Pavement Marking Retroreflectivity Analysis of Safety Effectiveness (Source Smadi, Souleyrette, Ormand, and Hawkins)

It has been shown in previous research that greater longitudinal pavement marking retroreflectivity levels increase drivers’ visibility and detection distance. However, increased visibility may also cause drivers to feel too comfortable during nighttime conditions and drivers may then pay less attention and/or operate at unsafe speeds. Before-and-after studies have been conducted on pavement marking improvements such as repainting stripes or changing to a more durable marking material. Studies have also used models to estimate the retroreflectivity based on date of installation and vehicle exposure, or assumed a linear reduction in retroreflectivity over time.