On mountain roads where avalanche zones present a danger to motorists and road crews, Japan and European countries install permanent avalanche countermeasures. These structures will cause an avalanche to flow over the top of the road, change direction away from the roadway, or dissipate before it reaches the road. The University of Utah has joined the Japanese Nagaoka Institute for Snow and Ice Studies to further explore uses of and improvements on permanent avalanche-abatement structures. Japan has outlawed conventional steel tire chains. Japan collects data on roadway microclimates from RWIS sensors that monitor temperature, wind speed, wind direction, precipitation, and humidity.
Officials distribute information quickly to highway rest areas and on assigned radio frequencies.
Japan and Europe also use such information to adjust speed limits on variable-message signs. In addition, highway officials who know where weather is creating, or will be creating, roadway hazards can better decide where to assign personnel and machinery. Officials also use gathered information to call out emergency vehicles. Changeable signs controlled from highway offices advise motorists of the need to reduce speed or choose a different route. Winter maintenance vehicles also display changeable message boards.