Influence of Roadside Infrastructure on Driving Behavior

Abstract

This paper describes the results of a driving simulator study that focused on the influence of roadside infrastructure on drivers’ speed choice and the lateral placement of their vehicles. A review of the Roadside Infrastructure for Safer European Roads detailed accident database revealed that lateral positioning and speed of the vehicle were two of the primary factors leading to crashes. The driving simulator study served as a means to include human factor principles into roadside infrastructure guidelines. Roadside features studied included trees, guardrails, barriers, panels, and emergency lanes. It was found that drivers tended to move away laterally from safety barriers when they first approached them and that they slightly slowed down. The type and size of a safety barrier appeared to be less important; only its presence had an effect. Trees were not found to affect the speed of the driver unless they were close (2 m) to the road edge on a rural road with an 80-km/h speed limit, and this effect faded rather quickly. There was no influence on speed if the trees were more than 4.5 m from the lane edge. The fact that trees along the road are not considered to be a hazard, with drivers not adjusting their behavior, makes trees even more dangerous.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Collin

Statistics in Focus—Transport. Eurostat, Luxembourg, 2000.

Janssen

W. H.

de Ridders

S. N.

and Brouwer

R. F. T.

. Summary of Driver Behaviour and Driver Interactions with Roadside Infrastructure. RISER Deliverable D02. Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden, 2004.

Chrysler

S. T.

and Williams

A. A.

. Driver Performance in a Simulator as a Function of Pavement and Shoulder Width, Edge Line Presence, and Oncoming Traffic. Proc., 3rd International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training and Vehicle Design. Driving Assessment 2005: Samoset Resort on the Ocean, Rockport, Maine, June 27–30, 2005.

Hogema

J. H.

Hoekstra

and Stel

. Online Vehicle Model Coupling Driving Simulator—ADVANCE. TNO memo TNO-DV3 2004-M 059. TNO Human Factors, Soesterberg, Netherlands, 2004.

de Ridder

S. N.

Thomson

and van der Horst

A. R. A.

. Identify Envelope of Vehicle and Driver Response Prior to Collisions. RISER Deliverable D04. Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden, 2006.

Blaauw

G. J.

and van der Horst

A. R. A.

. Lateral Positioning Behaviour of Car Drivers Near Tunnel Walls—Final Report. Report IZF 1982 C-30. TNO Institute for Perception, Soesterberg, Netherlands, 1982.

Bakker

P. J.

and van der Horst

A. R. A.

. The Behaviour of Car Drivers near Noise Barriers on Motorways. Report IZF 1985 C-20. TNO Institute for Perception, Soesterberg, Netherlands, 1985.

de Vos

A. P.

Hoekstra

and Pieterse

M. T. J.

. Effects of Lane Width and Physical Separation on Driver Comfort. Report TM-98-D003. TNO Human Factors, Soesterberg, Netherlands, 1998.

Martens

M. H.

and Kaptein

N. A.

. Effects of Tunnel Design Characteristics on Driving Behaviour and Traffic Safety: A Literature Review. Report TM-97-B05. TNO Human Factors, Soesterberg, Netherlands, 1997.

10.

Martens

M. H.

and Kaptein

N. A.

. Effects of an Emergency Lane and Exits and Entries in Tunnels on Driving Behaviour: Driving Simulator Studies. Report TM-98-C058. TNO Human Factors, Soesterberg, Netherlands, 1998.

11.

évaluation sur les vitesses de la suppression des plantations d'alignement—cas de la RD1314 en Seine-Maritime. CETE Centre d'études Techniques de l'équipement Normandie Centre, Division exploitation sécurité gestion des infrastructures, 2000.

12.

Evaluation sur les vitesses de la suppression des plantations d'alignement—Cas de la RD27 dans le Calvados. CETE Centre d'études Techniques de l'équipement Normandie Centre, Division exploitation sécurité gestion des infrastructures, 2002.

13.

European Best Practice for Roadside Design: Guidelines for Roadside Infrastructure on New and Existing Roads. RISER Deliverable D06. Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden, 2006.