1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Effects of Road Lighting on Traffic Safety in Nighttime
| Project/Area Number |
07650612
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
交通工学・国土計画
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| Research Institution | Utsunomiya University |
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Principal Investigator |
KOIKE Hirotaka Utsunomiya University, Faculty of Engineering, Professor, 工学部, 教授 (70178177)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
MORIMOTO Akinori Utsunomiya University, Faculty of Engineering, Research Associate, 工学部, 助手 (30239686)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1995 – 1997
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| Keywords | Traffic Safety / Road Lighgting / Nighttime Accident / Illumination Distribution |
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| Research Abstract |
There is a steady tendency of traffic accidents increase in nighttime due to the change of our life style. Considering the relationship between nighttime accidents and road lighting, this study demonstrated the facility improvement strategies for road lighting in order to prevent traffic accidents in nighttime. In the study, an onboard automatic data acquisition system was developed, and actual road illumination data in Utsunomiya city were collected and a database was established using GIS.In addition, traffic accident data were correlated with illumination data in the same geographical point of road.
The findings from this srudy are as follows :
(1) Accidents occurred more frequently in the road section where illumination fluctuates with higher level of variance. On the other hand, the accidents occurrence tends to be lower as the reduction of illumination variances as well as the increase of average level of illumination.
(2) Generally speaking, while increasing number of road lighting installation tends to reduce traffic accidents, the excessively intense lighting from roadside developments shows the tendency to cause higher traffic accidents. A continuous sidewalk lighting brings about a good effect on the reduction of accidents on the road. However, the unusually higher illumination such as gas stations and convenience stores increases the risk of traffic accidents in nighttime.
As a conclusion, it would be necessary to control the exceeding level of illumination from roadside developments, in addition to the provision of the continuous road lighting system in order to reduce the nighttime traffic accidents.
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