SAFETY IN WORK ZONES: EXPERIENCES WITH DRIVING SIMULATOR

Interferences caused by work zones with vehicle flow can lead to a significant \nincrease in the accident risk level. It is agreed that the improvement of work zone design is \nessential in order to provide an optimal driver guidance. This work reports on the outcomes \nof an experimental survey accomplished with the aid of virtual reality and with the aim of \nanalysing the driver’s behaviour close to work zones, identifying eventual abnormal \nbehaviours and finding useful measures able to avoid a local decrease in safety conditions. \nA sample of drivers, homogeneous as far as driving experience, carried out several virtual \nreality driving tests on four-lane highways (with two lanes in each direction) using the \ndriving simulator at the Inter-university Research Centre on Road Safety (CRISS) placed at \nUniversity of Rome 3. The surveyed scenarios include a work zone configured according to \nthe scheme for temporary signalling for work zones as defined in the Italian rules and three \nalternative work zone configurations. Speed analysis in various areas of a work zone \nallowed to individuate anomalous behaviours. This paper provides the designer with useful \nsuggestions to choose the safest and most effective work zone design.