Safety
SKID RESISTANCE
Modern asphalts provide excellent skid resistance in both dry and wet weather. The mixture of aggregate and bitumen can be specified in such a way to provide the skid resistance required for specific locations. For example, skid resistance can be increased at high-risk areas such as approaches to pedestrian crossings and outside schools.
Roads must be maintained properly and at regular intervals to ensure that the high level of skid resistance is retained.
- One in four of all traffic accidents in the UK involves skidding often as a result of poor road maintenance or wet surfaces. Modern asphalts can make a significant contribution to reducing this problem by ensuring rapid dispersal of surface water and providing high levels of skid resistance.
- The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) calculates that road accidents can be reduced by 5.5 per cent by improving road surfaces and that every £1 spent on skid resistance results in a saving of £5 in accident costs.
Link to Alarm Survey
SPRAY
Spray thrown up by the wheels of vehicles in wet weather can seriously impair drivers' vision and judgement. Modern asphalts ensure the rapid dispersal of surface water associated spray.
They have a negative surface texture which allows water to drain rapidly to the side of roads.
Dr Mark Dunne, optical expert at Aston University in Birmingham, warns that "clouds of water thrown up by trucks and cars can cause light scatter, creating the same effect as a cataract and seriously impairing vision"
AQUAPLANING
Aquaplaning is the term used to describe what happens when a fast-moving vehicle rides up on a film of water and loses contact with the road surface. When this happens, both braking and steering are completely lost.
By ensuring rapid dispersal of surface water, modern asphalts dramatically reduce the likelihood of aquaplaning and provide safer roads.