Delft University of Technology Reports Findings in Risk Management (Speed behaviour upon approaching freeway curves)

2021 JUL 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Risk Management is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Delft, Netherlands, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The actual speed behaviour when drivers approach a curve is very relevant to assess the road design and safety but is mostly overlooked in the scientific literature. Most research into curve driving behaviour is focussed at the behaviour inside the curve, although the speed selection is done before curve entry.”

Financial support for this research came from Rijkswaterstaat.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the Delft University of Technology, “The main objective of this research is to identify which freeway characteristics play a role in driving speed selection. High Frequency Floating Car Data, detailed reconstruction of the curves and their surroundings, as well as three dimensional sight distance analysis, were used to analyse individual speed profiles on 153 Dutch freeway curves. By defining the positions where the acceleration approaches 0 m/s before and after a curve starts, the positions when the driver started and stopped decelerating upon curve entry were defined. Further correlation and regression analysis of those positions revealed that the radius of the curve is indeed a main explaining variable, as well as the speed driven before deceleration starts. Sight distances and cross section characteristics play a further role in determining the position where deceleration starts. Deceleration ends at approximately 135 m after curve start, and the speed in a curve is also correlated with the deflection angle and length of a curve. Sight distances do not play a role in selecting the speed in a curve based on this research. Overall, the findings indicate a non-constant nature and variability of speed behaviour upon curve entry.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “This can be used for safer freeway curve design and to assess traffic safety based on actual speed behaviour.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Speed behaviour upon approaching freeway curves. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2021;159:106276. Accident Analysis & Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis & Prevention - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Johan Vos, Dept. of Transport and Planning, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft, Netherlands. Additional authors for this research include Haneen Farah and Marjan Hagenzieker.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2021.106276. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention is: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England.

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