Driving Behaviour while Driving through Two Types of Road Works

Twenty-five drivers completed a ride in their own car over a standard motorway and through two types of road works, the standard Dutch road works design and an adapted format. The latter type included wider lanes, a higher posted speed limit and white instead of yellow delineation. During the rides video images of the road and the driver were made and stored together with GPS information. From these sources speed, lateral position, and number of hands on the steering wheel were scored. In addition, after passing each of the two road works and the control motorway section, the participants parked their car off the motorway and completed a questionnaire with questions about invested mental effort while driving over the section, and how they had experienced driving over that specific section. Results show that drivers more often considered the speed limit of the new road works to be appropriate than the speed limit of the current road works, and that the new type was more appreciated, and that compliance to the speed limit was better. Mental effort invested while driving through the road works was higher than while driving over the control road, but was similar while driving through the two types of road works, even if actual driving speed at the new road works was higher