Application of Endoscopy in Road–Design

Within the Dutch Ministry of Transport a special Division on Transport and Traffic Research is occupied with all aspects concerning mobility and traffic safety on a national level. Research and advice on the quality of the road-infrastructure is one of the main topics. For road-design a set of very detailed guidelines have been developed. Construction and reconstruction of parts of the high-way-network are tested against these guidelines. In this matter the actual road-user takes a central place. In the design-phase of a project on road-infrastructure contributions of a number of experts are taken into account. Expert-opinions on elements of the road-design result in a overall road-design. The road-scene of the overall-design is tested against visual requirements for safe driving, from a drivers point of view. Goal is to give advice on improvement of the visual quality of the road design. Research in this field is now carried out by Grontmij Consulting Engineers, mainly under authority of the Ministry of Transport. Key-word is Improvement of Quality. Who is going to notice? Who will benefit from it? Of course it is a comforting thought for road-owners and designers to know they wonit have to be ashamed for what they have come up with. Primary goal is that “We the people” are provided with a high-standard road infrastructure. The road-scene research section studies the quality of the visual information as presented to the roadusers. We try to create visual circumstances in which drivers will be able to perform their driving task is a proper way. When the visual representation in the brain differs from reality, you have a serious problem. A traffic safety problem, with casualties and fatalities. A burden for society, financially and emotionally.