Abstract Manager

The nighttime fatality rate on roadways is three times higher than the daytime rate, and 76 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur at night (ref US FHWA). Enhancing nighttime visibility where non-motorists mix with traffic during darkness will save lives. The focus is to deploy countermeasures that improve nighttime visibility to safely connect people to the community and essential services.

Roadway lighting plays a key role in improving safety for Vulnerable Road Users (VRU) however not all lighting has equal benefit. Research shows the way we design lighting can significantly impact visibility. Recent research has shown driver object distances can vary greatly by the way we design and apply roadway lighting. More and more the VRU's are being integrated into the road networks which increases risk. This is why recent statistics show a dramatic increase in VRU fatalities specifically during hours of darkness. Key elements such as contrast and colour contrast as they relate to improving visibility are critical and will be discussed.  

The impacts of roadway lighting on neighborhood connectivity and how lighting will help provincial and local agencies achieve Vision Zero is a key point of discussion. We will review and provide examples of how the way we design lighting can impact visibility of VRU's. We will also review some of the significant and upcoming research related to roadway lighting as it relates to VRU's. US FHWA is very focused on this as part of the EDC-7 program which are a part of and will discuss https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_7/nighttime_visibility.cfm

Beyond how we design lighting where we best apply roadway lighting is also lacking given lighting warranting system are dated in that they don't deal with VRU's. We will discuss where lighting has the best value along, we new research underway.