An Exploratory Analysis of Curve Trajectories on Two-Lane Rural Highways

Filomena Mauriello, Alfonso Montella, Mariano Pernetti and Francesco Galante
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Filomena Mauriello: Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Alfonso Montella: Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy
Mariano Pernetti: Department of Engineering, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81031 Aversa (Caserta), Italy
Francesco Galante: Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-16

Abstract: This paper is aimed at obtaining a better understanding of driving behavior on horizontal curves of two-lane rural highways in terms of trajectories in relation to the different curve radii and directions by a driving simulator experiment. The driving simulator experiment involved 50 drivers and eight classes of curve radii, ranging from 125 m to 800 m. Overall, 2000 curve trajectories were analyzed and classified. Six major classes were defined: (1) ideal behavior, (2) normal behavior, (3) driving close to the centerline, (4) driving outside in curve approach, (5) cutting, and (6) correcting. Furthermore, 21 sub-classes were introduced to consider both lane departures and location of the corrective actions. The CATANOVA tests and Bhapkar’s tests showed that both the curve radius and the curve direction had a significant effect on the classification results. To get a clearer understanding of the effect of the curve radius and direction on curve negotiation, three macro-classes corresponding to safe, intermediate, and dangerous behavior were introduced. The safest behaviors significantly increased with the curve radius while the most dangerous behaviors significantly decreased with the curve radius. Furthermore, left curves showed a higher proportion of dangerous trajectories. Overall, it seems that the driving trajectories are a promising surrogate measure of safety as highlighted by the correlation between the trajectories identified as dangerous and the radii of the curves.

Keywords: driving simulator; lateral positions; curve trajectories; curve negotiation; classification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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