On April 1, at 11:00 a.m., the Press Centre of the Press House held a press conference on the subject: Scientific Research as Basis for Productivity Enhancement. Use of Unique Belarusian Technologies in Industry Sector.

Alexey Schmelev, the Deputy General Scientific Director of the State Scientific Institution United Institute of Mechanical Engineering, represented the NAS of Belarus in this event. He told about unique developments of the Institute scientists having no analogs in the CIS countries. The development is intended for safety of people during road maintenance activities.

Currently, during such activities, the traffic is not blocked. To ensure safety of roadworkers, shadow vehicles – heavy trucks – are placed at the edges of the areas under repair. Although they are usually equipped with bright indicator lights, drivers often fail to go around, and there are cases of crashes with dramatic consequences. A mobile shock absorbing device is attached to the rear part of the shadow vehicles. It minimizes the consequences of vehicle crash against the road-building machinery, ensures safety of the roadworkers, reduces costs for repair of expensive machinery and road parts. The device provides reduction of the ramming vehicle energy, actually being a cushion decreasing the striking force. Computer modelling was used during the device development, and a full-fledged crash tests were simulated for experiments. The primary live experiment on the testing area confirmed the stated properties.