Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701

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Accident Analysis and Prevention

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Effects of peripheral transverse line markings on drivers’ speed and headway T

choice and crash risk in car-following: A naturalistic observation study
Naikan Dinga,*, Shunying Zhub, Nisha Jiaoc, Bing Liub
a
206 Guanggu 1st Road, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China
b
1178 Heping Avenue, School of Transportation, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430063, China
c
428 Jianshe Avenue, Planning Research Studio, Department of Transportation of Hubei Province, Wuhan 430030, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Rear-end crashes are closely related to car-following situation of vehicles. Speeding and insufficient headway are
Peripheral transverse line markings the major reasons as the drivers have not enough time to react to a sudden brake from the leading vehicle.
Car-following Perceptual countermeasures, like speed reduction markings, are widely used in practice for accident prevention,
Speed choice and are verified with substantial effectiveness. However, compared with its practical application, the perceptual
Headway choice
countermeasures are rarely analyzed in depth from the perspective of drivers’ visual perception where the
On-road experiment
Visual perception
meaning of “perceptual” actually dwells. In addition, its effect on drivers’ headway (distance) choice is almost
ignored in previous research. Given this, the present study explored the effects of a certain type of perceptual
treatment, i.e., the peripheral transverse line markings (PTLMs), on drivers’ choice of speed and headway
(distance) in car-following by a series of on-road experiments. In the on-road experiments, temporary line
markings were installed on a real-world freeway in China to shape the PTLMs. The intersection angle (α ) and the
longitudinal spacing (λ ) of the PTLMs were manipulated to attempt to associate the line markings with drivers’
visual perception. Results of general and sectional relative differences of time headway (ηh , θh ), speed (ηv , θv ),
and distance (ηd , θd ) suggests that 1) the speed was reduced, the distance and time headway were increased
significantly after the installation of PTLMs when compared with the original condition; 2) a larger intersection
angle (α ) and a smaller longitudinal spacing (λ ) of PTLMs could lead to a greater variations in speed and
headway (distance); in particular, the PTLMs in a form of α = 150°, λ = 2m resulted in 0.44 s increase in time
headway, 1.33 m/s reduction in speed, and 4.07 m increase in distance in maximum; 3) the real-time crash risk
variations under the influence of PTLMs were evaluated by two modified and extended surrogate safety in-
dicators. The effects of PTLMs were discussed and explained considering the influences of optical illusion on lane
width narrowing, edge rate on speed and “discontinuity effect” on distance, respectively. The findings of this
study provide theoretical support for the perceptual countermeasures and suggest comparative advantages of
PTLMs in dealing with rear-end crashes by intervening drivers’ speed and headway choice.

1. Introduction
Many developing countries have embraced the rapid economic
growth, urbanization, and motorization, but for the price of heavy ca-
sualties in road transportation (WHO, 2018). In China, the fact was
especially outrageous as more than 8.4 million road traffic crashes,
63,772 fatalities and 209,654 injuries occurred per year (Traffic
Management Bureau of the Public Security Ministry, 2017). Wherein,
rear-end crashes were among the most common accident types, ac-
counting for 36.5 % of all accidents and for 32.8 % of all fatalities on
freeways in China in 2017 (Traffic Management Bureau of the Public
Security Ministry, 2017).
A great deal of efforts has been devoted to investigate various fac-
tors contributive to rear-end crashes over the past decades, and
speeding (Elvik, 2013), insufficient headway (Ding et al., 2019a),
biased visual perception (Dewar and Olson, 2007) and other relevant
human factors are argued as the predominant ones. The vast majority of
the rear-end crashes can occur if the following driver errs in judging
closing speed and headway to the leading vehicle. According to
(Charlton (2007)), drivers’ lack of attention, improper judgment of
speed and distance were major causes of driving errors that result in
crash occurrence, implying the urgent needs to increase driver’s risk
perception by intervening driver’s perception of speed and headway
(distance). As driving behaviors depend greatly on the visual

