Improving passing lane safety and efficiency for Alaska's rural non\0x2010divided highways.

PDFTech ReportT2-12-14/Federal Project: 4000(120)NIATT-N13-04INE/AUTC 14.08RR12.02UAF130032POFP30329Rural highwaysPassing lanesHighway safetyDriving simulatorsBehaviorSpeed signsSpeed limitsAlaskaAlaska University Transportation CenterAlaska. Dept. of Transportation and Public Facilities. Research, Development and Technology TransferDyre, Brian P.Abdel-Rahim, AhmedNational Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology (U.S.)United States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionA series of experiments using a fixed-base driving simulator were conducted to examine the potential safety and operationalbenefits of several highway safety interventions for reducing collision risk. Our approach sought to go beyond typical mitigationsof collision risk that use explicit behavioral interventions, such as enforcing lower speed limits (regulation) and public education(safety warnings). Instead, we examined whether semi-permanent alterations to the visual appearance of the unsafe zonesmight implicitly reduce risky driver behaviors by slowing traffic and inducing better passing decisions without drivers beingconsciously aware that their behavior is being affected.Such implicit changes in behavior may be more efficient and long-lasting since they do not require conscious compliance fromdrivers nor engagement from law enforcement. Taken together, the results of our experiments clearly show that regulatory signsearly in a passing zone that limit the speed of right-lane drivers relative to left-lane drivers offer the greatest opportunity forincreasing the efficiency\u2014and perhaps also the safety\u2014of rural passing zones