TrafficInfraTech Magazine Linking People Places & Progress
Avery Dennison, a global leader and a pioneer in reflective solutions been striving to make the roads safer by innovating and adopting new technologies
The pace of highway construction in the country has touched a record breaking milestone of 37km per day in FY 2020-21. This achievement was remarkable as it was achieved despite constraints posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Considering this growth in road construction coupled with high speed expressways and highways, there is an additional focus on working towards reducing the number of road accidents and fatalities in the country. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways is incorporating multiple strategies to make the roads and highways safer for the road users.
A very critical and important element to road safety is traffic signs as they help the road users to correctly navigate through the directions to a specific destination. The technology used to make these traffic signs has also evolved over the years to keep pace with the exponential growth in the road infrastructure by providing smarter solutions. A team of experts with strong R&D capabilities have formulated a revolutionary solution-the TrafficJet™ digital print system. This technology enables easy and fast production of specification compliant and durable traffic signs that overcome the challenges faced by the conventional methods.
The traditional methods of screen printing or pasting cut out transparent overlay on the retro-reflective sheeting leads to peeling of signs, fading of colours etc, which makes the signs illegible and renders it useless and can pose a grave threat to the road user . TrafficJet digital print system produces high quality, durable traffic signs in a controlled manner which enhances the life and performance of the signs. The conventional processes involved to produce traffic signs typically lead to longer lead times making it almost impossible to complete the jobs demanding tight timelines. With the digital printing process, a fabricator can quickly process a print job, even one that demands highly customised content and graphics.
The entire print solution backed up by Avery Dennison is accredited by Indian Roads Congress (IRC) and is becoming a preferred choice in India to make durable signs that are warranted for up to 15 years. This system can print intricate designs, logos, watermarks and make these signs symbolic by adding relevant pictures. Unique to the TrafficJet print system is the use of eco-solvent ‘spot’ colours – engineered by Avery Dennison to the exacting day and night-time colour requirements of traffic sign specifications. These inks are Greenguard Gold certified and conform to standards of low volatile organic compound (VOC) emission as opposed to the hazardous waste generated in screen printing methods making the entire system environment friendly.
The ink is protected using an OL-1000 anti-graffiti overlay film which enables easy cleaning of any graffiti paint, stickers or markers on the surface. Not only can vandalized traffic signs be cleaned, but when printed on a TrafficJet Print System, it will also carry the industry’s longest-warranty. Incorporation of a QR code makes these digitally printed signs smarter as it helps tracking the maintenance data and other project details.
