Citation

Stock WA, Wang JJ. Transp. Res. Rec. 1978; 682: 64-66.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper discusses a model developed to study lane-changing behavior of motorists when a freeway lane tapers to an end. This behavior differs from lane changing incurred during normal freeway driving in that the motorist must merge into an adjacent through lane after being alerted to the impending drop by warning signs pavement or markings or both. The basic behavioral assumption of the model is that each sign or pavement marking or the view of the lane drop itself can be considered as a stimulus that will induce a certain proportion of drivers to change lanes. Thus, the model is most effective in representing the behavior of drivers who rely on warning signs and the visibility of the lane drop in their lane-changing decision making processes. Although there were 14 mainline lane-drop sites selected for analysis, the model fits the data well in only seven of the sites. For those sites, the impact of signing appears to be greater for left-side drop sites than for right-side drop sites. Another interesting finding is that pavement markings tend to have less impact than signs.