IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i22p9648-d447675.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Active Road Studs as an Alternative to Lighting on Rural Roads: Driver Safety Perception

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Llewellyn

    (Transport Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH10 5DT, UK)

  • Jonathan Cowie

    (Transport Research Institute, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH10 5DT, UK)

  • Mike Maher

    (Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, UCL, London WC1E 6BT, UK)

Abstract

Drivers, particularly with increasing age, cite driving at night as being problematic and feeling unsafe. Ultimately this may result in self-regulation and avoidance, with potentially negative health effects. The issue is commonly mitigated through provision of street lighting, but with it comes cost, environmental impact, and other negative effects. Research has suggested that provision of LED Active Road Studs may be of assistance to drivers at night. However, it is not known how implementation of this measure affects driver confidence, as research to date has focused on observational study of actual driving behaviour. The present work addresses this gap in knowledge using data from 698 respondents to a questionnaire survey of households around a recently treated route. Overall, 72% reported an increase in confidence driving at night, with key reasons cited as increased preview time and reduced glare. A total of 80% of respondents believed the overall safety of the study route had improved. Underlying confidence was found to be lower in females, with confidence increasing with mileage driven. This study is the first to suggest the use of active road studs may increase driver confidence and provide increased travel opportunities, particularly where street lighting is impractical or undesirable in terms of sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Llewellyn & Jonathan Cowie & Mike Maher, 2020. "Active Road Studs as an Alternative to Lighting on Rural Roads: Driver Safety Perception," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-16, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9648-:d:447675
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9648/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/22/9648/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Susanne Nordbakke & Tim Schwanen, 2014. "Well-being and Mobility: A Theoretical Framework and Literature Review Focusing on Older People," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 104-129, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tibor Sipos & Anteneh Afework Mekonnen & Zsombor Szabó, 2021. "Spatial Econometric Analysis of Road Traffic Crashes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Richard Llewellyn & Jonathan Cowie & Grigorios Fountas, 2021. "Solar-Powered Active Road Studs and Highway Infrastructure: Effect on Vehicle Speeds," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-15, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zuoxian Gan & Tao Feng & Min Yang, 2018. "Exploring the Effects of Car Ownership and Commuting on Subjective Well-Being: A Nationwide Questionnaire Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Lowe, Kate & Mosby, Kim, 2016. "The conceptual mismatch: A qualitative analysis of transportation costs and stressors for low-income adults," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 1-8.
    3. Jean Ryan, 2020. "Examining the Process of Modal Choice for Everyday Travel Among Older People," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, January.
    4. Abdul Rais Abdul Latiff & Saidatulakmal Mohd, 2023. "Transport, Mobility and the Wellbeing of Older Adults: An Exploration of Private Chauffeuring and Companionship Services in Malaysia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-17, February.
    5. Wang, Fenglong & Mao, Zidan & Wang, Donggen, 2020. "Residential relocation and travel satisfaction change: An empirical study in Beijing, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 341-353.
    6. Cheng, Long & Shi, Kunbo & De Vos, Jonas & Cao, Mengqiu & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "Examining the spatially heterogeneous effects of the built environment on walking among older adults," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 21-30.
    7. Tae‐Hyoung Tommy Gim, 2020. "The relationship between overall happiness and perceived transportation services relative to other individual and environmental variables," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 712-733, June.
    8. Susanne T. Dale Nordbakke, 2019. "Mobility, Out-of-Home Activity Participation and Needs Fulfilment in Later Life," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-16, December.
    9. Morris, Eric A., 2015. "Should we all just stay home? Travel, out-of-home activities, and life satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 519-536.
    10. Chikaraishi, Makoto & Jana, Arnab & Bardhan, Ronita & Varghese, Varun & Fujiwara, Akimasa, 2017. "A framework to analyze capability and travel in formal and informal urban settings: A case from Mumbai," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 101-110.
    11. Mars, Lidón & Arroyo, Rosa & Ruiz, Tomás, 2022. "Mobility and wellbeing during the covid-19 lockdown. Evidence from Spain," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 107-129.
    12. Olaru, Doina & Mulley, Corinne & Smith, Brett & Ma, Liang, 2017. "Policy-led selection of the most appropriate empirical model to estimate hedonic prices in the residential market," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 213-228.
    13. Ralph, Kelcie & Morris, Eric A. & Kwon, Jaekyeong, 2022. "Disability, access to out-of-home activities, and subjective well-being," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 209-227.
    14. Lardiés-Bosque Raúl, 2017. "Residential mobility, second homes and quality of life: Consequences of moving out from the city of Madrid," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 37(37), pages 51-62, September.
    15. Robin Hickman & Mengqiu Cao & Beatriz Mella Lira & Alexis Fillone & Jose Bienvenido Biona, 2017. "Understanding Capabilities, Functionings and Travel in High and Low Income Neighbourhoods in Manila," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 161-174.
    16. Scheiner, Joachim, 2018. "Transport costs seen through the lens of residential self-selection and mobility biographies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 126-136.
    17. Franz Buhr & Jennifer McGarrigle, 2017. "Navigating Urban Life in Lisbon: A Study of Migrants’ Mobilities and Use of Space," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 226-234.
    18. Timothée Cuignet & Camille Perchoux & Geoffrey Caruso & Olivier Klein & Sylvain Klein & Basile Chaix & Yan Kestens & Philippe Gerber, 2020. "Mobility among older adults: Deconstructing the effects of motility and movement on wellbeing," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(2), pages 383-401, February.
    19. Tzuyuan Stessa Chao & Xiaoqin Jiang & Yi Sun & Jheng-Ze Yu, 2021. "A Space-Time Analysis of Rural Older People’s Outdoor Mobility and Its Impact on Self-Rated Health: Evidence from a Taiwanese Rural Village," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-18, May.
    20. De Vos, Jonas & Witlox, Frank, 2017. "Travel satisfaction revisited. On the pivotal role of travel satisfaction in conceptualising a travel behaviour process," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 364-373.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:22:p:9648-:d:447675. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.