PROVINCIAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

THE NEED

Previous provincial mandates have required snowplows to require similar lighting to construction and public works vehicles, including amber and blue strobe, rotator beacons and minor perimeter lighting. However, this resulted in snowplows that were not as readily identifiable from other public works vehicles, leading to rear-end collisions on freeways and higher-speed roads.

THE SOLUTION

Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation hired SWS Warning Lights to develop a solution that involved adding enhanced lighting to the vehicles’ rear while utilizing the latest high brightness LED technology.

We worked closely with the Ministry to ensure we fulfilled their split-colour and flash pattern requirements, flash pattern desires, product dimension specifications, interconnection simplification, desire, and collaborated on a metric for describing the system requirements.

We further developed this customized solution in conjunction with a large national distributor of snowplow vehicles, which helped us accommodate a diverse range of snowplows and layouts. The final product and layout on a standard snow removal vehicle were subject to public approval and industry representation to finalize a definitive specification for snowplows and snow removal equipment.