Investigation into the effectiveness of road surface level lighting as a road risk warning tool

"The UK primarily relies on its road network for population mobility: 64% of all trips made in the UK in 2016 were by car. While road injuries have been decreasing, road fatalities have stagnated around the 2010 level. There are still almost 190,000 injuries and fatalities per year. To ensure further falling casualty rates, it is imperative to both make the road network as safe as possible and to improve driver skills and attitudes. This project focuses on the infrastructural needs to make roads safer through improving both visibility on the road and offering an affordable technology for better road network management.

Current active traffic management systems are able to reduce congestion hours by 20% and accidents by 35%, yet due to their high cost (up to £750,000 per miles) they are rarely used: 95% of UK roads are not monitored at all. This project will support the development of a unique technology that resolves this problem by transforming common road safety markings (road studs) into smart connected devices, which monitor and manage road traffic in real time. These smart studs, designed and developed by Valerann, offer a step change in the ability of policymakers and traffic managers to monitor road systems in terms of both coverage and affordability.

This project will support the development of a unique technology that solves this problem by transforming common road safety markings (road studs) into smart connected devices, which monitor and manage road traffic in real time. These smart studs, designed and developed by Valerann, offer a step change in the ability of policymakers and traffic managers to monitor road systems in terms of both coverage and affordability. Specifically, this project will investigate the impact road stud lighting can have on warning drivers about road risks through the use of driving simulation."