Letter to the Editor

Road & Transport Research, Dec 2004 by Lay, Max

IN RESPONSE TO 'RIDE QUALITY SPECIFICATIONS - SMOOTHING OUT PAVEMENTS', BY RICHARD WIX1.

From Dr. Max Lay

Dear Editor,

Richard Wix in his interesting article, 'Ride quality specifications', in the June 2004 issue of Road and Transport Research states on p.34 that the first practical device for measuring road roughness in Australia was developed by ARRB in the 1970s.

This is not so. The ARRB machine was a direct development of earlier car-mounted roughometers. One of these had been developed and used by the Victorian Country Roads Board forty years before the ARRB work. Measurements from the CRB device are reported in the CRB's 1929-30 report and a photograph of the machine fitted to a T Model Ford is shown on p.34 of the 1930-31 Report.

The roughometer was clearly practical.

Max Lay

1. Wix, R. (2004). Ride quality specifications - smoothing out pavements, Road and Transport Research 13(2), pp.33-43.