Two-lane Roads Research Articles

EFFECT OF ROAD SURFACE DEFORMATIONS ON LATERAL LANE UTILIZATION AND LONGITUDINAL DRIVING BEHAVIOURS

Various road surface deformations generally occur on urban and rural roads due to infrastructure, superstructure deficiencies and excessive heavy vehicle loads. In addition to driver-based errors, many accidents happen due to these mentioned surface deformations. This study aims to present lateral lane utilization and longitudinal driving behaviours on a two-lane deformed road. The effect of deformation on the tendency of drivers’ lane selection, lane utilization, and the movement in traffic flow will also be determined. For this purpose, parameters such as lateral position, speed, acceleration/deceleration and location data of vehicles travelling through four different deformation zones on a two-lane road in Izmir (Turkey), were collected. Based on the fact that in ideal conditions, distribution of lateral positions of vehicles in a lane is similar to normal distribution. The collected data was evaluated with chi-square (χ2) goodness of fit test to see if they are fit to normal distribution or not. This study concluded that if a deformation zone has wider area and less depth, it will be less effective on lateral lane utilization of vehicles. It was also obtained from the results that variation in other parameters such as deformation type, depth and height are associated with the lateral lane utilization of drivers. Additionally, the drivers’ characteristics such as perception and aggressiveness are seen as the most important factors influencing the longitudinal vehicle behaviours while passing through the deformation zones.

A PROCEDURE FOR EVALUATING THE INFLUENCE OF ROAD CONTEXT ON DRIVERS’ VISUAL BEHAVIOUR

In this paper, we investigated drivers’ visual behaviour while travelling a road regularly opened to traffic in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the traditional scientific models and propose, at the same time, further measures useful for understanding the complex phenomenon. As is known, drivers acquire the necessary information for knowing the road geometry by visually detecting certain areas of the surrounding context. Some models in the literature have shown in a simple and convincing way these mechanisms, but they are valid only with specific assumptions, often very restrictive, such as a two-lane road, horizontal sign clearly visible and no interaction with other vehicles. For this reason, in this study we wanted to investigate different conditions, by estimating the visual strategy of some regular drivers on a three-lane road in presence of other vehicles. The visual behaviour was surveyed with the Tobii Glasses Eye Tracker and the resulting raw data were further manipulated by us to extract more useful information for our purposes. In particular, we quantified the driver’s dedicated attention to the various elements present inside the environmental context, both static (road edges, road signs, dashboard, etc.) and dynamic (other vehicles), meaning by this term those that could potentially collide with the trajectories of our vehicle. The achieved results, highlighting the limits of validity of some recent studies, contain some proposed indexes useful to give a better understanding of the visual behaviour in order to detect any eventual weakness of the road.

OPERATING SPEED AS A KEY FACTOR IN STUDYING THE DRIVER BEHAVIOUR IN A RURAL CONTEXT

The research aims to explore the effects of geometric road features on driver speed behaviour in order to identify unsafe road segments where high reductions in speed between successive road elements occur. The sample involves two-lane rural roads on flat terrain (vertical grade less than 5%) in Southern Italy, totalling 184 km without spiral transition curves between the tangent segments and circular elements. The testing was carried out on 567 study sites, of which 248 are on circular curves and 319 on tangents. Speed data collection was carried out in environmental and traffic conditions using a laser. The conditions were the following: dry roads, free flow conditions, daylight hours and good weather conditions. The main goal was to calibrate and validate different operating speed prediction models: a) one model on tangent segments; b) one model on circular curves; c) only one model to be used at the same time on tangents and circular curves. The validation process involved almost 10% of the total road network length, that was removed from the calibration phase. The speed measurements of each of the first two datasets (a, b) were grouped into ten homogeneous substrates while for the remaining dataset (c) sixteen substrates were defined by using a hard c-means algorithm. Two statistical criteria were used to remove anomalous operating speed values from each group of three datasets, namely, the Chauvenet criterion and the Vivatrat method. The first criterion was preferred in the final process of model selection. The results of the first filtering procedure showed more homogeneous samples that guaranteed a higher correlation coefficient and lower residuals of the predictive models during the validation phase than the Vivatrat method. The models were developed using an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method. The explanatory variables were total segment length, lane width, curvature of the road element, the curvature change rate on homogeneous road segments, and the number of residential driveways per km. ANOVA and additional synthetic statistical parameters were assessed to check the effectiveness of using a single general model to predict operating speeds at the same time on tangents and on circular curves alike. The results suggested the reliability of this hypothesis and its effectiveness in bringing advantages during the application phase.

