Execution Response

This paper will describe how road marking can be used to influence driver behaviour in order to improve road safety and traffic flows. Extensive use will be made of examples from recent research undertaken by the authors on overtaking lane design, speed change management, managing speed around curves and improving the safety of high risk sections of roads. This research included both on-road and driving simulator-based measurements. The concept of self explaining roads and what is required to implement it will also be described. Driving task In describing the influence of road marking on driver behaviour it is important to first consider the core driving task. Driving involves a sequential process of perceiving and making sense of the situation, deciding on how to best respond given the driver’s knowledge and goals, and taking some action. That action, for example a steering input or brake application, results in the vehicle responding which in turn changes the situation the driver now perceives and reacts to. This Perception-Decision-Action (PDA) cycle, shown in figure 1, emphasises the dynamic essence of the driving task; a continuous, manual-control feedback loop guided by the momentary perceptions, decisions, and actions of the driver (Charlton & Baas, 1998). The cycle time of the feedback loop depends on a range of slower-changing state parameters of the various components including: vehicle performance; road and traffic conditions; driver situation awareness and mental workload