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: andrei8901@gmail.com (N. Ding), zhusy2001@163.com (S. Zhu), 421946755@qq.com (N. Jiao), lbjiaotong@126.com (B. Liu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2020.105701
Received 26 January 2020; Received in revised form 22 July 2020; Accepted 23 July 2020
0001-4575/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N. Ding, et al.
information of the surroundings (Sivak, 1996), one of the prevalent
perceptual interventions is pavement markings on road surface, which
featured with the advantages of low-cost, easy to install and replace.
For an instance, the speed reduction markings, as suggested both by the
Chinese national standard GB5768−2009 (Standardization
Administration of the People’s Republic of China, 2009) and American
national standard MUTCD (Federal Highway Administration, 2009),
work by intervening drivers’ speed perception with an illusion of tra-
velling faster that encourages speed reduction by drivers.
Though the effectiveness of various perceptual interventions on the
improvement of roadway safety has been extensively examined and
verified, there is rare seen any in-depth analysis of its visual perception
mechanism in behind, where the meaning of “perceptual” actually
dwells. In addition, existing research almost merely emphasized on the
speeding issue by introducing various of speed reduction markings or
alike, but ignored the possibility and the importance of solutions with
direct headway (distance) interventions. Yet, it is worth note that the
perception of speed and distance are two equivalent critical aspects for
drivers to successfully avoid a crash. Besides, admittedly, the perceptual
interventions have shown usefulness in reducing speed or increasing
headway, but relative few studies have directly evaluated the effec-
tiveness of the perceptual interventions on the accident prevention
outcome in terms of safety benefits. Accordingly, to better understand
the influences of the perceptual interventions on driving behaviors and
roadway safety, this paper explores the effects of a certain form of
pavement markings, i.e., the peripheral transverse line markings
(PTLMs), on drivers’ speed and headway (distance) choice and crash
risk in car-following, from the perspective of fundamental theories of
speed and distance perception.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 pre-
sents a review of the technical literatures. Section 3 introduces the
experiments with PTLMs and describes the data collection and treat-
ment processes, followed by the statistical analysis results in Section 4.
A discussion of the results is demonstrated in Section 5. Section 6 draws
a conclusion of the research findings and indicates the limitations.
2. Literature review
2.1. Effectiveness of PTLMs on speed reduction
Similar to speed reduction markings, optical speed bars, and other
typical peripheral transverse line markings that non-parallel to the
roadway edge, PTLMs were widely used in practice (Godley, 1999;
McGee and Hanscom, 2006), extensively tested in laboratory (Montella
et al., 2010; Calvi, 2018; Awan et al., 2019; Ding et al., 2013; Ding
et al., 2015; Ding et al., 2016; Zhao et al., 2018) or in field (Retting
et al., 2000; Rakha et al., 2006; Gates et al., 2008; Guo et al., 2016), and
specified by national design standards (Standardization Administration
of the People’s Republic of China, 2009; Federal Highway
Administration, 2009), which could be evidences of its application
value on the improvement of traffic safety. Research granted by gov-
ernment organizations (Godley, 1999; McGee and Hanscom, 2006), all
reported substantial speed reduction effects of PTLMs on rural high-
ways or municipal roads, on curves or tangent segments. Besides, by
employing driving simulators, researchers modified the regular pattern
of PTLMs and/or incorporated other elements like the traffic signs to
attempt to seek an enhanced speed reduction effect or to reveal its ef-
fectiveness on certain scenarios. Specifically, Goeley (Godley, 1999)
used peripheral transverse line markings (the markings and roadway
edge line intersected at angles of 45°and 90°) that gradually increased
in length and width, making drivers feel an increased speed while
driving over them, which resulted in speed reduction. Montella et al.
(Montella et al., 2010) tested the effects of peripheral transverse line
markings (90° intersection angles) on a tangent segment before an in-
