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Peter Olsen and his
Flashing School Lights
If you’re in NSW, you may have seen those “check speed” signs with
flashing lights mounted near the large “school zone” signs which mark
the areas around schools where children will be present before and
after school. They’re the result of a lot of political pressure – and
heartache – by Peter Olsen over the past six years. Of particular
interest to SILICON CHIP, they’re powered by PICAXE microcontrollers.
M
ost people acknowledge that
flashing warning lights in
school zones will alert drivers of the need to slow traffic down
and therefore, it is presumed, prevent
accidents – and save lives.
Much more so, in fact, than the static
“school zone” signs we have known
for more than a decade.
So if you were the NSW State Government and were given the option of
changing your $58,000 lights to $1,400
lights – with proven greater reliability, higher accuracy and a measured
lower average vehicle speed, would
you do it?
No, you’d embark on an expensive
PR campaign to denigrate the alternative lights and their developer, completely ignoring the fact that you, as a
Government, had foregone the benefits
12 Silicon Chip
and were determined to press on with
your program, regardless.
More than that, you’d launch a
“dirty tricks” campaign to prove that
your flashing lights were better, even to
the extent of banning use of the others
in public streets (current installations
have all been on private property).
But first, some background
Peter Olsen first came to public
prominence as the organiser of the
world-famous “Lugarno Christmas
Lights”, where not just Peter’s house,
not just his neighbours but a whole
street (it happened to be Maple St,
Lugarno – a southern Sydney suburb)
rallied together to put on a display of
Christmas Lights.
By Ross Tester
Display is a massive understatement
– Maple Street had literally hundreds
of thousands of lights, with amazing
animations, tableaux, cartoon characters and synchronised music.
That not only attracted hundreds of
thousands of visitors each year (and
created multi-kilometre-long traffic
jams – I speak from experience!) but
along the way raised hundreds of
thousands of dollars for charity.
In 2006, Peter retired and moved
several kilometres away.
That same year, he heard that the
(then) NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) was trialling flashing
warning lights for school zones. He
was flabbergasted to find that the cost
of each simple alternate-light flashing
sign was (then) $12,000 and set out
to prove that reliable flashing lights
siliconchip.com.au
Two versions of the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA
– now RMS) School Zone Speed Signs. The one above has
no flashing lights but is overwhelmingly the most common
today. At right is their latest and greatest version, complete
with flashing LED lights, a flashing LED annulus around the
speed sign . . . and solar powered. Each sign costs around
$58,000. Peter Olsen’s simpler version (opposite) costs
$1400 – installed!
could be produced for just a fraction of proved to be 100% reliable for the
that amount. Based on his experience four years that they were in operawith computerised Christmas lights, tion – except for a couple of problems
he made his first flashing light signs where power supplies, provided by
for just $200.
the RTA, failed.
They were controlled by a 7-day
According to a government media
electronic timer. He installed them on release, the RTA’s own flashing signs
eight 40km/h signs, without approval, are only 98.2% reliable.
in mid-2006.
In 2009, after becoming frustrated
There followed a rather pub- that the RTA was still refusing to use
lic “stoush” between Peter Ols- cheaper technology, Peter started inen and the RTA, with the RTA stalling signs of his own.
“ r i p p i n g o u t ” P e t e r ’s s i g n s ,
He first studied the law carefully to
Peter re-installing them and the RTA find out what was legal. He adopted
pulling them out again.
the words “Check Speed”, to avoid the
A series of meetings with the RTA prohibition on installing “prescribed
and Minister for Roads finally resulted signs”. He also installed them on priin an approved
“trial” of eight RTA Lights vs Olsen Lights
sets of lights.
RTA LIGHTS
P e t e r d e v e l - FEATURE
oped a fully au- Average cost per sign
$58,125
tomatic PICAXE Cost to taxpayer per sign
$58,125
based control- Annual maintenance cost per sign
$2,545
ler for the signs,
Reliability
98.2%
complete with
4.3kmh
GPS for accurate Average reduction in vehicle speed
No
timekeeping. He GPS receiver for absolute timing accuracy
signed a contract Average fault repair time
2 days
authorising the Average time from school request to install
2 years
RTA to use his
Provide to any school in NSW on request
No
technology, royalTotal
school
zones
installed
as
at
May
2009
291
ty-free, forever, if
School zones installed from Jan-May 2009
25
they wished.
T h e l i g h t s Total staff in organisation doing installs
7,000
siliconchip.com.au
vate property, where they were beyond
the RTA’s reach.
