title: The influence of combined alignments on lateral acceleration on mountainous freeways: a driving simulator study.
abstract: Combined horizontal and vertical alignments are frequently used in mountainous freeways in China; however, design guidelines that consider the safety impact of combined alignments are not currently available. Past field studies have provided some data on the relationship between road alignment and safety, but the effects of differing combined alignments on either lateral acceleration or safety have not systematically examined. The primary reason for this void in past research is that most of the prior studies used observational methods that did not permit control of the key variables. A controlled parametric study is needed that examines lateral acceleration as drivers adjust their speeds across a range of combined horizontal and vertical alignments. Such a study was conducted in Tongji University's eight-degree-of-freedom driving simulator by replicating the full range of combined alignments used on a mountainous freeway in China. Multiple linear regression models were developed to estimate the effects of the combined alignments on lateral acceleration. Based on these models, domains were calculated to illustrate the results and to assist engineers to design safer mountainous freeways.
authors.affiliation: School of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201804, China; Road and Traffic Key Laboratory, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, 201804, China. Electronic address: wangxs@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xuesong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201804, China; Road and Traffic Key Laboratory, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, 201804, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, IN, 47907, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tarko
authors.affiliation: School of Transportation Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201804, China.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Tremont
mesh_terms: D000054:Acceleration; D001334:Automobile Driving; D002681:China; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004779:Environment Design; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012106:Research; D012449:Safety
keywords: Combined alignment; Driving simulator; Geometric design; Lateral acceleration; Mountainous freeway