PURPOSES: A hard shoulder lane (HSL) is a method of solving severe traffic congestion on an expressway. Recently, it has been applied to several expressways in Korea, and there have been numerous positive effects, which include increasing the road capacity and reducing traffic congestion. However, these effects have been limited due to tunnels which created a‘ bottle-neck’effect in HSL application for longer road segments. In the tunnel sections, an HSL is generally not operational owing to problems such as narrow roads and the risk of accidents. If an HSL can be extended to tunnel segments, great positive effects can be achieved. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate driver behavior and stability to investigate the risk of HSL in tunnels.
METHODS: The Driving Simulator experiments were conducted using some scenarios for the Geumnam and Seojong tunnels on the Seoul- Chuncheon Highway. Based on data from the experiments such as running speed, lateral replacement, and steering handling, the running stabilities of participants were analyzed. In addition, traffic flow data from VDS(Vehicle Detection System) were analyzed as before-after studies.
RESULTS: Although there were some differences in driving behaviors, most participants showed safe driving behavior at a speed of less than 50 km/h.
CONCLUSIONS : Based on driving behaviors and traffic flow analyses, it is concluded that HSL in tunnels can be an alternative to increase efficiency based on safe driving environments for speeds of below 50 km/h.