Much of the visual information needed by a driver to navigate roads safely in a variety of conditions, including daylight, darkness, and adverse weather, is provided by pavement markings. Visibility during wet night conditions is of particular concern to the Traffic Engineering and Materials Divisions of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) because the retroreflectivity, or amount of light reflected back to the source, of conventional pavement markings is degraded under these conditions; water scatters light instead of returning it, making the marking less visible. This reduced visibility renders the driving task more challenging because drivers have less tracking information. The urgency of the problem was confirmed by a 1997 customer service survey conducted by VDOT in which Virginia drivers said that 'nighttime visibility, especially in wet conditions' needed added attention. A comparison of pavement markings and markers on the quality of their wet night retroreflectivity and cost-effectiveness was deemed to be useful to VDOT in determining a strategy for providing improved wet night visibility.
Wet Night Visibility of Pavement Markings: Executive Summary
2004
22 pages
Report
No indication
English
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