[20 Minutes] Luminescent paint: is the night-time revolution of our roads underway?

It's known as the winter solstice. This Friday is the day of the year when the sun is furthest from the Earth's northern hemisphere, the day when natural light is shortest. No more than 8 hours and 18 minutes of daylight are forecast. And it won't be much better on subsequent days. A tricky period, during which visibility on the roads becomes a major safety issue, all the more so in a context where most local authorities have decided to reduce street lighting in the interests of the environment and energy conservation. Fortunately, several French manufacturers are coming up with innovative solutions.

"The bands light up at night for ten hours".

A Bordeaux-based company has been developing a photoluminescent paint for road markings for almost ten years. The concept: it stores light rays during the day, even in bad weather, and releases them at night, like certain toys or decorative elements. "The painted stripes light up in the dark for ten hours, without the need for a power supply or CO2 emissions. This creates a luminous, reassuring guide, visible up to 80 meters away", explains Jean-François Létard, CEO and founder of Olikrom.

Mainly tested on cycle lanes, the Luminokrom system has also been the subject of experimentation since spring on a departmental road at a dangerous bend in the Loire-Atlantique region.

"It's amazing: you can see the lines very clearly at night, even if the slightly green rendering is surprising. The effect is really reassuring," says local resident Christophe, 44.