Evaluation of design consistency on horizontal curves for two-lane state roads in terms of vehicle path radius and speed

Experimental investigation was conducted on a 24 km long segment of the two-lane state road to collect the driver behavior data. The research involved 20 drivers driving their own cars equipped with the GPS device. Considering the impact of path radius and speed on the side friction demand, the design consistency on horizontal curves was evaluated by determining the margins of safety. The analysis showed that the vehicle path radii were mainly smaller than curve radius, on average for 12%. Regression analysis indicated that the percentage difference between the curve radius and vehicle path radius is not affected by the speed, speed differential and geometric characteristics of the curve and surrounding elements. Two different margins of safety were analyzed. One is the difference between maximum permissible side friction (based on design speed) and side friction demand, while another is the difference between side friction supply (based on operating speed) and side friction demand. Generally, demands exceeded supply side friction factors on curves with radii smaller than 150 m, whereas “poor” conditions (in terms of Lamm’s consistency levels) were noted for curves under approximately 220 m. Both values are very close to the critical radius below which higher accident rates were observed according to several accident studies. Based on the results of the research, it is proposed to use a 12% smaller curve radius for the evaluation of margin of safety and that curves with radii smaller than 200 m should be avoided on two-lane state roads outside the built-up area.

Safety performance functions for crash severity on undivided rural roads

The objective of this paper is to explore the effect of the road features of two-lane rural road networks on crash severity. One of the main goals is to calibrate Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) that can predict the frequency per year of injuries and fatalities on homogeneous road segments. It was found that on more than 2000km of study-road network that annual average daily traffic, lane width, curvature change rate, length, and vertical grade are important variables in explaining the severity of crashes. A crash database covering a 5-year period was examined to achieve the goals (1295 injurious crashes that included 2089 injuries and 235 fatalities). A total of 1000km were used to calibrate SPFs and the remaining 1000km reflecting the traffic, geometric, functional features of the preceding one were used to validate their effectiveness. A negative binomial regression model was used. Reflecting the crash configurations of the dataset and maximizing the validation outcomes, four main sets of SPFs were developed as follows: (a) one equation to predict only injury frequency per year for the subset where only non-fatal injuries occurred, (b) two different equations to predict injury frequency and fatality frequency per year per sub-set where at least one fa tality occurred together with one injury, and (c) only one equation to predict the total frequency per year of total casualties correlating accurate percentages to obtain the final expected frequency of injuries and fatalities per year on homogeneous road segments. Residual analysis confirms the effectiveness of the SPFs.

Evaluating the safety risk of roadside features for rural two-lane roads using reliability analysis

