Perceptual Measures to influence operating speeds and reduce crashes at rural intersections: a driving simulator experiment

The aim of this paper is to investigate, by means of a dynamic driving simulator experiment, the behavior of road users at rural intersections in relation to perceptual measures designed for increasing hazard detection. In the experiment 10 configurations of tangents were tested: Alt1, base tangent; Alt2, four-leg base intersection; Alt3, intersection with reduced sight distance; and Alt4 through Alt10, intersections with perceptual treatments. The Virtual Environment for Road Safety high-fidelity dynamic-driving simulator, operating at the Technology Environment Safety Transport Road Safety Laboratory located in Naples, Italy, was used. Analysis of the results used two approaches: (a) explorative description of data by cluster analysis and (b) inferential procedures about population using statistical tests. Results showed that the speed behavior in the tangents was significantly affected by the presence of the intersections and by the perceptual treatments. Intersections without perceptual treatments significantly affected driver speeds in the 250 m preceding the intersection. Perceptual treatments helped the driver to detect the intersection earlier and to slow down. Dragon teeth markings, colored intersection area, and raised median island performed better than the other perceptual treatments. They produced significant average speed reduction in the 150 m preceding the intersection ranging between 16 km/h and 23 km/h. Study results support real-world implementation of perceptual measures in rural intersections because they are low-cost, fast implementation measures with a high potential to be cost-effective.