A substantial reduction in the number and/or severity of accidents and better night-time road safety are achieved at low cost, using simple construction technology, without additional maintenance costs, employing an environmentally friendly process using photoluminescence, borosilicate paving, mixing them into pavement marker paints or applying them to traffic elements.
To improve the visibility of roads and their surroundings at night, three novel technologies have been developed using photoluminescent borosilicate particles to create temporary lighting:
a.) by rolling the particles into the asphalt coating,
b.) mixing particles into road marking paints,
c.) installing the particles into the coating of traffic control elements or of road elements, as well as incorporating them into resin.
In the case of fluorescence, the material absorbs different electromagnetic radiation of various wavelengths and, as a result, emits light at a different wavelength from the incoming radiation. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore has lower energy than the radiation absorbed.
The phosphorescent material, unlike fluorescence, does not immediately emit
the radiation that it has absorbed. Since this transition requires a lot of
time for some materials, the re-emission of absorbed radiation takes place
hours later, at a lower intensity than the original excitation. (A study of phosphorescent materials led to the discovery of radioactivity in 1896.)
Photoluminescent borosilicate particles absorb photons and re-emit them. Utilising this, by placing photoluminescent borosilicate particles of various sizes (and processes) on receptor surfaces with little or no illumination, we can create long-lasting visibility.
This material is ‘automatic’: it adjusts to light conditions automatically, which means that it charges in daylight, and then releases light energy later during the day. Cloudy weather or filtered light are sufficient to function as daylight, its operation is not affected by weather. This interaction, or recharging, also occurs with artificial light and can therefore also be used indoors.
The use of photoluminescent borosilicate particles for road construction has a high accident-reducing potential. Its favourable traffic-safety effects can be counted on in road traffic for motorised transport, on cycle paths and pedestrian walkways as well.
The technologies can improve traffic-safety on sections without street lighting after dark, in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way, as the technology is ‘automatic’, and adjusts to the light conditions automatically, i.e. it charges up in daylight (even artificial light) and then delivers this energy in the form of light energy. The procedures illuminating at night can be used on both pavement coatings, road markings and various traffic control elements. In addition, the borosilicate particles and resins may form so-called lighting points.
It is of great importance to note that the additional lighting capacity does not entail an increased maintenance requirement of each road element, nor a shortening of functionality or performance or of their operational lifetime, experiments and observations so far confirm that photoluminescence particles have the potential to attract the attention of road users and to prevent accidents.