The severity of roadway departure crashes mainly depends on the roadside features, including the sideslope, fixed-object density, offset from fixed objects, and shoulder width. Common engineering countermeasures to improve roadside safety include: cross section improvements, hazard removal or modification, and delineation. It is not always feasible to maintain an object-free and smooth roadside clear zone as recommended in design guidelines. Currently, clear zone width and sideslope are used to determine roadside hazard ratings (RHRs) to quantify the roadside safety of rural two-lane roadways on a seven-point pictorial scale. Since these two variables are continuous and can be treated as random, probabilistic analysis can be applied as an alternative method to address existing uncertainties. Specifically, using reliability analysis, it is possible to quantify roadside safety levels by treating the clear zone width and sideslope as two continuous, rather than discrete, variables. The objective of this manuscript is to present a new approach for defining the reliability index for measuring roadside safety on rural two-lane roads. To evaluate the proposed approach, we gathered five years (2009–2013) of Illinois run-off-road (ROR) crash data and identified the roadside features (i.e., clear zone widths and sideslopes) of 4500 300ft roadway segments. Based on the obtained results, we confirm that reliability indices can serve as indicators to gauge safety levels, such that the greater the reliability index value, the lower the ROR crash rate.

Exploring the association between speed and safety: A path analysis approach

Road safety is influenced by many factors; these factors include characteristics of the road, climate, traffic and, most importantly, vehicle speeds. Previous research shows that increases in speed are typically associated with an increased collision risk. Moreover, previous studies have also found relationships between road and traffic characteristics and collisions. In addition, these features have also been found to affect speeds. This paper aims to model all the aforementioned relationships simultaneously using a Structural Equation Modelling approach. More specifically, the paper attempts to model the relationship between average speed and collision frequency, while taking into account the effects of factors that confound the relationship. Moreover, the analysis attempts to assess the mediated effects that some variables have on collisions through their effects on speed. The data used in this study originated from 353 two-lane urban roads in the city of Edmonton, Canada. The average speeds were obtained from 35 million speed survey observations collected over a five-year period. The speed data are linked to the crash frequency at each location during the same time frame, along with the other factors (road, traffic and climate). The results show that, among others, average speed, volume, segment length, medians and horizontal curves all have statistically significant effects on collisions. On the other hand, shoulders, speed limits and vehicle-lengths are some variables that significantly influence speeds. The results also show that the effects of some variables on safety are indeed mediated through speeds (both partial and full mediation is observed). These findings provide valuable insight that may assist decision makers in choosing and developing alternative speed management strategies, which, in turn, could help improve safety.

Combining speed and acceleration to define car users’ safe or unsafe driving behaviour

Speed and acceleration describe the motion of a vehicle. Therefore, these parameters are fundamental to define the behaviour of a driver. To this aim, it is useful to analyse instantaneous and geo-referenced kinematic parameters of the vehicle recorded by real tests on the road.Among all the available methods in the scientific literature, a way for characterizing driver behaviour is the g–g diagram, that shows the longitudinal and lateral accelerations on the y and x-axes, normalized with respect to gravity, recorded on a vehicle during a real test on the road. However, we retain that also speed has to be considered for characterizing drivers’ behaviour, being acceleration and speed strictly interrelated. Starting from the g–g diagram, we propose a methodology which describes the relationship between lateral and longitudinal accelerations and speeds, and represents a tool to classify car drivers’ behaviour as safe or unsafe. An app for smartphone allows the geo-referenced kinematic parameters of the vehicle to be detected. The experimental survey supporting the methodology was carried out on a rural two-lane road in Southern Italy.

Quantifying the safety effects of horizontal curves on two-way, two-lane rural roads