tersection of a simulated rural road, and found a 5.46 m/s reduction in
speed on average with regard to the baseline. Calvi (Calvi, 2018)
2
Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701
compared the effectiveness of optical speed bars, white and red per-
ipheral transverse line markings on a virtual crest vertical curve, found
that the red peripheral transverse line markings significantly out-
performed the others with a 1.67 m/s reduction in speed. (Awan et al.
(2019)) examined the effectiveness of peripheral transverse line
markings (the intersection angle was not introduced, but possibly was
45° according to the figure attached) on two horizontal curves of a si-
mulated two-way rural road in Belgian, and found 2.52 m/s and
3.40 m/s speed reductions, respectively.
Similarly, some simulation-based studies have been done in dealing
with speeding and related safety issues on urban roads in China. (Ding
et al. (2013); Ding et al., 2015; Ding et al., 2016) conducted a series
research to examine the effectiveness of speed reduction markings on
urban expressway in Beijing, China, and reported significant speed re-
ductions. (Zhao et al. (2018)) examined the effectiveness of a kind of
regular speed reduction markings on the left-turn direct connectors of
urban expressway by using driving simulator, and found a 1.39 m/s
reduction in speed on average.
Alternatively, field experiments were also adopted for the purpose
of verifying the practical usefulness of PTLMs with naturalistic driving
data. (Retting et al. (2000)) installed a series of transverse markings on
the upstream of the exit ramp of a low-grade road, and found that the
vehicle speeds were significantly decreased before they entered the
ramp. Rakha et al. (Rakha et al., 2006) designed a kind of transverse
bars with a constant longitudinal gap, and its field observations showed
a 1.67 m/s reduction in average speed and a 2.22 m/s reduction in 85 %
speed. (Gates et al. (2008)) discovered that the white peripheral
transverse line markings installed with decreasing longitudinal gap
between successive markings, were effective in reducing curve speeds
in a magnitude between 0.45 m/s and 1.79 m/s. Guo et al. (Guo et al.,
2016) studies the effects of peripheral transverse line markings on ve-
hicle speed and crashes in the vicinity of urban pedestrian crosswalks,
and its field observations revealed a 1.05 m/s reduction in speed on
average.
2.2. Visual perception theories behind the line markings
As introduced at the beginning, compared with the effectiveness
evaluation that have been extensively studied previously, those per-
ceptual interventions are rarely analyzed in-depth from the perspective
of visual perception per se. This actually could be a major deficiency
that limits the improvement and application of the perceptual inter-
ventions as traffic accident countermeasures. Thus, some basic visual
perception theories behind the effects of the line markings on driving
behaviors need to be well explored.
The exploration could naturally begin with an inspection of the
fundamental research of several cognitive psychologists. (Gibson
(1950)) is without a doubt the most influential pioneer, who derived
observers’ visual perception in motion from the light continuous en-
tering and “flowing” through its retina, which was the original meaning
of “optic flow”. Optic flows can be produced by relative motions be-
tween the observers and the three-dimensional scenes (predominantly
the ground surface as suggested by the “ground dominance effect (Bian
et al., 2005)”). Edge rate (ER) is a kind of optical information related to
optic flows, which was defined as the rate at which local discontinuities
cross a fixed point of reference in the observer’s field of view (Warren
(1982)). It was both found in virtual-reality experiments (Warren
(1982)) and field observations (Liu et al., 2013) that edge rate could
cause speed overestimation in drivers and in turn led to a speed re-
duction. Therefore, the influence of edge rate on speed have widely but
unconsciously been incorporated into the design of speed reduction
perceptual countermeasures, which featured with an illusion of tra-
velling faster.
Headway (distance) is another critical factor contributes to rear-end
crashes, and it is also greatly environmentally depended in terms of
drivers’ distance perception and estimation. According to the
N. Ding, et al. Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701

