Roadway safety is a nagging problem for all users; motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, and even scooterists. There are scores of strategies to consider for combating serious injuries and fatalities on our roadways. One of these is adding or enhancing lighting.
According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), “the nighttime fatality rate on the Nation’s roadways is three times higher than the daytime rate, and 76 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur at night.” As a result, Nighttime Visibility is an Every Day Counts initiative (EDC-7). The same results are seen in an analysis of crashes in the Delaware Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP).
The Crash Modification Factor (CMF) Clearinghouse collects dozens of research studies on the effect of added or improved lighting and frankly, some of those studies are of higher quality than others and some are more relevant to your roadway corridor (urban, rural, suburban, etc.) than others. And, the various countermeasures and their research get into the weeds pretty quickly.
But looking at it very broadly, the research shows that adding lighting to problem corridors or intersections positively influences crashes, as well as improving roadway luminance. So even if you have roadway lighting, improving the luminance by upgrading fixtures or just maintaining the ones you have can assist road users.
Intersections, where we hope that a majority of our pedestrians cross the road, can be greatly assisted by improved lighting. FHWA reports that, “nighttime crashes at rural and urban intersections can be reduced by 33 to 38 percent using well-designed lighting.”
Pedestrian crashes are an Emphasis Area in Delaware’s SHSP. FHWA reports that, “adequate intersection lighting can help reduce nighttime pedestrian-injury crashes by 42 percent.”
Roadway lighting involves a huge array of options in fixtures, heights, luminance, glare shields, and so on, so a lighting expert (as opposed to salesman) should be considered before committing to big upgrades. But just replacing your old lights with light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires can mean lowered energy use, so there can be a return on investment.
Even if you are not adding to or upgrading your roadway lighting, consider when was the last time you pulled down the covers, cleaned them, and replaced the bulbs. Just some maintenance can boost their effectiveness.
The Delaware T2/LTAP Center’s Municipal Engineering Circuit Rider is intended to provide technical assistance and training to local agencies and so if you have roadway safety concerns or other transportation issues, contact Matt Carter at matheu@udel.edu or (302) 831-7236.
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