The relation between infrastructure and driving behaviour was explored using a driving simulator. The simulator has proven to be an excellent device for measuring the influence of small changes in the (simulated) environment on driving behaviour. The central question in this study is whether certain infrastructural aspects can explain accidents that occurred in the period 1987 - 1991 on road RW15 near the city of Bemmel, especially these in which drivers failed to keep in lane. It was observed that drivers tend to drive closely to the white line of the road. The road bends vary slightly over a long distance (about 2 km) and has a remarkable feature: a negative banking of 2.5%, which is opposed to what can be expected in curved roads, making driving probably more difficult. Factors in the manipulated simulator environment were the banking of the road, the presence of objects on the right side of the road, the type of road and the view on the road. (A)
Samenvatting