The research project FE 82.509/2010 "Verkehrssicherheit in Einfahrten auf BAB" investigates road safety in entry-gateways on German motorways. The study focuses on the entry-gateways of the type E1, since this type represents the standard form on German motorways. The aim of the project is to identify critical areas of entry-gateways as well as the comparison of road safety of the standard type E1 with other types of entry-gateways and other elements of cross sections (e.g. exit-gateways, interlacing lanes). An additional attention is laid on the behaviour of senior drivers when entering the motorway. In a first step extensive accident analyses of 100 entry-gateways were carried out. For this the information of the accident database of five Federal States were used. In a second step detailed analyses of the accident reports of the 30 most striking entry-gateways were carried out. To complete the investigation within this research project, empirical observations were organised on 14 entry-gateways to gather more expertise on the behaviour of drivers during the entering process onto the motorway. The issues of the senior drivers were determined within the empirical observations as well as in an additional survey. The results of the accident analyses show, that in terms of accident occurrence the entry-gateways of type E1 are generally uncritical. This result was also confirmed by the empirical observations. Regarding the issues of the senior drivers during the entering process onto the motorway no significant difference in driving behaviour between senior (> 60 years) and younger (< 60 years) drivers could be determined. (Author/publisher)
Abstract