The objective of this study is to quantify the safety performance of horizontal curves on two-way, two-lane rural roads relative to tangent segments. Past research is limited by small samples sizes, outdated statistical evaluation methods, and unreported standard errors. This study overcomes these drawbacks by using the propensity scores-potential outcomes framework. The impact of adjacent curves on horizontal curve safety is also explored using a cross-sectional regression model of only horizontal curves. The models estimated in the present study used eight years of crash data (2005–2012) obtained from over 10,000 miles of state-owned two-lane rural roads in Pennsylvania. These data included information on roadway geometry (e.g., horizontal curvature, lane width, and shoulder width), traffic volume, roadside hazard rating, and the presence of various low-cost safety countermeasures (e.g., centerline and shoulder rumble strips, curve and intersection warning pavement markings, and aggressive driving pavement dots). Crash prediction is performed by means of mixed effects negative binomial regression using the explanatory variables noted previously, as well as attributes of adjacent horizontal curves. The results indicate that both the presence of a horizontal curve and its degree of curvature must be considered when predicting the frequency of total crashes on horizontal curves. Both are associated with an increase in crash frequency, which is consistent with previous findings in the literature. Mixed effects negative binomial regression models for total crash frequency on horizontal curves indicate that the distance to adjacent curves is not statistically significant. However, the degree of curvature of adjacent curves in close proximity (within 0.75 miles) was found to be statistically significant and negatively correlated with crash frequency on the subject curve. This is logical, as drivers exiting a sharp curve are likely to be driving slower and with more awareness as they approach the next horizontal curve.

Modelling vehicles acceleration during overtaking manoeuvres

Overtaking manoeuvre is a key issue for two-lane rural roads. These roads should provide sufficient overtaking sight distance (OSD) at certain locations to allow faster vehicles to pass slower ones. However, overtaking requires occupying the opposing lane, which represents a serious safety concern. Severity of overtaking related crashes is very high, compared with other manoeuvres. The development of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) for overtaking is being a complex task. Only few systems have been developed, but are not still in use. This research incorporated accurate data of real manoeuvres to improve the knowledge of the phenomenon. The trajectory of the overtaking vehicles on the left lane was observed. An instrumented vehicle measured the overtaking time and distance, the abreast position, and the initial and final speed of 180 drivers that passed it during a field experiment. Six different kinematic models (such as uniform acceleration or linear variation of acceleration) were calibrated. Generally, drivers started to accelerate before changing to the opposing lane. These models may be applied to ADAS, to estimate OSD and to improve microsimulation models.

Seguridad vial en carreteras rurales de dos carriles

This research was performed in order to evaluate road safety in rural two-lane roads of national interest in the province of Sancti Spiritus, from the method developed by Central University of Las Villas (UCLV); this study explores the accident rate, identifies the most dangerous sections and identifies risk factors in the most dangerous sections. This information will be used to formulate the possible actions to implement in that section. After the actions are approved by the governing bodies, and implemented, they can be evaluated for their effectiveness after a period of time. Rev. ing. constr. [online]. 2016, vol.31, n.1, pp. 54-60. ISSN 0718-5073. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50732016000100005

Methodology for determining traffic volume for the analysis of roads efficiency

The present paper outlines the results of analyses of two hundred highest hourly volumes in a year, used for determining designed hourly volumes DHV to test road efficiency. Basing on them, three equations of the power function were elaborated. They enabled the assessment of traffic volume corresponding to a randomly chosen peak-hour in a year, depending on the value of annual average daily traffic AADT (below or above 25000 V/d), the share of heavy vehicles (below or above 30%), and the type of cross-section (1x2 or 1x4/2x2). In case of two-lane roads (1x2) the variation of direction distribution and per weekday with the highest hourly volumes in a year were analysed. As a result, it allowed for working out the methodology of estimating design hourly volume DHV, including a transition from values determined for road cross-section to individual road traffic directions. Finally, a calculation example, illustrating a practical method for making good use of obtained test results, was presented.

A Study on the Improvement of Roadside Agricultural Product Shops

The purpose of this study is to investigate the roadside agricultural product shops located in Miryang city, and to find out the current situation on how people rate the importance and satisfaction levels of various aspects through surveys on sellers and consumers. With this information, the main problems and possible solutions are analyzed with the Important Performance Analysis(IPA) method. First, building parking spaces for customers should be prioritized to improve safety. Because many roadside shops for agricultural products are located alongside two-lane roads, sufficient parking spaces are needed for the consumers` safety. Second, to enhance the rural landscape, consumers express that improving store quality and integrating more with the environment are important. Store owners should take more care in maintaining store quality so that customers do not experience inconvenience while shopping. Futhermore, institutional guidelines and standards must be implemented to allow for a more harmonious relationship between these shops and the environment. Third, both sellers and consumers think that taste, price, and freshness are important aspects of roadside agricultural product shops. However, while sellers and consumers both agree that the price is the most important factor, there is a discrepancy between these two groups regarding the satisfactory price level. The sellers do not agree that their products are being sold at the fair price. This can be interpreted as sellers believe that the prices are set too low. Because pricing is important aspect and also a very delicate issue, mid to long term consideration and study will be needed to improve roadside shops for agricultural products in the future.

