Pavement_tire friction provides the grip that is required for maintainingvehicle control and for stopping in emergency situations. Statistically significant negative correlations of skid resistance values and wet-pavementaccident rates have been found in previous research. Skid resistance measured with SCRIM and crash data from over 1750 km of two-lane rural roads in the Spanish National Road System were analyzed to determine the influence of pavement conditions on safety and to assess the effects of improvingpavement friction on safety. Both wet- and dry-pavement crash rates presented a decreasing trend as skid resistance values increased. Thresholds inSCRIM coefficient values associated with significant decreases in wet-pavement crash rates were determined. Pavement friction improvement schemes werefound to yield significant reductions in wet-pavement crash rates averaging 68%. The results confirm the importance of maintaining adequate levels of pavement friction to safeguard traffic safety as well as the potential of pavement friction improvement schemes to achieve significant crash reductions. (A) Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
Abstract