Evaluating the effectiveness of engineering countermeasures at yellow dilemma zone: a driving simulator-based study

Abstract

The indecisiveness of drivers at the yellow onset creates a dilemma zone (DZ) upstream of the signalized crossings. The yellow light dilemma negatively influences intersection safety, often leading to rear-end and right-angle collisions. This study explores the impact of upstream road marking and active in-vehicle warnings designed based on DZ boundaries. The prototype concepts of in-vehicle warning systems and upstream road marking were designed and implemented in the driving simulator environment. The driver responses from the experimental setup were captured to evaluate the effectiveness of the designed DZ countermeasures. Study results indicate that implemented DZ countermeasures (i.e. DZ road marking, in-vehicle display warning, and in-vehicle audio warning) significantly decreased the drivers’ crossing probability, resulting in a shorter dilemma zone. However, the proposed countermeasures did not show any improvement in the drivers’ red-light running (RLR) behavior. The driving simulator study showed promising results in reducing aggressive crossing responses at the yellow onset.