SAFETY OF MOTORWAY LIGHTING

The safety aspects of motorway lighting and its capacity to prevent nighttime accidents are examined. The analysis is based on a night/day accident rate ratio method to compare the safety benefits of two alternatives to dark motorways: continuous lighting and interchange lighting alone. Various sources of data are used to calculate night/day accident rate ratios, such as traffic volume records, accident databases, and field surveys. Three categories of accidents have been used: fatal and injury accidents, property damage only, and all accidents. The results are similar to those from recent literature. Continuous lighting reduces the overall accident rate by 33% (p<.001) in comparison with interchange lighting alone and by 49% (p<.05) compared with dark motorways. Furthermore, a breakdown by categories of average daily traffic for these comparisons reveals that accident reductions are still valid regardless of traffic flow.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.3141/1758-01
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=SAFETY+OF+MOTORWAY+LIGHTING&author=J.+Bruneau&author=D.+Morin&author=M.+Pouliot&publication_year=2001
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309072190
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1758, Highway Safety: Design, Features, and Evaluation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Bruneau, J-F
  • Morin, D
  • Pouliot, M
• Publication Date: 2001

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 1-5
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1758
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash rates; Highway safety; Highways; Interchanges; Nighttime crashes; Prevention; Street lighting
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I81: Accident Statistics; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00818751
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309072190
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Oct 2 2001 12:00AM