Vehicle swept-path and driver behaviour at sharp curve sections of “A” class roads in Sri Lanka

Abstract

When comparing traffic accidents on tangent and curving road sections, it is four times higher for curved sections compared to tangential sections. Therefore, identification of the vehicles' trajectories in sharp curves is important to improving the safety features of roads. There will be considerable deviations in real driving behaviour, which leads to traffic accidents. This research studies the patterns of vehicle trajectories by using naturalistic driving data with low traffic volumes. According to the results, there is a visible deviation between a real vehicle path and a model vehicle path generated by software especially in the mid location of the hair-pin curve. As a conclusion, some modifications in hair-pin curves are needed such as widening at entrance and exit locations of the curve to facilitate slow and smooth turning behaviour along the increased curve length of the hair-pin curve.