Pavement marking tape with widely-distributed, multi-edged relief features for improved retroreflectivity

A pavement marking tape, comprising

• a flat tape formed of a conformable rubber or polymer substrate with a first adhesive coated on an underside configured to adhere to a paved surface;
• a plurality of raised relief features formed on an upper surface of the flat tape covering between 10% and 50% of the upper surface of the flat tape, wherein
• the plurality of raised relief features are formed as compressed irregular polygons having sides formed of five to eight vertical faces and five to eight vertical edges,
• two of the sides oppose each other, are substantially parallel to each other, and are shorter in length than adjacent sides extending between such two shortened opposing sides,
• the raised relief features are arranged such that an axis of each of the compressed irregular polygons perpendicular to the two shortened opposing sides is oriented ±15° to a perpendicular of a longitudinal length direction of the flat tape, and
• subsets of the plurality of raised relief features are arranged irregularly along respective, substantially parallel rows configured to reduce shadowing effects and maximize exposure of the plurality of raised relief features to incident light from vehicles;
• and
• a plurality of retroreflective elements attached to each of the vertical faces of the raised relief features, wherein the plurality of retroreflective elements are substantially smaller than the raised relief features.