Sustainable design of rural roads with 2+1 road design: Levels of service and traffic flow performance

This paper provides research results of a study to assess the driver performance levels of a 2+1 road, a special type of road involving intermediate cross section that is applied where a four-lane roadway construction is unjustifiable and the use of a two-lane road design may not provide the desired level of mobility. Despite increased driver safety, the use of the 2+1 road involves a problem that the South Korean government cannot assess the mobility effects of 2+1 roads, because the current Korean Highway Capacity Manual lacks the level of service procedure for 2+1 roads. Hence, research is required to provide potential measures of effectiveness for describing traffic flows in 2+1 roads and establish a reliable level of service analysis procedure. To address this issue, we applied the following approach: (1) existing research concerning 2+1 road design and flow performance was reviewed; (2) a field study was conducted in 2+1 roads with video cameras and traffic detectors to investigate traffic flow conditions; (3) candidate measures of effectiveness for describing traffic flow in 2+1 roads were identified based on field study results as well as TWOPAS simulation efforts; and (4) an analysis procedure applicable to determine levels of traffic flow service for 2+1 roads was proposed. We also examined how our proposed procedure would perform based on a case study. It was found that the percent time spent following would represent the most appropriate measures of effectiveness and that realistic output may be produced with our proposed procedure.

PCE IN ANALYSIS MODELS OF THE NUMBER OF FOLLOWING VEHICLES ON A TWO-LANE ROAD

This paper analyzes the influence of heavy-duty vehicles (HDV) on the traffic capacity of a two-lane road depending on weather conditions. The influence of the heaviest vehicles moving is expressed by the passenger car equivalents – PCE. The research was performed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on section M-17 of the highway that tangents (touches) the zone of the city of Doboj, where the values of PCE for heavy-duty vehicles were measured at three sections with interference of on ramps and off ramps. By determining the time headway, PCE factors and their influence on traffic capacity were analyzed. The research was done for three time headway variants PC-HDV, HDV-PC and HDV-HDV. Total measured PCE factors’ value on the highway for all three sections and all three variants is 1.584; while comparing this value with HCM-2010 (Highway Capacity Manual) (TRB, 2010) it is between 1.4 and 1.5 (progressively decreasing with flow) which presents substantial deviation. That is why mathematical models for determining PCE of heavy-duty vehicles of two-lane road were developed in function of number of the following vehicles on dry and wet roadway. Developed model for establishing the PCE is based on determining time headway, which could be used to determine PCE values for particular number of following vehicles without interruption.

Climate Change and Green Burial

Climate Change and Green Burial

Fuzzy model of vehicle delay to determine the level of service of two-lane roads

The level of service (LOS) on two-lane highways and, therefore, the quality of traffic flow, is currently estimated based on the delay of the vehicles and, in certain types of roads, the average travel speed. Speed is relatively easy to measure. However, it is important, and not so simple, to determine whether a vehicle is delayed. Traditional methods, generally based on quantitative measurements of average time between vehicles and thresholds, fail to take into account the inherent vagueness of the driving process. In this paper, we have developed a fuzzy model that gives a new and reliable method for determining such vehicle state on two-way two-lane roads, based on drivers’ perceptions. The proposed system is composed of seven fuzzy subsystems that take into account imprecise knowledge, human factors, and subjective perceptions regarding the road, the car, the driver, environmental conditions, etc. Simulation results of the system have been successfully compared with the behavior of two-lane road drivers who were interviewed. The level of service of these facilities is obtained using the estimated vehicle delay state and the overtaking maneuver. Therefore, this proposal makes it possible to introduce these existing driving experiences into LOS assessment and accordingly, it is potentially a step forward since LOS must be related, by definition, to user experience. These results could be used in future frameworks. In addition, an extension of the possible states of a vehicle is defined. This approach takes into account the drivers point of view regarding overtaking desire and in this sense, it is closer to reality.

