Influence of lighting on road safety on motorways

Contributing towards safety is a primary objective of modern and efficient planning, in accordance with the Directives from the European Union and national legislation. Nowadays, guaranteeing a suitable safety level is the main aim to be pursued by the road engineer and manager of the road infrastructure. The research verifies the impact of lighting on road safety and its effectiveness in reducing the number and gravity of accidents: in particular, attention is focused on the lighting of the principal Italian motorways. A descriptive comparison has been done between the macroscopic variables observed in the presence or absence of artificial lighting. A qualitative estimate has been made of how much the lighting contributes towards traffic safety on motorways. It has been verified that artificial lighting makes a decisive contribution, reducing the number and seriousness of night-time accidents by around 30%