Wednesday 31st October 2012

Glow-in-the-dark roads coming

It might be Halloween, but this Dutch invention is no spooky gimmick

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Glow-in-the-dark road markings will become a reality in a small corner of Europe from next year after a bunch of Dutch artists got the country's biggest road builder interested in their clever paint.

The test-bed stretch of road in southern Holland will also feature a reactive paint covering the tarmac that reveals snow-flake graphics when the temperature drops below a certain point to warn motorists of possible ice danger.

Studio Roosegaarde told PistonHeads they developed the paint in response to budget cuts that meant local councils were switching off street lights to save money (sounds familiar).

Magic snow flakes? Now that's trippy

“They were asking, how many more traffic injuries will there be because we turn off the lights? Essentially, how much is a person's life worth?" said head of the technical department, Peter De Man. "We as artists don't agree with that, so we wanted to do something positive."

Their big coup was getting Dutch roadbuilder Heijmans Infrastructure involved, who is now testing the paint to make sure it actually stays glowing for the length of a northern European night and doesn't rub off. "It needs to last five to 10 years," said De Man (nicknamed 'You', or should be).

He says, yes, it'll cost more, but then if councils are making substantial savings on the light switch-off then they won't mind paying over the odds for the safety of glowing road markings, or so the theory goes.

It could even get used over here, given we're being subjected to the same mass street-lamp switch-off. A survey done by Halfords (no, we're not sure either) released Monday showed that all but one of England's 27 county councils have either turned off or are dimming up to a million street lamps, starting as early as 8pm in some areas, and lasting until 5 to 5.30am.

So there you - the artistic community getting creative with roadside furniture in response to budget cuts. Who would have thought? Said De Man: "We feel nobody else is doing it, we feel it's the job of the artist to shake it up."

[sanctum]

so.. this is cheaper than reflective cat's eyes is it?

[Ug_lee]

Maybe a cheaper way of lighting up a road that no longer have any catseyes left on it.

They seem to be less and less prolific on roads these days and made a massive difference to improving the safety of a road IMO. Paint that does a similar job could be great

[jas xjr]

i have often thought that it would be fairly simple just to paint the kerbs

[Captain Muppet]

No street lighting in my village. No deaths as a result.

[4key]

One question, how long does the paint remain glow in the dark for? Everything od that type that i have ever seen has only ever had a life span of months.

[Dave Hedgehog]

neet idea

[vrsmxtb]

jas xjr said:

i have often thought that it would be fairly simple just to paint the kerbs

Snap - I thought this the other day. Cat's eyes are great but some roads would benefit from some kind of reflective edging, like a kerb painted with reflective paint. I guess they'd get mucky / fade quickly.

[Pints]

sanctum said:

so.. this is cheaper than reflective cat's eyes is it?

If it means not having to dodge cateyes, I'm all for it.

[Crusoe]

I've used similar stuff to mark out parking spaces, unless they have changed something with this one it still only works for a few years then needs recoated.

[Kong]

Great idea, suprsied nobody has thought of it before!

[Krikkit]

4key said:

One question, how long does the paint remain glow in the dark for? Everything od that type that i have ever seen has only ever had a life span of months.

That's the key point made in the article - if it lasts long enough it'll be very useful stuff. Not really a replacement for cat's eyes, but replace standard paint with this stuff and in a few years it'll be everywhere.

[R60EST]

Has anyone driven on roads where the cats eyes are some sort of LED and remain lit even though your headlights are not shining on them ( I'm assuming they must be solar charged with a battery in ) . Quite unusual when you first see them .

I had a quick google , here they are

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/17/luna-road-unve...

[TheEnd]

4key said:

One question, how long does the paint remain glow in the dark for? Everything od that type that i have ever seen has only ever had a life span of months.

That's my first thought exactly, it would work with old fashioned radioactive paint but it would be radioactive, and that hasn't been popular since the '50s

[DaveH23]

Imagine this paint in the hands of the wrong person.

Some random things appearing on our roads.....

[[AJ]]

Surely rather than glow in the dark, reflective paint would be cheaper and more effective?

I guess the glow paint is beneficial to pedestrians where reflective paint wouldn't be. Not sure how bright glow in the dark paint would appear when in a cars headlights. Perhaps glow and reflective particles could be added to the paint.

Edited by [AJ] on Wednesday 31st October 12:07

[motco]

vrsmxtb said:

jas xjr said:

i have often thought that it would be fairly simple just to paint the kerbs

Snap - I thought this the other day. Cat's eyes are great but some roads would benefit from some kind of reflective edging, like a kerb painted with reflective paint. I guess they'd get mucky / fade quickly.

With lines around the potholes in the edges?

[John.Taylor]

Painting curb would be dangerous as it would make people keep away from it and drive more towards the centre of the road with a greater risk of head on collisions. Cats eyes are great as they show wheter the centre is and move them towards the edges avoiding head ons.

[richb77]

An ok idea that has one fatal flaw.

Illuminated roads are neeed mainly in the winter months where more people are exposed to driving inthe dark.

This paint uses the power of the British sun to "charge" the paint for the night.

Now i am just guessing but we barely got enough sun during this years summer to charge a watch dial so how is this going to work in the REAL world?

[Paperboy]

Wow, April's early this year...

[Mark Wibble]

R60EST said:

Has anyone driven on roads where the cats eyes are some sort of LED and remain lit even though your headlights are not shining on them ( I'm assuming they must be solar charged with a battery in ) . Quite unusual when you first see them .

Yep they have them on a few roads round my way- the freaky bit is that you see them in your rear view mirror, strangely captivating to the point of being a new hazard!

Glowing paint is interesting, but time will tell if they can make somethign durable and cost-effective.

How about street-lamps that only turn themselves on when there's a car moving nearby?!