The role of driver behaviour analysis in traffic safety studies is reviewed. The relationship between the design of access road merging sections on motorways and the traffic accident rate in the sections is explored. In the case of access road merging sections with acceleration lanes in parallel to the through lanes there exists a strong relationship between the merging lane lengths and the accident rates. The reason for this relationship is explored using driving behaviour and traffic behaviour models. Data from the models showed that the ratio of the cars merging with shorter time to collision increases as the lane length becomes shorter. A methodology is proposed for designing a safe driving environment.
Abstract