Perceptual Measures and Physical Devices for Traffic Calming Along a Rural Highway Crossing a Small Urban Community: Speed Behavior Evaluation in a Driving Simulator

The paper investigated drivers’ speed behavior in rural highways crossing small urban communities both without any gateway and traffic calming device and with different configurations of gateway and traffic calming along the urban environment. Speeds in entrance to small urban areas were collected in Italy in 6 rural road sections. The site with the greater operating speeds was selected as the design site. Two gateways and four integrative traffic calming devices along the route within the urban area were designed. The gateways are aimed at slowing down the vehicles entering in the built-up area, while the traffic calming devices are aimed at complementing the gateway effect. Two gateway design options have been proposed: first option is combination of low cost and fast implementation measures, whereas the second option is more expensive since includes an horizontal deflections and requires land acquisition. Drivers’ speed behavior in the design alternatives was assessed in a dynamic driving simulator. Both gateway treatments were highly effective in reducing speed. In the gateway, mean speed reductions were equal ranged between 11 and 17 km/h. In the village midpoint, both means and standard deviations of the speed distribution showed a reduction. Mean speed reductions ranged between 9 and 14 km/h. Overall, the design alternative 2 showed better results and is suggested for implementation.