Collisions between vehicles and pedestrians represent a significant road safety problem and are overrepresented at night-time, with pedestrians being up to seven times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision at night than in the day. This is particularly relevant at road work sites, which place road workers in a potentially vulnerable position with respect to oncoming traffic. Over the 1995 to 2002 period, 844 US workers were killed while working at a road construction site, and in over half of these fatalities the road worker was struck by a vehicle or moving equipment. Fatal crash data also demonstrate that night-time construction is five times more hazardous than daytime construction. Visibility and conspicuity issues may be key causative factors; analyses of crash databases have shown that the increased incidence of crashes involving pedestrians at night is primarily a consequence of reduced illumination rather than other factors that might vary between day and night, such as driver fatigue and alcohol use. This suggests that at night, drivers are often unable to recognize and respond to pedestrians from a safe distance. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting