NIGHTTIME VISIBILITY OF ROADWAY DELINEATION ON DRY AND WET ROADS

DE ZICHTBAARHEID 'S NACHTS VAN WEGMARKERINGEN OP DROGE EN NATTE WEGDEKKEN

At night an important element of driving is related to the perception of roadway markings. On wet roads and in the absence of public lighting many types of markings are barely visible and, consequently, vehicle control becomes considerably more difficult. Night time visibility distances of several retroreflective types of continuous stripes and raised pavement markers were determined experimentally on a special section of a highway. In addition, optical characteristics were measured immediately after application and in relation to time after application (up to 22 months, corresponding to approx 2 million vehicles passed) in order to establish the effects of dirt and wear. Results were described in terms of coefficients of retroreflective luminance and coefficients of luminous intensity which were also used to predict visibility distances under other conditions than when measured directly. Continuous stripes with a vertical profile and raised pavement markers both offer better alternatives for night time visibility on wet roads than the usual paint and thermoplastic markings. The raised pavement markers are more sensitive to dirt and wear on dry pavement than the continuous stripes. Finally, dew appeared to decrease the retroreflection of the raised pavement markers by a factor of up to twenty; a smaller effect was found for the continuous stripes. (Author/TRRL)

• Corporate Authors:

  Instituut voor Zintuigfysiologie, TNO

  Kampweg 5
  Soesterberg,   Netherlands 
• Authors:
  • Blaauw, G J
  • Padmos, P
• Publication Date: 1981

Language

• Dutch

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 53 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Dryness; Dust; Highway delineators; Highway design; Mud; Night; Night visibility; Paint; Pavements; Perception; Raised road markings; Reflectorized materials; Retroreflectors; Road markings; Soils; Surface course (Pavements); Visibility; Visibility distance; Wear; Wet weather
• Uncontrolled Terms: Dirt; Dry conditions; Wet pavements
• Old TRIS Terms: Highway delineation; Raised traffic markings; Traffic marking
• ITRD Terms: 562: Carriageway marking; 4572: Dust; 4179: Mud; 9052: Night; 3807: Paint; 2955: Pavement; 2229: Perception; 4523: Reflectorized material; 551: Road stud; 6783: Visibility; 6793: Visibility distance; 5293: Wear; 3015: Wet road
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pavements; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00369455
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Institute for Road Safety Research, SWOV
• Report/Paper Numbers: No. 1981 C-20 Monograph
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 31 1983 12:00AM