The motorways at the `Utrechtse Heuvelrug' in the Netherlands are, besides unlit, illuminated by two road lighting types: normal or main lighting and orientation lighting. The effect of orientation lighting on driving behaviour is presently unknown. Therefore, within the `Evaluation Road Lighting Utrechtse Heuvelrug' project an experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different lighting types on driving behaviour. The sixteen subjects (eight elderly and eight `young' subjects) drove with an instrumented car and followed a certain route on the A28 and A12. The experiment was performed in the evening when it was dark and for all subjects the following lighting types were used: main lighting, orientation lighting, and no lighting. Driving behaviour was recorded at 'reference' and 'transition' sections. The results of the analysis showed: on certain reference road sections subjects drove closer to the right side of their lane with orientation lighting than with main lighting, the standard deviation of speed was higher with main lighting than with no lighting, and driving with orientation lighting required more effort than with main lighting. The results of the questionnaires, filled out at the end of the experiment, showed, among other things, that the lighting type has influence on the subjective rating of driving comfort and the ability to assess the motorway course. The results of the experiment do not indicate that subjects drove less safely with orientation lighting than with main lighting. The motorway course could better be assessed with orientation (or main) lighting than with no lighting.
Abstract