Assessing Traffic Safety of Dutch Weaving Sections: Validation of the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model combined with VISSIM

Dutch road designers and safety experts are searching for more quantitative methods to evaluate the safety of a (proposed) weaving section than the traditional methods of expert judgement and use of accident records. An alternative would be to determine safety using VISSIM micro-simulation models in combination with the Surrogate Safety...

Continuous-discrete choices of control transitions and speed regulations in full-range adaptive cruise control

Driving assistance systems such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and automated vehicles can contribute to mitigate traffic congestion, accidents, and levels of emissions. Automated vehicles may increase roadway capacity, improve traffic flow stability, and speed up the outflow from a queue (1). The functionalities of automated systems have been...

Resuming manual control or not?: Modelling choices of control transitions in full-range adaptive cruise control

Automated vehicles and driving assistance systems such as Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) are expected to reduce traffic congestion, accidents and levels of emissions. Field Operational Tests have found that drivers may prefer to deactivate ACC in dense traffic flow conditions and before changing lanes. Despite the potential effects of these...

Assessing traffic safety of Dutch weaving sections: Validation of the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model combined with VISSIM

Nederlandse wegontwerpers en veiligheidsexperts zoeken naar meer kwantitatieve methodes om de veiligheid van een (voorgenomen) weefvak te bepalen dan de traditionele methodes die gebruik maken van expert judgement en ongevalsregistraties. Een alternatieve methode is om de veiligheid te bepalen met behulp van VISSIM micro-simulatiemodellen in...

A critical assessment of methodologies for operations and safety evaluations of freeway turbulence

Turbulence in traffic is a commonly known phenomenon, but the exact characteristics of this phenomenon are not yet clear. It reflects individual changes in speed, headways, and lanes in the traffic stream. The currently used freeway design guidelines prescribe different measures for handling turbulence, such as sufficient ramp spacing, and...

A crash prediction model for weaving sections in the Netherlands

Weaving is defined as the crossing of two streams travelling in the same direction along a significant section of the road without the assistance of traffic control devices. Merging and diverging vehicles need to make one or more lane-changes in a limited space and time, determined by the weaving section length. This situation creates intensive...

Effects of automated driving on traffic flow efficiency: Challenges and recent developments