• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.30 no.1D
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 2010

Safety improvement has been a continuous challenge, especially at toll gate of express highway where traffic conflict often occurs due to frequent lane change by drivers of "Hi-pass" lane and regular "TCS" lane. As a part of research on safety at toll gate, this study videotaped traffic conflict data between vehicles using centrally located "Hi-pass" lane and regular "TCS" lane and analyzed accident risk. According to the correlation analysis of vehicle speed, relative vehicle speed, and sudden vehicle deceleration rate due to traffic conflict, when the relative vehicle speed between centrally located "Hi-pass" lane and regular "TCS" lane increases, sudden vehicle deceleration rate also increases. One of the findings is that centrally located "Hi-pass" lane at toll gate shows different location for traffic conflict, and frequency of traffic conflict and the relative vehicle speed was also different based on vehicle lane use. TA (Time to Accident) analysis shows that accident rate is high at toll gate where Hipass lane is installed in center lane, when the occurrence of sudden vehicle deceleration and deceleration time of vehicles rise for vehicles on "Hi-pass" lane. Furthermore, if the expressway entrance/exit point is closely located to toll gate, TA showed a low value. Thus, it is necessary to reduce the relative vehicle speed in order to improve safety. The Study presents reduction of the relevant vehicular speed and prevention of accidents at the centrally installed "Hi-pass" lane as an important strategy for safety improvement at toll gate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.7-18
• /
• 2010

This study analyzed the relative vehicle speed and vehicle deceleration time caused by traffic conflicts using vehicle speed data at expressway toll gates and traffic conflict occurrence data. According to the analysis, the greater the relative vehicle speed is at the toll gate, the more sudden vehicle deceleration occurs due to traffic conflicts. In particular, a comparison study of cases in similar operating conditions presents a finding that usage of lanes influences traffic conflict occurrences as well as relative vehicle speed. With this finding, the study further conducted a quantitative analysis of the accident rates in relation to the relative vehicle speed between vehicles using a "Hi-Pass" lane and a regular lane at the toll gate. It indicates that when the relative vehicle speed is greater, the accident rate is higher due to sudden vehicle deceleration and shorter deceleration time. Furthermore, when the expressway entrance/exit point is closely located to a toll gate and the relative vehicle speed is great, a analysis at a traffic conflict shows a low value.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.22-32
• /
• 2013

Since the percentage of vehicles equipped with Hi-pass, an electronic toll collecting device, has increased rapidly, it is very crucial to determine the optimal location of Hi-pass lanes at a toll plaza in terms of traffic control and operation. In this study, the appropriateness of existing Hi-pass lanes of a toll plaza is evaluated considering its physical geometry and traffic characteristics. A new evaluating criterion called "traffic dispersion rate" is developed in order to measure the level of traffic spreading across the toll booth lanes at a toll plaza. Logistic regression models are constructed to estimate the relationship between the traffic dispersion rate and its affecting variables. The model estimation results show that several variables including Hi-pass lane traffic volume, length of toll plaza, entering/exiting taper lengths, and locations of Hi-pass lanes. The results also suggest that traffic dispersion rate can be increased by adjusting the location of Hi-pass lanes. The study enables us to quantify traffic dispersion rate which can be used to optimize the location and operation of Hi-pass lanes at toll plazas.