Reducing posted speed and perceptual countermeasures to improve safety in road stretches with a high concentration of accidents

Traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of life loss in Europe. Inappropriate or excessive speed is one of the largest contributors to traffic accidents and has a stronger effect on injury severity than almost any other known risk factor. This paper evaluates the possibility of inducing a substantial speed reduction in a hazardous section using perceptual countermeasures to improve safety via a low-cost solution. To validate the solution, the proposed methodology was applied to a road in northern Spain with a significant number of accidents per km including traffic volume effects (a black spot). This paper describes the proposed solution and presents the results, which show that a low-cost solution can reduce traffic speed and accidents.