TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating the effects of travel lane configuration and lane width on traffic safety where powered-two-wheelers (PTWs) share with larger vehicles
T2 - A micro perspective
AU - Wu, Kun Feng (Ken)
AU - Lin, Tong
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/7
Y1 - 2022/7
N2 - The design of travel lane configuration and lane width is crucial to traffic safety, especially in an urban mixed traffic environment where Powered-Two-Wheelers (PTWs) are prevalent and share the same roads with larger vehicles such as cars, buses, and trucks. However, there have been limited studies on the effects of the design of travel lane configuration and lane width on safety in such a mixed traffic environment. It's true the above-mentioned research question can be evaluated simply in terms of the number of crashes. However, doing so not only requires a few years of crash and traffic data, but limited insight can be gained in terms of how driver and rider behaviours are affected, and this has implications for further improvement in road safety. This study examines the changes in driving/riding behaviours and surrogate events before and after the adjustments of travel lane configuration and lane width by proposing a micro perspective approach as a complement to conventional studies. A before-and-after site-based investigation was conducted at two study sites which had opposite adjustments for travel lane configuration and lane widths: at one site the number of lanes was reduced, thereby widening the lane width in the outer lane on one road section, and at the second site the number of lanes was increased, thereby narrowing lane width in the outer lane on the other road section. The results showed that an increase in lane width resulted in a considerable increase in the number of speeding events as well as unsafe driving/riding behaviours and surrogate events related to lane splitting, lane sharing, and overtaking.
AB - The design of travel lane configuration and lane width is crucial to traffic safety, especially in an urban mixed traffic environment where Powered-Two-Wheelers (PTWs) are prevalent and share the same roads with larger vehicles such as cars, buses, and trucks. However, there have been limited studies on the effects of the design of travel lane configuration and lane width on safety in such a mixed traffic environment. It's true the above-mentioned research question can be evaluated simply in terms of the number of crashes. However, doing so not only requires a few years of crash and traffic data, but limited insight can be gained in terms of how driver and rider behaviours are affected, and this has implications for further improvement in road safety. This study examines the changes in driving/riding behaviours and surrogate events before and after the adjustments of travel lane configuration and lane width by proposing a micro perspective approach as a complement to conventional studies. A before-and-after site-based investigation was conducted at two study sites which had opposite adjustments for travel lane configuration and lane widths: at one site the number of lanes was reduced, thereby widening the lane width in the outer lane on one road section, and at the second site the number of lanes was increased, thereby narrowing lane width in the outer lane on the other road section. The results showed that an increase in lane width resulted in a considerable increase in the number of speeding events as well as unsafe driving/riding behaviours and surrogate events related to lane splitting, lane sharing, and overtaking.
KW - Before-and-after analysis
KW - Lane width
KW - Mixed traffic flow
KW - Powered-two-wheelers
KW - Surrogate safety measures
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129238181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.aap.2022.106682
DO - 10.1016/j.aap.2022.106682
M3 - Article
C2 - 35490472
AN - SCOPUS:85129238181
SN - 0001-4575
VL - 172
JO - Accident Analysis and Prevention
JF - Accident Analysis and Prevention
M1 - 106682
ER -