed luminous signals, according to his intentions. When the danger is over any vehicle that is arriving can switch off the luminous elements by acting on the push button 19 or 21. According to a variant of the invention, the activation of the intermittent luminous signals can take place by means of an inertial contactor 40 mounted on the remote control 170. For this purpose the inertial contactor that is object of the Italian patent registered with no. VI93A000150 and is held by the present patent's applicant can be usefully employed. As shown in Fig. 6, the inertial contactor 40 is applied to the remote control 170 and is composed of a mobile equip- ment, arranged inside a case 41, which with its movement

due the variation of the vehicle acceleration opens or closes the continuity among the contacts 43, 44 and 45 that protrude from the case 41 and activate the transmitter 46. In this case the contacts 43, 44 and 45 are connected with the contacts of the first push button 180, which, therefo- re, gives the activation signal for the lighting of the intermittent luminous signals, either through the pressing of the first push button 180 itself or through the action of the inertial contactor 40. According to this variant the inertial contactor 40 and the transmitter 131 are included in a single push-button panel 132 and altogether constitute the remote control 170. According to another variant, by means of the remote con- trol any vehicle can activate an acoustic or luminous signal in the motor vehicle behind it, instead of activa- ting the light senders positioned on the road. In this case every remote control must be provided also with a receiver. Obviously, all the construction characteristics of the system, like, for example, the feeding voltages, the tech- nical features of the transmitting and receiving units and the circuital characteristics of these units are included in the present patent. The road and motorway rules with the relevant signs must be homologated by the competent authorities and approved in the proper seat. Any variant that should be carried out according to the provisions of the competent authorities is to be considered as included in the present patent.