Improving passing lane safety and efficiency for Alaska’s rural non-divided highways.

Details

• Creators:
  Dyre, Brian P. ; Abdel-Rahim, Ahmed
• Corporate Creators:
  National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology (NIATT) (U.S.)
• Corporate Contributors:
  Alaska University Transportation Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Rural highways
  • Passing lanes
  • Driving simulators
  • Highway safety
  • Behavior
  • Risk assessment
  • Human factors in crashes
  • Regulatory signs
  • Passing zones
  • Speed limits
• Publication/ Report Number:
  INE/ AUTC 14.08;KLK958;NIATT-N13-04
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Alaska
• Corporate Publisher:
  Alaska. Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
• Abstract:
  A series of experiments using a fixed-base driving simulator were conducted to examine the potential safety and operational ; benefits of several highway safety interventions for reducing collision risk. Our approach sought to go beyond typical mitigations ; of collision risk that use explicit behavioral interventions, such as enforcing lower speed limits (regulation) and public education ; (safety warnings). Instead, we examined whether semi-permanent alterations to the visual appearance of the unsafe zones ; might implicitly reduce risky driver behaviors by slowing traffic and inducing better passing decisions without drivers being ; consciously aware that their behavior is being affected. ; Such implicit changes in behavior may be more efficient and long-lasting since they do not require conscious compliance from ; drivers nor engagement from law enforcement. Taken together, the results of our experiments clearly show that regulatory signs ; early in a passing zone that limit the speed of right-lane drivers relative to left-lane drivers offer the greatest opportunity for ; increasing the efficiency—and perhaps also the safety—of rural passing zones.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  UAF130032POFP30329;T2-12-14;Federal Project: 4000(120)
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/27890/dot_27890_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.18 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:21d72184bc12b3ae6e3efe46a7e736fe506e7125ff96899bb86c9a5f38d27a3207a94145c6b308509a0869e71fdb8ec4ca6e91bcb6c3ff60cf77aeadd5018197