Published: 1991 | Category: Safety, security and public health , Research programme , Research & reports | Audience: General
A rapid method has been developed to evaluate the night lighting conditions at a road site in terms of the performance values of the Road Lighting Code. The method involves the use of luminance, illuminance, length and angle measurements. The on-site measurements can be readily carried out in under half-an-hour with the results recorded on a check sheet for analysis later by a computer programme developed for the purpose.
Road accident sites can be readily identified by the use of the Ministry of Transport's database and sites with potential lighting problems can be identifiec by examining the night accident ratios at these sites. Twenty sites in the Wellington urban area were identified with unusual night accident ratios and the measurement method was tried at these sites. The lighting at most sites met only the Minor Road performance values even though many roads would be classified as Intermediate or Main Roads.
The sample size was too small to show any relationship between accidents and lighting performance values. However, the method can be readily adopted to investigate the suitability of lighting at accident sites and the need to upgrade the lighting to the Road Lighting Code of Practice.
Keywords: Road lighting, accidents, survey, method, night lighting, road, luminance, illunimance
