COMPARISON STUDY BY COMPUTER SIMULATION OF THE DRIVER'S VISUAL PART-TASK DURING LEFT AND RIGHT FREEWAY MERGING MANEUVERS
THE PURPOSE WAS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THERE IS A QUANTIFIABLE DIFFERENCE IN THE MECHANICAL ELEMENTS OF THE DRIVER'S VISUAL PART-TASKS ASSOCIATED WITH LEFT ON-RAMP MERGES AS COMPARED WITH MIRROR-IMAGE RIGHT ON-RAMP MERGES. THE VISUAL PART-TASK IS HINDERED BY THE PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS OF GROSS MOVEMENTS OF THE HEAD DUE TO THE MUSCULAR STRUCTURE OF THE HUMAN BODY. GROSS HORIZONTAL EYE MOVEMENT, OR THE ANGULAR MOVEMENT OF THE VISUAL CENTERLINE OF REGARD, IS CONSEQUENTLY CONSTRAINED. HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL VISION IS FURTHER RESTRICTED BECAUSE OF FREEWAY AND RAMP GEOMETRY AND OBSTRUCTIONS RESULTING FROM THE PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS OF VEHICLES. A GENERAL COMPUTER MODEL WAS DEVELOPED TO SIMULATE DYNAMICALLY THE RIGHT MERGING; THERE WERE 6 GEOMETRIC CONFIGURATIONS CONSIDERED. THE RESULTS AS OBTAINED FROM THE SIMULATION RUNS CLEARLY SHOWED THAT THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN THE RAMP DRIVER'S ABILITY TO SEE THE VEHICLES TRAVELING ON THE FREEWAY WHEN HE IS MERGING FROM THE LEFT AND WHEN HE IS MERGING FROM THE RIGHT. IN ADDITION, THE CLOSER A DRIVER IS TO THE RAMP NOSE IN THE DILEMMA ZONE BEFORE HE IS ALLOWED TO SEE THE FREEWAY, THE LESS WILL BE THE CHANCE THAT HE CAN SEE THE CRITICAL FREEWAY VEHICLE BEFORE HE MERGES. THE MODEL CAN BE USED NOT ONLY TO TEST ALTERNATIVE RAMP DESIGNS BUT ALSO TO ANALYZE INDIVIDUAL ON- RAMPS FOR VISUAL QUALITY. /AUTHOR/
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Supplemental Notes:
- Sponsored by Committee on Operational Effects of Geometrics. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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Authors:
- DeCabooter, Philip H
- Sinha, Kumares C
- Publication Date: 1972
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: pp 1-12
- Monograph Title: Freeway operations and control
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Serial:
- Highway Research Record
- Issue Number: 388
- Publisher: Highway Research Board
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Drivers; Merging traffic; Ramps; Simulation; Vision
- Old TRIS Terms: Driver vision
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00221780
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: No 390 PP 36-9
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Sep 19 1972 12:00AM