Stagecoach, Britain’s biggest bus operator, is the first in the country to invest in the national roll-out of new bridge alert technology across its fleet.

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

GreenRoad’s core safety system is installed on all of Stagecoach’s 8.000 buses in England, Scotland and Wales.

The technology also serves professional drivers from companies across Europe, the Middle East, America, Australia and New Zealand.

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The GreenRoad system will use GPS vehicle location data and mapping services to alert the driver to nearby low bridges.

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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.

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.

Data from Network Rail shows that there were 1,714 railway bridge strikes across the country in the 2019-20 financial year.

Most of these incidents involve heavy goods vehicles, with between 40 and 50 a year related to buses.

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Stagecoach chief executive Martin Griffiths said: “We have been working for many months with GreenRoad to design this Low Bridge Alert enhancement to their proven safety technology.”

Following a 16-week software development phase, the bridge technology will be installed.