Accidents at curves in rural areas are a major safety problem in all EU countries, as these accidents occur frequently and often cause serious personal injuries. The perception of horizontal curves are very difficult for all road users and serious safety problems often occur in situations where large differences exist between the operating speed on the upstream alignment and the design speed of a curve. A solution for solving this problem is to provide the drivers with the necessary information to estimate the design speed of the curve by use of signing and marking. In some EU countries, guidelines exist stating how to apply signing measures at curves. But the guidelines differ. Besides this there are, for example in Denmark, a mixture of how identical curves actually are signed and marked. In this research project a framework is made for the process on how to classify horizontal curves on rural roads into five danger categories. In addition a purpose for a basic signing and marking concept is developed for each danger category, which has been tested in two EU countries. The aim of the framework is to develop a tool for local authorities, making them able to make signing and marking of horizontal curves in a structured and uniform way. The result should be that the road users always meet the same basic signing and marking in curves belonging to the same danger category and thereby have a better possibility to judge the danger of the curve.
Abstract