Many drivers recognise the short term difficulty in adapting their speed to one more appropriate to different conditions after a period of driving at markedly different speed. The paper discusses the results of a series of field trials undertaken on the road network connected to an urban motorway system in Glasgow. The objectives of the research were to determine the magnitude of the speed adaptation effect, to establish the influencing factors and recommend remedial measures if necessary. Three sites were selected for the study where traffic leaving a motorway joined the street network at a signalised intersection, and the downstream lengths were sufficiently long for vehicles to maintain link cruising speed maintain link cruising speed before the intersection. Data collected on site by presence detectors was combined with synchronised video recordings of traffic operation. Preliminary analysis of results show that vehicles "adapted" to motorway conditions adopt higher speeds than others.
Abstract