The effect of widening longitudinal road markings on driving speed perception

Road markings may influence driver behavior, and therefore road safety. An increase in the width of road markings might lead drivers to perceive lanes to be narrower than they really are, creating the illusion of traveling faster. The objective of this paper is to analyze whether wider longitudinal road markings can affect the perception of lane width and thus induce drivers to slow down. To this end, three curves with reduced visibility were selected for a field experiment. The road markings were painted wider than normal, and video recordings were made with narrow and wide markings by a camera installed in a vehicle. A total of 14 videos were shown to each of the 185 participants; then a survey was carried out to analyze in which video the participants perceived higher speed. The results showed that if the participants perceived differences in speed, the higher speed was perceived with the wide markings. This perception of higher speed increased if the participant was female, or if the participant had ever had an accident. In view of the obtained results, it can be said that the use of wider road markings could help reduce vehicle speed, thus contributing to improved road safety.