fundamental “Ground Theory”, put forward by (Gibson (1950)), the

visual system was unable to establish a reliable reference frame with
result of failure to obtain correct absolute distance, when the common
ground surface disrupted (discontinued). Based on the “Ground
Theory”, (Sinai et al. (1998)), Yarbrough et al. (Yarbrough et al., 2002),
and (Wu et al. (2004)) verified that the “discontinuous” ground surface
visual information could lead to a phenomenon of distance under-
estimation among observers, which was also referred to as the “dis-
continuity effect” by (Feria et al. (2003)). Based on the above psycho-
physics experiments conducted in virtual-reality scenarios, (Ding et al.
(2019a); Ding et al. (2017a); Ding et al., 2017b; Ding et al., 2019b)
carried out a series of field experiments with peripheral longitudinal or
transverse line markings installed on road surface of freeways to vi-
sually intervene drivers’ car-following behavior, and reported increases
of time headways in car-following after the installation of the line
markings.

2.3. Safety benefits of the line markings

Compared with the effectiveness of the line markings on driving

behaviors, the direct safety benefits, might as well the accident pre-
vention outcome, are relatively limitedly evaluated. (Griffin and
Reinhardt (1996)) found that the crash frequency can be reduced by
25–40 % after the installation of chevron pavement markings, and the
PTLMs (90° intersection angles) can lead to a 5% reduction in crash
counts. Similarly, Drakopoulos and Vergou (Drakopoulos and Vergou,
2003) suggested that chevron pavement markings were effective in
reducing crashes at freeway exit ramps with a before–after study.
However, Guo et al. (Guo et al., 2016) reported opposite results in
urban roads that the presence of parallelogram-shaped pavement
markings induced 5.4 % increase in rear-end crashes at pedestrian
crosswalks. Actually, this limitation could be that the crash data are not
readily available, not complete, and/or not accurate for safety evalua- Fig. 1. Design and layout of the peripheral transverse line markings. Here, the
tions. Given this, the conflict-based surrogate safety measures are need conditions of (a) α = 30°, λ = 2m , (b) α = 45°, λ = 4m , and (c)
to be taken advantage of in this regard. Recently, (Ding et al. (2019b)) α = 135°, λ = 8m were demonstrated as examples.
developed two surrogate safety indicators based on time-to-crash (TTC)
and deceleration rate to avoid a crash (DRAC), to measure the crash risk length slow lane was installed with the tapes (see Fig. 1). The angle (α)
variation under the influence of a kind of longitudinal line markings was controlled at five levels of 30°, 45°, 90°, 135°, and 150°, and
during a short period of time or a short range of distance, found that the λ = 2m , λ = 4m , and λ = 8m were chosen for the longitudinal spacing
crash risk was significantly reduced by the line markings. to be in line with our previous studies (Ding et al., 2019a; Ding et al.,
2017a; Ding et al., 2017b; Ding et al., 2019b). Yet, for the purpose of
3. Experiment eliminating other possible interference, additional manipulations were
acted on the design and installation of the line markings as follows: 1)
3.1. Experimental site the width of every single marking was set as 15 cm; 2) the vertical
distance of the starting end and the terminal end of a single marking
The segment of Shanghai and Chongqing Freeway (coded G50) at with respect to the original white marking was fixed to 15 cm and
Yichang, Hubei Province, P.R. China was chosen as the experimental 50 cm, respectively. The detailed design parameters of the PTLMs is
site. It was a two-way-four-lane expressway, with a design speed of demonstrated in Table 1. Fig. 1 illustrates the design and actual layout
22.22 m/s (80 km/h) and a lane width of 3.75 m. The Annual Average of the PTLMs in real scene, with the conditions of α = 30° and λ = 2m ,
Daily Traffic (AADT) was 11,134 vehicles per day. The exact location of α = 45° and λ = 4m , and α = 135° and λ = 8m as examples.
this experimental site was between 1220.2 km–1221.1 km of G50, at
which it was a flat and tangent segment. Along the direction of mileage
increase, this tangent segment was connected with a right-turn curve in 3.3. Data collection
upstream and with another series of curves in downstream. Note that
there was no tunnel or overpass within 300 m area, nor any exposed In this study, we adopted similar methods as in our previous ex-
surveillance system for violations capture. periments (Ding et al., 2019a; Ding et al., 2017a) to collect traffic flow

