Advancement in pavement safety assessments

Abstract

Transportation Safety continues to evolve as a significant area of interest and concern. As a result, evaluation of safety from pavement surface characteristics is also attracting more interest recently. Historically, pavement safety assessments have focused on friction assessments. Curiously, common technology for conducting such assessments has not changed much in the past half century. With significant changes in automotive braking systems, exploration of alternative methodologies for pavement surface assessment are gaining interest. Not surprisingly, current methodologies continue to involve test tyres assessing frictional resistance. Interest has always existed in exploring the relationship between texture and friction, in part, because texture can be assessed with non-contact technologies. Unfortunately, neither friction nor texture were previously collected with sufficient density and precision to establish any meaningful relationships. With the availability of these more comprehensive assessments, more detailed investigations are now more feasible.