In the United Kingdom, safety of the road user is very important to anyone involved in highway transportation. This applies at all stages from initial highway design, selection of raw materials to the type of surfacing that is laid. In terms of safety, highway surfacings are expected to perform i.e. have a level of wet skid resistance suitable for a given road location. This paper considers the issue of skid resistance measurement and prediction. The effect of rock type, bitumen coatings and simulated test conditions on the measurement of skid resistance in the laboratory is discussed. Road-trial data measured using a GripTester is given from a range of United Kingdom bituminous surfacing materials including hot rolled asphalt, stone mastic asphalt, and thin surfacing proprietary systems such as ULM and HITEX. These have been constructed using a range of aggregate and bitumen types and subjected to differing traffic conditions. These sites have been periodically assessed using a GripTester to determine how in-situ skid resistance has developed from initial construction. The research detailed shows how the safety of new highway surfacings may be better predicted to minimize risk to the user. The research has shown how the performance of bituminous road surfacings can be improved through the greater understanding of the processes involved.
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