The lights cost around $1,400 per
sign, which includes the sign and pole
to mount it on. Peter points out that if
the lights were installed directly on the
existing 40km/h signs, the cost would
be under $1,000 each.
Fast-forward to 2012
The NSW Government has changed,
the RTA has been replaced by the
Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
Unfortunately, the one thing that
hasn’t really changed is the bureaucratic attitude to Peter Olsen’s lights.
They still want their own!
Operating costs
OLSEN LIGHTS
$1,400
$0
$0
100%
6.3kmh
Yes
0 days
2 weeks
Yes
21
17
1
We ’ v e a l r e a d y
looked at the cost to
produce the signs –
but what about the
cost to operate them?
Virtually all signs
installed by RMS are
solar powered, with
power saving and
“green” credentials
being the usual reasons given.
Peter Olsen claims
this is bunkum. Solar-derived power,
even on the small
July 2012 13
One of Peter
Olsen’s “Check
Speed” signs,
installed
on private
property but
as close as
possible to the
non-flashing
RMS School
Zone signs.
scale required to run the lights, is significantly more expensive to install, is
significantly less reliable than a mains
supply and requires more maintenance (eg, to replace batteries at least
every three years).
Not only that, the solar panels themselves are subject to theft, vandalism
and hail damage. And when the signs
are inevitably hit by errant vehicles,
they are a lot more expensive to fix
or replace.
Peter Olsen claims that solarpowered lights are around 200 times
times more expensive to maintain
than mains-powered lights. And as for
“green”, he asks “what about the cost
to manufacture the solar panels – or
the cost of replacement (and disposal)
of batteries and their toxic chemicals?”
Olsen’s lights are powered by a
simple 12V supply direct from the
mains – and as the lights have been
overwhelmingly installed on private
property, the power required is a “gift”
from the property owner.
But what is the cost of that power?
LEDs don’t take a lot: the 100mm lights
draw just 8W and the 200mm 12W.
Given the fact that they are on for
only three hours per day and then only
on school days (around 205 days per
year), the maximum electricity cost
(including the controller and GPS receiver for accurate timekeeping) is just
92c per annum for the 100mm lights
and $1.38 for the 200mm version.
Mr Olsen is pushing for the RTA
to use mains power where possible
– and points out that many 40km/h
signs have 230V power lines directly
overhead!
Lights cost
We mentioned at the outset that the
Government’s school zone lights cost
more – a whole lot more – than Peter
Olsen’s lights. Through a series of
14 Silicon Chip
press releases, the RTA (the previous
Government’s department which has
now become the RMS) has muddied
the water significantly. Peter calls it
“dirty tricks”.
Peter Olsen offers his lights to
schools for $1400 each – installed. He
urges schools to obtain local sponsorship, which in the main has been very
successful – Rotary clubs sponsor
many of them.
The RTA’s own figures reveal a cost
to the community of $58,125 each for
the lights installed during the last term
of the previous government. ($46.5M
for 800 signs). That covered 400 school
zones, less than 4% of the 11,000
school zones in the state.
The new government has budgeted
$17 million for the installation of lights
over four years. By June 2015 it expects
to have 1390 school zones equipped
with their lights, around 700 more than
when it took office. That amounts to
$24,285 per zone – but still only covers
13% of school zones. That $17M could
pay for Peter Olsen’s $1,400 lights at
over 6,000 school zones instead of
just 700.
Reliability
The RTA claims their light design,
with back-to-base monitoring of faults,
is essential for safety. In fact, they
claimed “it alerts the RTA to any problems immediately” and “is essential to
ensure our children remain safe”. In an
apparent direct attack on Peter Olsen’s
much simpler (but demonstrably more
reliable design), they said “we cannot
install potentially usafe, unreliable
and infrequently monitored systems
when it is our children we are trying
to protect.”
What they don’t explain, as Mr
Olsen points out on his website, is
why many sets of their lights, with
back-to-base monitoring, have been
out of action with faults for up to a
week at a time.
The Olsen lights are not back-tobase monitored. He maintains that
with literally hundreds of parents and
children (not to mention school staff)
passing by the lights every day, the
RMS would be very quickly be notified
of any fault.
But so far, there hasn’t been a breakdown. His lights have been 100% reliable, versus the RTA’s 98.2%.
How long does installation
take?
It has taken an average two years
from the time a school requests RTA
lights until the time they are installed
– and then only if the location meets
the RTA’s quite specific requirements.
The time it takes for the Olsen lights
is usually less than two weeks – and
that’s for any school that asks for them.
