Start-up Lost Time and its Effect on Signalized Intersections in Turkey

Start-up lost time is an important parameter in performance of signalized intersections which may in turn depict the effect of behaviour of different drivers for different countries. In this study the parameters affecting the startup lost time in Turkey will be defined and a model will be established to present the relationship between start-up lost time, saturation flow as well as start response time with the behaviour of Turkish drivers. For this purpose, observations were carried out at eight intersections in Turkey. Analyses have shown that saturation headways decrease with the increase in time in start response since the drivers in the 2nd and higher rows of a queue have a longer time to get prepared to discharge. Results also indicated that start-up lost time increases rapidly as cycle time increases, and lower start-up lost time values can be observed in left or right turning lanes.