Mario Fiolic

Understanding how selected urban route conditions are associated with e-scooter riders’ visual attention and perceived workload can support human-factor evaluation of micromobility environments. This study examines visual attention and perceived workload during real-world e-scooter riding across three selected urban routes in Zagreb with different infrastructure and traffic-environment characteristics. A field-based experimental methodology was used, integrating eye-tracking with post-ride perceived workload assessment through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) questionnaire. Twenty-eight adults, predominantly novice or occasional e-scooter riders, completed the three selected routes. Visual attention and perceived workload were examined across the selected routes; because only one route represented each route condition, the findings are interpreted as route-level evidence rather than general infrastructure-type effects. One-way repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAs) showed that route condition had a significant effect on mean fixation duration and on the weighted NASA-TLX workload score, indicating that riders’ visual attention and perceived workload varied across the examined routes. To further examine these route-related differences, linear mixed-effects models were used as supporting analyses with participant ID as a random intercept. The results showed that R2 was associated with lower weighted workload than R1, while R3 was associated with higher weighted workload than R1. The route-complexity index was retained as an exploratory route-level descriptor rather than a validated continuous predictor. These findings highlight the importance of considering combined route, infrastructure, and traffic-environment characteristics when planning safer micromobility environments and developing appropriate regulations for e-scooter use. They also provide preliminary route-level human-factor evidence that can support future micromobility route evaluation and the development of human-centred guidance for infrastructure planning and e-scooter regulation.

Road markings are important elements of road infrastructure, influencing traffic safety. Since they are deteriorating systems, their upkeep through renewals is important. To assure the quality of the renewal jobs, the systematic testing of retroreflectivity, which is the key performance parameter of road markings, was imposed in Croatia. Results from two decades of annual measurements of renewal jobs are provided. For the first decade, the measurements were taken statically, at spot locations, and later dynamically, across the entire road segments. When the evaluation started, only 1 out of 18 tested job sites was exceeding the minimum requirements; only after 8 years of measurements, 100% of the jobs exceeded the minimum demands. A subsequent switch to dynamic testing revealed that, on average, only 71% of the renewed road markings were in satisfactory condition and approximately 1.22% of the analysed line lengths had grossly substandard retroreflectivity. These results demonstrated that the field verification of jobs quality is necessary and simultaneously showed that static localised testing was not adequate. The outcome underlines the need for the strict supervision of road maintenance contracts to maximise the benefits for the society: through the better visibility of road markings, road safety should also improve, and the entire system will become more sustainable.

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.