One aim of the Dutch "Sustainably-safe road surroundings and traffic behaviour" research programme is to find an answer to the question whether, and to what extent, a `sustainably-safe' design of rural collector roads influences road users' behaviour. The present report is part of this research programme. The report presents the research design together with the results of the October 2000 before/baseline measurement carried out using video observations and detection loops. The research design was that of a before-and-after study, with an experimental and control road section. As location two sections of the road were chosen between Meppel and Pesse in the north-eastern province of Drente. This is an 80 km/h rural collector road for motor vehicles only. The control section was between Weerwille and Blijdenstein and the experimental section between Pesse and the exit road to Ruinen. The before-measurement showed that, on weekdays, there were behavioural differences between the two sections. The detector loop data showed, among other things, that on the experimental section between Pesse and the exit road to Ruinen, the average speed driven was higher than on the control section between Weerwille and Blijdenstein. The video data showed that there were neither differences between the average headway times of the two sections, nor between the percentage of overtaking manoeuvres. There were, however, differences in lateral positions: the driving was nearer the axis line on the experimental section than on the control section. This applied especially for the traffic driving westwards.
Samenvatting