Glare from sound barriers. Phase 2 and 3 : Experiments and Modelling

Road users often complain about the reflections of sunlight in sound barriers. These reflections, which depend on the properties of the barrier, weather conditions, time of day and season, can lead to glare, distraction and irritation, and eventually may cause unsafe traffic situations. The Ministry of Transport in the Netherlands would like to determine which reflections can be tolerated. They also intend to develop a method for cheking on non acceptable reflections of sound barriers, in the design phase. After a literature study in the first phase of the project, laboratory and field experiments were conducted in order to measure the effect of various light reflections on road users. Ths report describes these experiments and the modelling of the results.