Driving Simulation Study on Speed-change Lanes of the Multi-lane Freeway Interchange

Because of the interactions of the multi-lane freeway mainline, upstream, downstream, the diversity of environmental conditions, as well as the complexity of geometric configuration, speed-change lanes of the multi-lane freeway interchange present greatest safety and operational challenges for drivers. Most freeway crashes occur in the vicinity of interchange diverging and merging areas, especially in speed-change lanes. In this paper, the UC-win/Road5 software was used as the technical tool, and a three-dimensional driving scene was built. Multi-lane freeway field data were used for the calibration of model parameters. The geometry configuration of the speed-change lanes as well as the driving behavior characteristics such as speed, acceleration rate, glancing in the diverging and merging areas were studied in this paper. Based on the driving simulation study in the areas, results supply a valuable technical reference for speed-change lane geometry configuration, the length design of speed-change lane, the operational safety evaluation of multi-lane freeway diverging and merging areas, also the operation and management of multi-lane freeways. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.