3.2. Design and installation of PTLMs Table 1

Design parameters of the peripheral transverse line markings.
As introduced and analyzed above, the intersection angle (denoted Angle of markings α 30° 45° 90° 135° 150°
as “α”) between the peripheral transverse line markings (PTLMs) and Width of markings (cm) 15 15 15 15 15
the traffic flow direction, and the longitudinal spacing (denoted as “λ ”) Vertical distance to the Starting end 15 15 15 15 15
between two adjacent markings are the two critical variables that we original marking Terminal end 50 50 50 50 50
(cm)
intended to manipulate concerning the design of the PTLMs. A series of Length of markings (cm) 70 49.5 35 49.5 70
pre-formed adhesive yellow tapes was placed just inside both edges of Spacing between markings λ (m) 2/4/8 2/4/8 2/4/8 2/4/8 2/4/8
the slow lane of the experimental site to exhibit PTLMs, and a 300 m-

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N. Ding, et al. Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701

Fig. 2. Layout of the traffic analyzers and cameras.

data by using NC200 traffic analyzers and cameras. That was, six fifteen combinations of α and λ , which will be introduced in Section 4.1
NC200 traffic analyzers were sequentially positioned in the center of
the slow lane of the experimental site, which represented six observa- 3.4.2. Data conversion method
tion sections, to collect instantaneous speed (v ), distance (d ), time
headway (h ) of a vehicle as it passed each observation section (see (1) Traffic flow data
Fig. 2). To accurately extract out the data of the same vehicle at each
section from the traffic analyzers, the system time of traffic analyzers The original data of the sample comprised the instantaneous time
were synchronized with the Beijing standard time before every single headway (hik ), speed (vik ), and distance (dik ) of every single vehicle (i ) at
test. Meanwhile, in case of failures on data collection of the traffic each observation section (k ). Yet, to obtain a general comparison
analyzers, six video cameras (50 frames of images with a resolution of among the various conditions of α and λ of the line markings, the
1920 × 1080 recorded per second) were used for possible data ver- average time headway, speed, and distance of a vehicle that passes
ification. If there was a significant difference between the data from the through the experimental area were calculated as follows:
analyzers and from the cameras, re-observation would be initiated. The 6
cameras were mounted outside the crash barrier on the hard shoulder 1
hi = ∑ hik
6 k=1
with the same level in horizontal with regard to its corresponding traffic (1)
analyzers. To avoid drivers’ unintentional mistakes of regarding the
cameras as traffic violation surveillance, the cameras were sheltered 500
vi =
with local shrubs and invisible from the lanes (see Fig. 2). Besides, all Δti (2)
the data were collected during 8:30 a.m.−11:30 a.m. and/or 14:00 6
p.m.−17:00 p.m. in no precipitation days, and at least a six-hour ob- 1
di = ∑ dik
6 k=1
servation was conducted for every single test to meet the requirement of (3)
sample size for statistical analysis; yet the observation of each test was
where, hi , vi , and di are the average time headway, speed, and distance
no longer than nine hours. Note that the original condition where no
of vehicle i as it passed through the experimental area under a certain
extra line marking installed was treated as baseline, in which the data
condition of α and λ ; hik and dik are the instantaneous time headway
collection was conducted prior to other tests with line markings in-
and distance of vehicle i as it passed observation section # k ; Δti is the
stalled.
time interval of vehicle i as it traveled between observation section #1
and #6; n is the balanced vehicle number.
Further, to generally compare drivers’ speed and headway choice
3.4. Data treatment
between the conditions with PTLMs and baseline, the general relative
difference of h , v , and d were defined as follows:
3.4.1. Data screening process
As we focus on the strict car-following situation, those vehicles in a hi − hB
ηh =
free-flow state or negotiated lane-change were need to be removed from hB (4)
the sample. Here in this paper, we used the same methods as in our
previous studies (Ding et al., 2019a; Ding et al., 2017a) to filter out vi − vB
ηv =
free-flow and lane-change vehicles. The free-flow vehicles were filtered vB (5)
out by comparing the time headway and the stopping time. That was, if
di − dB
the time headway of a vehicle was greater than its stopping distance, ηd =
dB (6)
then it was in a free- flow state and need to be removed. Here, the
stopping time was calculated as follows t = v / a , where t is the stopping where ηh , ηv , and ηd are the general relative differences of time
time, s; v is the instantaneous speed of a vehicle, m/s; a is the decel- headway, speed, and distance of vehicle i with regard to baseline, re-
eration (a = 2.5m / s 2 was suggested by (AASHTO (2011))). If the state of spectively; hB , vB , and dB are the average time headway, speed, and
free-flow and/or lane-change occurred at any section of the three (of distance of all vehicles within the experimental area (500 m) of base-
one direction of the segment), then the vehicle was needed to be re- line, respectively; other variables mean the same as above.
moved. Besides, to identify the lane-change vehicles, the video clips To quantitatively evaluate the performance of PTLMs on adjusting
were reviewed frame by frame to check the trajectory of each vehicle drivers’ behaviors between observation sections, the sectional relative
from observation section #1 to #6. If lane-change occurred between difference of h , v , and d between observation section #1 and #6 were
any two consecutive observation sections, then the vehicle needed to be defined as follows:
removed from the effective sample. In addition, for the purpose of
hi6 − hi1
conducting a two-way ANOVA with repeated measure, the original θh =
sample size was further randomly trimmed to be in balance amongst the hi1 (7)

