Stagecoach, the UK’s biggest bus operator, has announced the successful completion of one of its key safety enhancement projects. In partnership with Greenroad, the bus operator is the first in the UK to roll out new low bridge detection functionality across its nationwide fleet of double decker buses, equating to more than 4000 of vehicles.

The £4m project will strengthen existing measures in place to prevent bridge strikes and build on Stagecoach’s industry-leading use of the GreenRoad driver safety and fuel efficiency system.

Using a simple traffic-light-like LED system on the dashboard, the GreenRoad system gives drivers instant feedback about their driving manoeuvres, encouraging smoother, safer, more fuel-efficient driving that is more comfortable for passengers.

The intelligent GreenRoad system will use GPS vehicle location data and mapping services to alert the driver to nearby low bridges. If the technology determines that the bus is heading towards a low bridge, it will sound an in-cab alert, allowing a safe exit route that avoids the bridge.

Carla Stockton-Jones, UK Managing Director of Stagecoach, said: “The project team, in partnership with Greenroad, have worked incredibly hard to achieve this milestone and I am proud of the this great achievement and the benefits it will provide to our employees and customers.

“It is a great example of the teamwork, dedication and hard work of our people in improving the way we do things so that we can reach our goals of being the nations favourite transport provider.

“Everything we do starts with safety: for our customers, our people, pedestrians and other road users. Buses are already one of the safest forms of travel. But every year we invest millions of pounds in training our professional driving team and new technology to make our public transport operations even safer.”

Richard Hemming, Vice President of Customer Success for GreenRoad said: “We are very proud as the preeminent provider of advanced driver, and vehicle safety solutions, to have collaborated with Stagecoach on the development and deployment of our outstanding Low Bridge solution. This is another example of our commitment to offer industry leading solutions that provide a quantum safety improvement, protecting the general public, reducing risk; ultimately saving lives.”