83 Unfall und Mensch
Rural roads (highways) in Germany have to provide both high road safety and an appropriate level of service in accordance with their function in the road network. Single carriageway rural roads often underperform these expectations. An analysis of severe accidents on rural roads found two main contributing factors. First, high or inappropriate speed leads to accidents caused by the loss of control of the vehicle. Second, unsafe passing manoeuvres related to a misjudgement of sight distance, speed of oncoming vehicles or a misjudgement of the driver vehicle's acceleration capability. On the five roads where unsafe passing manoeuvres were a main contributing factor to accident occurrence, single short passing lanes (600 m to 1.2 km) were built to provide safe passing. On the remaining two-lane sections passing was prohibited by road signs and road marking. This paper investigates the effect of this design change on the accident situation and on traffic flow. The research project is based on a before/after comparison of traffic and accident data. Traffic volume, vehicle types and their velocities as well as the time gaps between the vehicles were recorded at different cross-sections. The result shows a significant improvement in road safety. This improvement was especially noted for severe head-on crashes, which were reduced to almost zero. The analysis of traffic flow on these roads pointed out that the chosen lengths of passing lanes were sufficient for safe passing and thereby reduced the need for dangerous driving behaviour. The recommendations of this research were fundamental for the determination of the design parameters of the second highest design class (EKL 2) in the new German Rural Road Design Guideline (RAL) published in spring 2013.
This thesis gives a detailed picture of how planners, politicians, residents and transport engineers in three societies, Britain, Germany and the United States reacted to one of the most powerful inventions of the late nineteenth century, the motor car. Misjudgments of the potential growth of motor vehicle ownership and its adverse effects had serious repercussions in the coming decades, primarily in the dense urban areas. Disturbing has been the underestimation of the importance of public transport as a real alternative to the motor car in urban areas, first by the United States and even several decades later by Britain. Of the three countries, only Germany seems to have struck a better balance. Not surprisingly, already at the beginning of the twentieth century, conflicts occurred between the weaker road participants (pedestrians and cyclists), the existing urban fabric and the motor vehicle. A more comprehensive comparison between Britain and Germany shows that both countries developed specific patterns and had different attitudes towards road transport. Far more has been invested and planned in Germany whereas Britain has shown not so much a lack of foresight in planning but 'in investment in road transport. This major difference has had very visible effects an today's urban structure and transport situation. The demand for restraint of motor traffic had different motives in the two countries, and is not such a new idea as is often assumed. While in Germany even in the 1920s and 30s the protection of historic inheritance was a decisive motive, in Britain that was not the case. Questions of traffic restraint were however raised in connection with road safety and later in the 60s as a means of improving the urban environment. The turning point of nearly unlimited promotion of car use in urban areas took place in Germany during the 60s and 70s, whereas the Buchanan Report had already warned in the early 60s against the adverse effects cars could have in urban areas if they were not controlled. Although even in Britain the report was misunderstood and largely not put into practice, the wave of protest against road building occurred earlier there than in Germany. As a whole, Britain has shown a brillance of ideas in restraining motor vehicles which was lacking in the Federal Republic. At the beginning of the 70s, discussions started seriously in Germany an traffic calming concepts which were slowly transformed into reality, Britain seems to have followed these examples, but with a considerable time lag.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde der Erkenntnisstand zu psychologischen und physiologischen Einflüssen auf das Fahrerverhalten auf Außerortsstraßen erfasst und eine mögliche Umsetzung in den Straßenentwurf geprüft. Auf Basis von Unfalluntersuchungen, einer Analyse der Annahmen des bestehenden Regelwerks sowie eines Modells der kognitiven Prozesse, die für das Fahren relevant sind, wurden Hypothesen zu potentiellen Einflussfaktoren abgeleitet, die zur Strukturierung der Analyse der nationalen und internationalen Literatur zum Fahrerverhalten auf Landstraßen dienten. Neben einer Betrachtung von Fahrerreaktionen auf Parameter der Straßenumgebung fand dabei besondere Berücksichtigung, wie die subjektive Klassifikation der Straße sich auf das Fahrerverhalten auswirken kann und inwiefern diese Klassifikation durch den Konzeptansatz der so genannten "Selbsterklärenden Straße" unterstützt werden kann. Die Befunde wurden hinsichtlich ihrer statistischen Aussagekraft und Konsistenz bewertet und anhand der Hypothesen in einer Synopse zusammengefasst. Daraus wurden zum einen konkrete Erkenntnisse für die neuen Richtlinien zur Anlage von Landstraßen (RAL) abgeleitet als auch Forschungsbedarf identifiziert.