Headway on urban streets: observational data and an intervention to decrease tailgating

A method to collect headway (tailgating) data in an urban setting was implemented and produced reliable headway data on over 25 000 drivers. Data are reported on the effectiveness of two hand-held roadside signs admonishing drivers not to tailgate. One of these signs (that included a reference to “c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTransportation research. Part F, Traffic psychology and behaviour Vol. 3; no. 2; pp. 55 - 64
Main Authors Michael, Paul G, Leeming, Frank C, Dwyer, William O
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier India Pvt Ltd 2000
Subjects
Tailgating
Traffic safety
Vehicle crashes
Vehicle headway
Tailgating
Vehicle headway
Traffic safety
Vehicle crashes
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Summary:A method to collect headway (tailgating) data in an urban setting was implemented and produced reliable headway data on over 25 000 drivers. Data are reported on the effectiveness of two hand-held roadside signs admonishing drivers not to tailgate. One of these signs (that included a reference to “crashes”) had a significantly positive impact on drivers' headway. Drivers’ followed with an average headway of 2.11 s when the sign was absent compared to an average headway of 2.29 s when the sign was present. When the sign was absent, 49.4% of the drivers were in compliance with the 2-second rule compared to 57.5% when the sign was present. The percentage of drivers who followed with a headway of less than 1 s decreased from 7.3 when the sign was absent to 3.0 when the sign was present. Additionally, there was an increase of 10.6 ft in vehicle separation from baseline to intervention.
ISSN:1369-8478
1873-5517
DOI:10.1016/S1369-8478(00)00015-2