The aim of the study has been to determine how overtaking and passing behaviour depends on road width, sight distance, speed of obstructing vehicles and vehicle type. Data has mainly been collected by videofilming from a helicopter. Using the videofilms, analyses were made of road user behaviour in regard to overtaking and utilisation of a paved shoulder. The investigation consists of two parts. In the first part, a study was made of overtaking behaviour on 13-metre roads with a paved shoulder and a large variation in traffic flows. In this part, the study covers both behaviour in overtaking with the aid of the paved shoulder, i.e. "passing", and normal overtaking. The second part of the investigation concerned overtaking behaviour on 9-metre roads, where only normal overtaking occurs. Data was collected for a large range of traffic flows, from 470 to 1,200 vehicles/hour, counting both directions. (A)
Abstract