This paper describes a driving simulator experiment designed to evaluate two sets of alternative low cost safety improvements for rural roads. Thefirst set of improvements was directed at enhancing the visibility of curves on rural, two-lane, undivided roads at night. The focus in this case was on achieving advanced detection and speed reduction in such curves. The second set of improvements was directed at slowing traffic on rural, two-lane, undivided roads in small towns during the day. The focus in this case was on achieving traffic calming within the town. Speed reductions were measured on curves with various treatments including post mounted delineators (PMDs), a novel LED streaming PMD treatment, and edge lines. In rural towns, the treatments involved the use of chicanes, parked cars, and bulb-outs. For curves, PMDs with edge lines performed better in terms of slowing drivers down than pavement markings alone. A novel treatment involving streaming PMDs offered the most dramatic potential benefit in terms of advanced curve detection, and is worthy of further study and consideration. For towns, chicanes slowed drivers down the most, and parked cars on both sides of the road the next.
Abstract