Traffic conditions of urban areas are significantly different from those of rural roads due to the complexity of urban scenario, heterogeneous users (drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians) and the frequency of conflicting zones; this considering, the aim of this paper is to have more deep knowledge about the real driver behavior in urban context and to provide recommendations for safety design of conflicting zones taking into account psychological and perceptual characteristics of drivers. In order to achieve these aims, 95 volunteers were characterized by means of two psychological tests: test-scores were integrated and processed by the cluster analysis which allowed to identify three risk categories (low, medium and high risk) related to personality profile and driving style of the subjects. The same volunteers were subjected to a test drive with an instrumented vehicle, along 3,5 km of a urban road in Italy, obtaining continuously and in real time speed data, acceleration, braking action, engine RPM and steering angle. The data were processed to assess the real behavior of drivers along the road homogeneous sections and to estimate the approach sight distance to different types of intersections. The results related both to the whole sample and to the different risk profiles, were compared with the AASHTO requirements and analyzed according to the recent "Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems”. The study allows to provide recommendations and useful suggestions to improve perception and safety of urban road conflicting zones.
Analysis of Different Groups of Drivers and Their Related Driving Behaviour in Urban Areas
LOSA, MASSIMO;BARONTI, FEDERICO;RONCELLA, ROBERTO
2011-01-01
Abstract
Traffic conditions of urban areas are significantly different from those of rural roads due to the complexity of urban scenario, heterogeneous users (drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians) and the frequency of conflicting zones; this considering, the aim of this paper is to have more deep knowledge about the real driver behavior in urban context and to provide recommendations for safety design of conflicting zones taking into account psychological and perceptual characteristics of drivers. In order to achieve these aims, 95 volunteers were characterized by means of two psychological tests: test-scores were integrated and processed by the cluster analysis which allowed to identify three risk categories (low, medium and high risk) related to personality profile and driving style of the subjects. The same volunteers were subjected to a test drive with an instrumented vehicle, along 3,5 km of a urban road in Italy, obtaining continuously and in real time speed data, acceleration, braking action, engine RPM and steering angle. The data were processed to assess the real behavior of drivers along the road homogeneous sections and to estimate the approach sight distance to different types of intersections. The results related both to the whole sample and to the different risk profiles, were compared with the AASHTO requirements and analyzed according to the recent "Human Factors Guidelines for Road Systems”. The study allows to provide recommendations and useful suggestions to improve perception and safety of urban road conflicting zones.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
