The State Roads Authority has undertaken a first assessment of motorcycle safety road markings which has concluded that "much less dangerous driving* has been observed on Luxembourg's roads.
At the end of June 2018, Luxembourg's State Roads and Bridges Administration put in place a marking system to improve safety for motorcyclists on the N25 road between Wiltz and Kautenbach. This additional marking aids and guides motorcyclists on corners, so that they keep a greater distance from the median line and consequently use more the middle of their lane, which makes their driving less dangerous. This type of marking is based on the experiences of the "Kuratorium für Verkehrssicherheit" in Austria, which has successfully tested it on the roads of the "Grossglockner", for example.
Recently, the Roads Authority has been monitoring the behaviour of motorcyclists in bends both before and after the introduction of new markings. It transpired that the number of motorcyclists demonstrated much less dangerous driving after the introduction.
During the analysis carried out, the roadway was divided into three traffic zones. The green zone (zone 1) corresponds to the outside of the bend, i.e. the zone outside safety marking and where the bikers are theoretically safe. The orange zone (zone 2) is inside the bend and this is the area where motorcyclists incur a potential risk of collision with vehicles travelling in the opposite direction. The red zone (zone 3) corresponds to the opposite lane where the risk of collision with another vehicle arriving from the front is inevitable.
The analysis shows that there has been a shift in driving from zone 3, called "dangerous", to zone 1 with a safe trajectory and that the percentage of motorcyclists who drive in the "red" zone 3 and the "orange" zone 2 has greatly decreased.
For 2019, the Roads Authority will continue the monitoring of the N25 national road and will analyse the possibility of applying security marking on another section heavily used by motorcyclists.
