A Preliminary Analytical Investigation of the Brig Road Safety Edge Concept

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A Preliminary Analytical Investigation of the Brig Road Safety Edge Concept

R. R. McHenry

The BRIG Road Safety Edge, developed by Georges Brigham, is a depressed edge between the pavement and the roadside shoulder. This curb design is claimed to produce corrective steer effects through the mechanism of gyroscopic procession in the steered wheels of an automobile departing from the pavement. The analytical study applies a computer simulation of the dynamics of single vehicle accidents in a preliminary evaluation of the BRIG concept. It was concluded that the proposed BRIG road edge will produce corrective steer effects only under extremely limited conditions of departure from the pavement and that the mechanism through which the effects are produced differs substantially from that described in the U. S. Patent and in an earlier analysis supporting the patent claims. Despite limitations on the extent of the study, it is believed that the results provide an adequate basis for the stated conclusions regarding the road edge concept. (BPR abstract)