#RRSAW2024 Day 4: Road Conditions

In rural areas—where 68 percent of America’s roads are located—road users encounter a gambit of weather and road conditions that impact road safety.

The theme of the 2024 Rural Road Safety Awareness Week is, “Life Between the Lines: Preventing Rural Roadway Departures.” On Day 4, we are focusing on road conditions on rural roadways and the tools that are available to prevent roadway departures (RwD) when these conditions occur.

Road conditions can be two-fold and include the infrastructure itself as well as the weather conditions that could also impact safety.

Here are examples of road conditions that impact rural road safety:

• Lack of pavement markings: this can make it harder for a road user to see the edges of the pavement or keep them in their lane.
• Lack of retroreflectivity on pavement markings and signs: even if signs and marking exist, nighttime conditions make these hard to see without the proper retroreflectivity levels.
• Poor friction: makes it harder for a vehicle to stay in their lane.
• Pavement edge drop offs: when a significant change in elevation occurs between lanes or the shoulder. This unexpected condition can cause a driver to lose control.

Weather can impact road conditions in various ways. For example, weather can cause objects, like downed trees, to obstruct a lane. Standing water on a road can also lead to damaged pavement such as potholes, shoulder erosion, or wash boarding on unpaved roads.

Here are some impacts weather can have on road user safety:

• Visibility: precipitation, fog, and high winds can affect the visibility of lane markings, signs, other road users, and upcoming curves
• Traction: wet or icy surfaces can reduce friction and cause a vehicle to skid, hydroplane, and make it more difficult to track in a curve
• Vehicle stability: high winds can impact a vehicle’s ability to stay on the road and in the lane, especially high profile vehicles such as trucks, campers, and recreational vehicles
• Glare: at night, glare can increase from the headlights of oncoming vehicles reflecting on wet road surfaces

All these impacts could cause a RwD, especially if a vehicle is traveling at high speeds.