The effects of an altered road delineation on driving behaviour were studied. An alternative road delineation was compared with the normal delineation on rural road, a road presently indicated in the Netherlands as "area disclosing road"-type. The new type of delineation was a moderate realisation of new "Sustainable-Safe" guidelines in which exceeding the road axis was allowed. Volunteers drove an instrumented vehicle in a pre-test post-test design experiment that included both experimental and control conditions. The control condition was the same in both tests. The experimental road condition differed, in the pre-test the road was fitted with a normal 3:9 pattern centre line plus a continuous side line, in the post-test the side line was dashed and the axis line was doubled and painted in a 9:3 pattern. The results showed that in the post-test participants did not drive faster (actually, they drove marginally-significant slower), they kept more to the right and swerved less. This behavioural change was at the cost of additional mental effort, as indicated by a heart-rate parameter. In contrast, self-reported mental effort in this condition was lower, meaning that the increase of effort was not experienced as such. Furthermore, the new experimental layout was rated as more enjoyable, and less activating than the control condition. It is concluded that the new delineation can be used as it has positive effects on driving behaviour and appraisal. (Author/publisher)
Abstract