engleski

Evaluating the influence of road markings’ retroreflectivity on road safety in low visibility conditions

During night-time, driver’s field of vision, visual acuity and colour hue reduces which is why good road markings are needed. Although there are mixed opinions in scientific literature regarding the relationship between the road markings retroreflectivity and traffic accidents, it is generally considered that they have a positive impact on traffic safety. The aim of this article is to analyse how road markings retroreflectivity affects the frequency of traffic accidents in low visibility conditions, i.e. when it is most needed. For this purpose, 10, 417.4 km single carriageway roads were analysed across the Republic of Croatia in the period between 2012 and 2016. The research included accidents that may be significantly affected by markings retroreflectivity: head-on collisions, running off the road, hitting a stationary object on the road and hitting a stationary roadside object. The results show that the retroreflectivity levels are negatively correlated to the total number of accidents and the number of fatalities and injuries, which ultimately means that the risk of traffic accidents and severe consequences reduces with the increase of road markings retroreflectivity. These results confirm that road markings play a significant role in increasing night-time traffic safety.

retroreflectivity ; road markings ; traffic accidents ; traffic safety

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