The road research group on "improving road safety at night" was established following discussions between the OECD steering committee for road research and the european conference of ministers of transport (ECMT). The group's tasks were to define and describe the night-time road safety problem in member countries and to recommend suitable countermeasures. The present report was prepared as a result of five meetings held in 1977 and 1978 in paris, dublin and Linkoeping. The study, in which experts from 14 countries and representatives of ECMT participated, placed a primary focus on measures for improving road safety at night without neglecting the possible effects on daytime safety as well. The first phase of the group's activities resulted in the preparation of a preliminary report on countermeasures immediately implementable; this report was transmitted to ECMT in 1978, and is included in chapter I. The following two chapters present a discussion of specific statistical studies on night accident problems and an international comparison of night accident statistics. Chapters IV-VI provide state-of-the-art reviews of research on human factors in night driving, road engineering and traffic operations for night-time conditions, and vehicle engineering aspects. Finally conclusions and recommendations on countermeasures for improved night-time road safety and future research requirements are presented. A comprehensive bibliography is included. (A) This report is published in french under the title: "securite routiere de nuit".
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