The three-year Rainvision project has ended and its report on better road markings is finalised
On 9 March, the Rainvision project held its final meeting in Brussels, Belgium. Rainvision, set up in 2012 and co-financed by the2465 European Commission, has investigated the impact of road markings on driver behaviour under different night-time weather conditions, such as dry, wet and wet-rainy. The aim is to assess how different age and gender groups adapt their driving based on the visibility and retroreflectivity of road markings.
The first part of the event was dedicated to presenting the results of the project and in particular, the outcomes of the different trials conducted over the past three years. Three sets of trials were conducted: a simulation test in France, a track-test in Austria and an on-road trial in the United Kingdom.
For the two initial tests conducted in a controlled environment, the project recruited around 100 test subjects who were split into three age categories: 20-40, 40-60 and 60+. Given that older drivers may have reduced sight and thus lower reactivity, the objective was to assess whether more markings could create a greater sense of comfort among senior drivers and in turn, lead to fewer driving errors.
The results of simulation trials demonstrated that wet-night visible markings under wet and rainy night-time conditions did, in fact, create a more comfortable driving environment for the drivers. It also contributed to a reduction in errors of around 40% compared to when standard markings are in place.
This conclusion was backed up by the track test trials in Austria. From this, it was concluded that while the enhancement of the performance of road markings did lead to an increase of speed by about 2 seconds, this did not represent a safety risk as it was sufficiently compensated by better preview times. On-road trials in the United Kingdom were done in cooperation with Durham city and the traffic police. High-performance marking materials were applied at 10 high-accident sites and vehicle speeds were monitored over a range of climatic conditions.
The resulting data often contradicted commonly held assumptions. Speed fell on average after the application of the high-performance markings, thus challenging the belief that better markings always lead to higher speeds.
At the same time, the number of accidents increased, although an analysis of police records could not link any of the accidents to the presence of better markings.
The afternoon session was devoted to examining how road markings can help maximise the benefits of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. ADAS safety features are designed to avoid collisions and accidents by alerting the driver to potential problems or to avoid collisions by implementing safeguards and taking control of the vehicle.
Systems such as Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keeping Assist, that prevent drivers from head-on collisions and run-off accidents, will become more commonplace. It is important that markings remain visible to tap into the significant safety gains that arise from these technologies.
Commissioned by EuroRAP and EuroNCAP, the Roads that Cars can Read report has recommended the 150x150 model. If road markings are to remain visible for both the driver, irrespective of age and weather conditions, as well as the intelligent vehicle, then they should have a minimum width of 150mm and minimum retroreflectivity of 150mcd/m2/lux (R3).
For wet and rainy conditions, the minimum retroreflectivity has been set at 35mcd/m2/lux (RW2). In the view of the ERF, a realistic timetable for deployment of this proposal would be for all A-roads in Europe to have this standard by March 2018. A target date for important secondary roads to have this standard should be decided through consultation with other stakeholders.
Reductions in road fatalities become increasingly harder to attain as the road safety features improve. Given that, all participants at the event agreed that ADAS technologies, in conjunction with good core infrastructure elements such as road markings, could really make a difference in the years to come.
There was a consensus on the need for further research, such as field operational tests, to better understand how the interaction of infrastructure and ADAS can work best to save lives and prevent injuries.
On 9 March, the Rainvision project held its final meeting in Brussels, Belgium. Rainvision, set up in 2012 and co-financed by the
The first part of the event was dedicated to presenting the results of the project and in particular, the outcomes of the different trials conducted over the past three years. Three sets of trials were conducted: a simulation test in France, a track-test in Austria and an on-road trial in the United Kingdom.
For the two initial tests conducted in a controlled environment, the project recruited around 100 test subjects who were split into three age categories: 20-40, 40-60 and 60+. Given that older drivers may have reduced sight and thus lower reactivity, the objective was to assess whether more markings could create a greater sense of comfort among senior drivers and in turn, lead to fewer driving errors.
The results of simulation trials demonstrated that wet-night visible markings under wet and rainy night-time conditions did, in fact, create a more comfortable driving environment for the drivers. It also contributed to a reduction in errors of around 40% compared to when standard markings are in place.
This conclusion was backed up by the track test trials in Austria. From this, it was concluded that while the enhancement of the performance of road markings did lead to an increase of speed by about 2 seconds, this did not represent a safety risk as it was sufficiently compensated by better preview times. On-road trials in the United Kingdom were done in cooperation with Durham city and the traffic police. High-performance marking materials were applied at 10 high-accident sites and vehicle speeds were monitored over a range of climatic conditions.
The resulting data often contradicted commonly held assumptions. Speed fell on average after the application of the high-performance markings, thus challenging the belief that better markings always lead to higher speeds.
At the same time, the number of accidents increased, although an analysis of police records could not link any of the accidents to the presence of better markings.
The afternoon session was devoted to examining how road markings can help maximise the benefits of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. ADAS safety features are designed to avoid collisions and accidents by alerting the driver to potential problems or to avoid collisions by implementing safeguards and taking control of the vehicle.
Systems such as Lane Departure Warning and Lane Keeping Assist, that prevent drivers from head-on collisions and run-off accidents, will become more commonplace. It is important that markings remain visible to tap into the significant safety gains that arise from these technologies.
Commissioned by EuroRAP and EuroNCAP, the Roads that Cars can Read report has recommended the 150x150 model. If road markings are to remain visible for both the driver, irrespective of age and weather conditions, as well as the intelligent vehicle, then they should have a minimum width of 150mm and minimum retroreflectivity of 150mcd/m2/lux (R3).
For wet and rainy conditions, the minimum retroreflectivity has been set at 35mcd/m2/lux (RW2). In the view of the ERF, a realistic timetable for deployment of this proposal would be for all A-roads in Europe to have this standard by March 2018. A target date for important secondary roads to have this standard should be decided through consultation with other stakeholders.
Reductions in road fatalities become increasingly harder to attain as the road safety features improve. Given that, all participants at the event agreed that ADAS technologies, in conjunction with good core infrastructure elements such as road markings, could really make a difference in the years to come.
There was a consensus on the need for further research, such as field operational tests, to better understand how the interaction of infrastructure and ADAS can work best to save lives and prevent injuries.