He installed four sets of lights at
Burraneer Bay Public School within
3 days of the recent accident that left
a 6-year-old boy critically injured.
He funded those lights himself, after
hearing that the school had been begging the RTA/RMS for lights for nearly
two years.
The electronics
is fully selfcontained apart
from the off-unit
12V DC plugpack
supply. It all fits
into a small IP65
box which can
easily be mounted
on the back of the
sign.
siliconchip.com.au
The main location difference (apart
from obvious design) is that the Olsen
lights need to be installed on private
property – earlier lights installed by
Olsen on public property were ripped
down by the RTA.
Effectiveness
Without policing and/or speed cameras installed, flashing lights are not
the panacea we’d like to think they
were. But ANY reduction in vehicle
speed through school zones is worthwhile. Surveys reveal the RTA lights
show an average 4.3km/h reduction in
vehicle speed. Olsen’s lights showed
an average 6.3km/h reduction – almost
50% better.
The lights also allow drivers to
avoid unnecessary fines, especially on
days such as “pupil free” days when
school zones are still in operation.
What’s in the designs?
The RTA issued very specific requirements for tenderers to meet for
their lights, including solar power
where possible and having radio backto-base monitoring. Their lights are
housed in a large box attached to the
back of the signs or the mounting poles.
Originally the electronics merely
powered alternately-flashing sets of
lights but more recent designs also
flash an annulus of red LEDs around
the ‘40’ (ie, 40km/h) in the centre of
the sign.
Olsen’s design is much smaller –
and much simpler – than the RMS’s.
Based on a PICAXE microcontroller, it
(and its GPS receiver) fits into a small
IP65 box which can be mounted on
the back of the sign or off it.
There are two basic parts to it: first
there is the time and date-keeping,
which ensures that it turns the lights
on and off at the right time of day on
school days only. The controller is preprogrammed with school and public
holiday dates four years in advance,
which is as far ahead as the dates are
gazetted.
The second part of the design is
the actual switching on and off of the
lights, which is a simple task for the
PICAXE microcontroller. Unlike the
RTA’s lights, which simply alternate,
Mr Olsen’s lights operate in a much
more eye-catching strobe mode. A
side benefit is that it halves the power
consumption.
As anyone who has used a PICAXE
microcontroller (and SILICON CHIP
projects have used plenty!) will attest,
reprogramming is a very quick and
easy task, although no changes to the
actual code have been necessary in the
six years that Mr Olsen’s lights have
been operating.
He simply has to upload new
The electronics consist mainly of the PICAXE chip which drives Mosfets
which in turn control the high-brightness LEDs in the sign. A 433MHz receiver
(top of PCB) allows “ground level” reprogramming, while the large “box” on
the right side is the GPS receiver which is used as a time reference.
siliconchip.com.au
holiday dates every four years using
a short-range transmitter. He does that
when he attends the site for routine
preventative maintenance.
Because the Olsen design is powered by 12V DC, there is no need for a
power supply inside it – further contributing to reliability due to less heat.
The GPS unit incorporated into the
Olsen design means that its timekeeping is 100% accurate. Unlike the RMS
lights, it does not rely on any radio
control nor does it have back-to-base
fault monitoring.
The future?
In the past, the road and traffic
authorities have been particularly
dogmatic about the Olsen signs being inferior, potentially unsafe and
so on. They apparently haven’t quite
declared the signs illegal but have
skirted around the subject with implied warnings.
He goes to some length on his website to explain the difference between
proscribed traffic signs (which are the
sole province of the authorities) and
his signs.
The result appears to be some form
of “tolerance” between those authorities and his signs.
This may also have something to do
with a change of Government in NSW
and also the change of the department
itself.
Peter Olsen has obviously been a
thorn in the side of the RTA/RMS,
but along the way has attracted some
heavy-hitter supporters in the media
– radio 2GB’s Alan Jones and Chris
Smith, for example, have interviewed
Peter many times.
He’s also attracted sponsorship for
his signs from unlikely sources – a
large legal firm, for example. He’s
quick to point out that they would
hardly get involved if his signs were
illegal.
He is still offering his flashing
school zone signs to any school who
wants them – and while the school
has to pay for them to be installed, it’s
dramatically less than the community
has to pay for the “approved” signs.
There’s a page on his website containing all the documents needed to
order signs.
Contact www.schoolzonelights.
com.au or phone Peter Olsen on 0414
538 404 or (02) 9599 1811 for more
information – or to order signs for your
SC
local school!
July 2012 15
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