Researchers identify links between visibility and safety from roadway lighting
Monday, February 4, 2013 - 18:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Newspapers are filled with stories describing reductions and removal of street lighting in order to reduce municipal costs. Tackling the tricky questions of when and where to install roadway illumination is a challenge for transportation agencies. Researchers recently described a unique parallel approach to lighting safety analysis. The team used lighting and crash data for state highway intersections in Minnesota to develop quantitative models relating nighttime driving safety to the presence of lighting at these intersections. Importantly, these models also included the effects of features like signals, medians and other intersection design and operational features in order to segregate the effects of lighting from these other aspects.