Perceptual countermeasures to speeding involve paint and/or gravel road markings aiming to slow vehicles down by influencing the speed perception of drivers. This study set out to validate the TAC mid-range driving simulator at MUARC as an appropriate tool for the development and evaluation of these treatments off the road. The driving performance of a sample of drivers in an instrumented test vehicle on-road was compared with that of a similar group in the driving simulator at sites with and without transverse rumble line treatments. Performance measures included speed profiles, braking, deceleration and lateral position, and differences were examined statistically between treated and control sites on the road and in the simulator. The results showed that speed and braking responses were correlated for most sites and that lateral placement results were similar for curves. In addition, while there were consistent speed reductions in both test environments, they were more pronounced in the simulator than on the road. A second simulator trial showed that rumble effects enhanced the visual perceptual effects of these treatments, although further research is warranted to test this more rigorously. Importantly, though, the validation study confirmed that the simulator is a suitable test environment for evaluating perceptual countermeasures, especially when testing for speed reductions, and to a lesser degree braking, as the principal dependent measures. Lateral placement is a valid measure of curve driving performance. (A)
Abstract