Editing Road (section)

==Road conditions==
[[File:Snowy road in Tieringen, Baden-Württemberg.jpg|thumb|[[Snow]] causing bad road conditions]]
Road conditions are the collection of factors describing the ease of driving on a particular stretch of road, or on the roads of a particular locality, including the quality of the [[Road surface|pavement surface]], [[pothole]]s, road markings, and [[weather]]. It has been reported that "[p]roblems of transportation participants and road conditions are the main factors that lead to road traffic accidents".<ref>Yafeng Yin, Jian Lu, Wei Wang, ''Icctp 2011: Towards Sustainable Transportation Systems'' (2011), p. 1807.</ref> It has further been specifically noted that "weather conditions and road conditions are interlinked as weather conditions affect the road conditions".<ref>Radu Popescu-Zeletin, Karl Jonas, Idris A. Rai, ''e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries'' (2012), p. 141.</ref> Specific aspects of road conditions can be of particular importance for particular purposes. For example, for [[autonomous vehicles]] such as [[self-driving car]]s, significant road conditions can include "shadowing and lighting changes, road surface texture changes, and road markings consisting of circular reflectors, dashed lines, and solid lines".<ref>IEEE ITSS, ''IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium'' (2005), p. 154.</ref>

Various government agencies and private entities, including local news services, track and report on road conditions to the public so that drivers going through a particular area can be aware of hazards that may exist in that area. News agencies, in turn, rely on tips from area residents with respect to certain aspects of road conditions in their coverage area.<ref>Fred Bayles, ''Field Guide to Covering Local News'' (2012), p. 1.</ref>