Safety Effectiveness of Centerline Plus Shoulder Rumble Strips on Two-Lane Rural Roads

The combined application of centerline and shoulder rumble strips is intended to reduce the frequency of crashes by alerting drivers that they are about to leave the traveled lane. To date, this combination treatment has not been rigorously evaluated with a multistate database. To fill this void, this study evaluated treated two-lane rural road locations in three states. To account for potential site selection bias, an empirical Bayes (EB) before-after analysis was conducted. The combined results for all states indicate statistically significant crash reductions for all crash types analyzed. The crash type with the smallest crash modification factor (CMF) (i.e., the greatest crash reduction) is head-on with a CMF of 0.632 (i.e., a crash reduction of 36.8%). For run-off-road, head-on, and sideswipe-opposite direction crashes combined (i.e., lane departure crashes), the estimated CMF is 0.733. Benefit:cost (B:C) ratios were estimated to range from 28.2 to 67.7, depending on the treatment cost and service life assumption. Language: en

Toward an operating speed profile model for rural two-lane roads in Egypt

The geometric design, especially the horizontal and vertical alignments, of rural two-lane highway facilities is considered one of the most important factors affecting the quality of traffic service and safety. A consistent highway geometric design is defined to be one that conforms to the driver's expectations. In order to calculate the main measures of design consistency, an accurate operating speed profile model for road alignment is needed. Studies have shown that operating speed models are country dependent due to varying demographics, driver attitudes, habits, etc. This paper develops a speed profile model for two-lane rural roads in Egypt. This includes the development of operating speed models for horizontal curves and tangents, as well as the study of the characteristics and relationships between acceleration and deceleration rates before and after horizontal curves. The study uses a desert rural two-lane, two-way road sections that connect the city of Sohag with the city of Hurghada, in Upper Egypt. All geometric characteristics were obtained from highway authority. Speed data regarding individual drivers traveling on selected two-lane rural road sections were sampled using an on-board GPS system. The study confirms the finding in previous research that curvature is the most important factor in determining the speed on horizontal curves. Moreover, tangent length is the most important factor in determining operating speeds at tangents. The acceleration and deceleration characteristics were derived to gain an understanding of the behavior of individual vehicles traveling through curves of varying radii and lengths as well as preceding tangent length. Several operating speed models were developed for tangents and curves as well as for acceleration and deceleration rates. Incredibly effective, these models can be used for design consistency evaluations.

Prediction of road track paths by a fuzzy model

ABSTRACTThis research proposes a fuzzy model built to predict the track paths of a motor vehicle on a two-lane road and two-way traffic. The purpose of this study stems from the awareness that the position of the vehicle within the cross-section hardly coincides with the axis of the lane but deviates from this one because of some conditions generally not provided in the road standards. To solve this problem, the authors prepared an instrumented vehicle, measuring many variables during some trials in a rural road located in Sicily, Italy. The resulting database was treated at first with subtractive clustering techniques to correctly size the membership functions and rules without the subjective help of an analyst. Therefore, the fuzzy model was built only on the basis of the measured data, and the result was the position of the vehicle within the cross-section of the examined road. This research can help the analyst to look for the real cause of user's misbehavior even when the variables involved are fully respectful with the road standard to modify or eliminate disturbing elements in the understanding of the road by the users.