Roads Minister opens Seeing is Believing

Roads Minister Robert Goodwill officially opened this year's Seeing is Believing on Wednesday (19 November 2014) – Europe’s only event for indoor showcasing of highway products as well as outdoor demonstrations and testing in all lighting conditions.

The event was held at Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in Leicestershire from 19-20 November 2014.

It featured live demonstrations of self-driving cars, TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) on board as test partners for the event, the UK’s first demonstration of INROADS active road studs, ‘zero carriageway crossing’ demonstrations by the Traffic Management Contractors Association (TMCA), and smart motorway and Dutch-style roundabouts on the MiniDigiSim.

Speaking at the opening, Mr Goodwill highlighted the latest developments and products which can help improve the safety of the highway network. He told Highways Magazine: "There's a tremendous amount of innovation going on in this particular industry and a lot of stuff I think that the general public don't realise when they're driving on the roads. For example road surfaces, markings and the way that signage is being developed. There's an awful lot going on that they of course don't notice, but it does benefit them in terms of safety and journey reliability."

Seeing is Believing also featured an in-depth seminar programme which included Tony Russell from Sustrans presenting ‘Designing to improve cyclist safety’ and Tom Merry HM Inspector of Health and Safety at the Health and Safety Executive presenting ‘The road worker safety challenge’.

Exhibitors demonstrated products and services outside on real road environments – urban, rural and motorway – with day, dusk and night-time conditions.

Look out for a review of this year's event in the December issue of Highways Magazine.

Pictured: Roads Minister Robert Goodwill gets hands on with the DigiCycle - Transport for London’s new cycling simulator