In predicting and evaluating the effects of specific road designs, various methods for visualisation are used, each with advantages and drawbacks. The modern driving simulator capable of generating a functionally realistic traffic environment could be an important extension of the instruments of the road designer, since alternative road designs may be tested in their effect on the road user behaviour with respect to speed, lateral position and so on, while actually not a single piece of the infrastructure has been built. As a feasibility study a part of a motorway has been visualised in a traffic simulator and used in an experiment in which subjects had to ride in various conditions. It is concluded that effects of variation in road design can be measured in such detail and systematically that experimental results can be used what type and which road design would be the best, and that a traffic simulator is usable to do so.
Samenvatting