No abstract

Due to the dynamic nature and complexity of road traffic, road safety is one of the most demanding social challenges. Therefore, contemporary road safety strategies incorporate a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approaches to address this problem and improve the safety of each individual element, i.e., the human, vehicle, and road. Traffic control devices are an important part of road infrastructure, among which road markings and road signs play a significant role. In general, road markings and signs represent basic means of communication between the road authorities and road users and, as such, provide road users with necessary information about the rules, warnings, obligations, and other information related to the upcoming situations and road alignment. The aim of this entry is to briefly present the main functions and characteristics of road markings and signs, and their role in road safety. In addition, practical issues and future trends and directions regarding road markings and signs are discussed.

Motorcyclist safety remains a significant problem, and the overall safety of motorcyclists has been improved at a much slower rate in the last decade compared to passenger and commercial vehicles. Because motorcyclists are not protected by the vehicle frame, fatalities or severe injuries are often related to hitting a roadside object or safety barrier. The main objective of this study is to investigate relations between the presence and type of road safety barriers and the consequences of motorcycle crashes on rural roads. For this purpose, we analysed Croatian rural road-crash data from 2015–2019, tested several factors as single predictors, and combined them using binary logistic regression. The results show that run-off-road crashes and nighttime driving are significant risk factors. There was no significant positive impact of the presence of safety barriers on the crash consequences due to the unsuitability of the barriers for motorcyclists, which proves the fact that the functionality of existing safety barriers should be upgraded. The results of this study could be further used by researchers, road designers, and experts to improve road infrastructure safety on rural roads.