PASSING AID SYSTEM I -- INITIAL EXPERIMENTS

DEVELOPMENT OF A TRAFFIC SYSTEM TO AID MOTORISTS IN PASSING VEHICLES ON 2-LANE RURAL HIGHWAYS IS ONE OF THE CHIEF OBJECTIVES OF THE PUBLIC ROADS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. ANYONE WHO HAS DRIVEN ON WINDING, HILLY, RURAL ROADS HAS FREQUENTLY BEEN CONFRONTED WITH PROBLEM OF PASSING A SLOWER VEHICLE AHEAD AND HAS EITHER DRIVEN MANY LABORIOUS MILES WAITING FOR AN OPPORTUNE TIME TO PASS OR HAS VENTURED DOUBTFULLY INTO THE PASSING MANEUVER ON THE CHANCE THAT IT COULD BE ACCOMPLISHED WITHOUT MISHAP. IF THE MOTORIST HAD SUFFICIENT INFORMATION ABOUT CONDITIONS ON THE HIGHWAY AHEAD - WHETHER THERE IS AN ONCOMING VEHICLE IN THE OPPOSITE LANE AND WHETHER THERE IS ENOUGH ROOM ON THE HIGHWAY TO PASS THE CAR AHEAD AND CLEAR THE ONCOMING VEHICLE - THE PASSING MANEUVER NOT ONLY COULD BE EXECUTED MORE SAFELY, BUT THE VOLUME OF THE TRAFFIC SERVED BY THE ROADWAY WOULD BE INCREASED BY MINIMIZING INHERENT DELAYS CAUSED BY SLOWER VEHICLES. THE PUBLIC ROADS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM HAS TURNED TO ELECTONICS IN THE SEARCH FOR A METHOD OF PROVIDING INFORMATION THAT THE DRIVER NEEDS TO PASS VEHICLES SAFELY ON 2-LANE HIGHWAYS. RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED ON A 2-LANE ROADWAY WITH AN ELEMENTARY PASSING AID SYSTEM, PAS I, ARE DESCRIBED. THE PURPOSE OF THESE EXPERIMENTS WAS TO DETERMINE WHETHER DRIVERS WOULD RELY ON INFORMATION SUPPLIED ELECTRONICALLY TO INDICATE THE ABSENCE OF OPPOSING VEHICLES WHEN VISUAL SIGHT DISTANCES WAS LIMITED. ENCOURAGING RESULTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS, AS SHOWN BY ACCEPTANCE OF ELECTRONICALLY INDICATED PASSING OPPORTUNITIES, HAVE PROMPTED THE PLANNING OF MORE ADVANCED EXPERIMENTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MORE SOPHISTICATED PASSING AID SYSTEM. /AUTHOR/

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1586080
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 35, No 3, PP 61-70, 76
• Authors:
  • Neibur, D
• Publication Date: 1968-8

Media Info

• Serial:
  • Public Roads
  • Publisher: Federal Highway Administration
  • ISSN: 0033-3735
  • Serial URL: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Drivers; Electronics; Headways; Highway safety; Information systems; Opposing traffic; Passing; Passing sight distance; Rural highways; Traffic volume; Two lane highways; Vehicles
• Old TRIS Terms: Sight distance, restricted passing
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00225385
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 14 1994 12:00AM