The objective of this study is to identify possible traffic safety differences between priority and priority to the right intersections by observing the road user behaviour at both intersections in vehicle-vehicle interactions. Priority and priority to the right intersections differ in priority rule. This might cause a difference in priority behaviour which result in traffic safety differences between these two intersection types. The road user behaviour is observed by means of a behavioural observation form that contains the following variables: gender, age, interaction type, the approach behaviour of the vehicles at the intersection plane, the drivers’ observation making or looking behaviour, the priority behaviour, the performance of turning manoeuvres and the type of communication that takes place between the road users. The results indicate that the behaviour of other road users and the priority rules influence the road user behaviour. Furthermore, the type of priority control influences the non-compliance of this rule since more drivers violated the priority rule at the priority to the right intersection compared to the priority intersection. Informal traffic rules and psychological right-of-way played an important role in the violation of the priority to the right rule. The drivers’ looking and approach behavior also differed according to the priority rule. Possible explanations for the observed results are provided in the Results & Discussion section and in the Conclusion. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting