TrafficInfraTech interacts with Rahul Sawardekar, Business Head, Ador Traffic and Enforcement, about how the technology has matured, where it is headed and why he believes crash-tested certification should be made mandatory. Excerpts
Ador Powertron has been providing TMAs to Indian road infrastructure for many years. How has the technology evolved?
Ador has been supplying Truck Mounted Attenuators in India for the last five years and has successfully delivered 115 TMAs across various highway and infrastructure projects.
Over the years, TMA technology has evolved significantly. Earlier generations of attenuators primarily focused on absorbing impact energy during rear-end collisions.
Modern TMAs, however, are engineered using advanced energy-absorbing materials, optimized structural designs, and sophisticated crash-tested mechanisms that can safely manage impacts across a wider range of vehicle types and speeds. This evolution has resulted in improved safety for both road workers and motorists.
What technologies are now being integrated into modern TMA systems? Trailer TMA has more advantages…
Ador Powertron currently provides: MASH-certified Truck Mounted Attenuators, NCHRP 350-certified Truck Mounted Attenuators and MASH-certified Trailer TMAs These systems are designed to meet international crash-testing requirements and provide effective protection in highway work zones.
Even though both TMAs and TTMAs are effective safety solutions, the latter offers a slight operational advantage because it is not dependent on a single vehicle. The trailer can be coupled with different towing vehicles as required, providing greater flexibility in deployment and utilization.
What are the special technology features of the new TMA systems launched in Pune Recently?
The systems represent Ador’s continued commitment to bring in globally accepted, crash-tested safety solutions to the Indian market. These TMAs are designed and tested to meet stringent international performance standards and are intended to enhance work-zone safety across highways and expressways.
How are TMAs adapted for high-speed corridors versus urban expressways?
While the fundamental purpose of the TMA remains the same across different road environments, for high-speed corridors, deployment planning focuses on higher-speed impact conditions, visibility requirements, and work-zone protection. In urban environments, factors such as space constraints, traffic density, and frequent work-zone movement are taken into account. Appropriate TMA selection and deployment practices help ensure safety in both scenarios.
Are there specific crash-testing or certification standards followed for TMAs in India?
Currently, there is no mandatory certification requirement for TMAs in India. However, internationally recognized standards such as MASH (Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware) and NCHRP 350 are widely accepted benchmarks for evaluating crash performance.
In our view, MASH represents the most advanced and rigorous crash-testing standard available today, and MASH-certified TMAs offer the highest level of confidence in terms of road-user and worker safety.
We believe that the adoption of MASH-certified TMAs should be made mandatory in India to ensure consistent safety standards across the country’s road infrastructure projects.
The deployment of safety hardware on Indian highways is increasingly governed by rigorous international standards.
This is a welcome development for the industry. The adoption of internationally recognized safety standards helps improve consistency, accountability, and overall safety performance. As India’s road network continues to expand, the use of crash-tested and certified safety hardware will play an increasingly important role in reducing fatalities and protecting workers in active work zones.
Is enough emphasis being placed on construction and maintenance site safety in our infrastructure policy?
There has been a noticeable increase in awareness regarding work-zone safety over the past few years. However, there is still considerable scope for improvement in terms of implementation and enforcement.