4
N. Ding, et al. Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701

vi6 − vi1 (ANOVA), to comprehensively test the significance of difference among

θv =
vi1 (8) various conditions of α and λ . It was a 5 (30°, 45°, 90°, 135°, and 150°)
× 3 (2 m, 4 m, and 8 m) ANOVA with repeated measures. In addition,
di6 − di1 post hoc comparisons between any conditions of α and λ were con-
θd =
di1 (9) ducted by using Tukey’s HSD test. Besides, the significance of crash risk
variations caused by the line markings were also examined by the 5 × 3
where θh , θv , and θd are the sectional relative differences of time
ANOVA with repeated measures in terms of rmTTC and rDRAC , respec-
headway, speed, and distance of vehicle i between the entering section
tively. All the statistical analyses were conducted in R 3.6.1.
(#1) and the existing section (#6) of the experimental area in a certain
condition of α and λ , respectively; other variables mean the same as
above. 4. Results

(2) Crash risk data 4.1. Descriptive statistics of the sample

Besides, for the purpose of measuring the crash risk in terms of According to data collection method mentioned above, 16,798 raw
possible safety benefits of PTLMs, two extended and modified surrogate individual vehicles (raw sample) were collected and in which 3187 car-
safety indicators based on TTC and DRAC that we previously proposed following vehicles (original sample) were sampled through the above
were employed (Ding et al., 2019b). That was, the rate of change of the data screening process. Wherein, there were 1877 (58.9 %) small ve-
reciprocal of TTC (mTTC) rmTTC and the rate of change of DRAC rDRAC , hicles (two-axle vehicles, including small passenger cars, small trucks,
were calculated as follows: and vans) and 1310 (41.1 %) large vehicles (three-axle and above ve-
hicles, including large trucks and buses) in the original sample. The
i mTTCi (t1) − mTTCi (t6 ) detailed original sample of all combinations of α and λ is characterized
rmTTC =
mTTCi (t1 ) (10) as follows in Table 2.
As mentioned before, from the perspective of statistical analysis of a
i DRACi (t1) − DRACi (t6 )
rDRAC = two-way ANOVA with repeated measure, the sample size of each
DRACi (t1 ) (11)
combination of α and λ needs to be in balance. So, given that the
here, the mTTC and DRAC can be calculated as follows: minimum original sample size is 158 (α = 135° and λ = 4m ), and for
the purpose of making the most of the existing original samples, the
vi (t ) − vi − 1 (t )
mTTCi (t ) = , ∀ vi (t ) > vi − 1 (t ) original sample size was further randomly trimmed to a balanced 150
Si (t ) (12)
amongst the fifteen combinations of α and λ . Note that, after trimming,
there were 1474 (61.4 %) small vehicles and 926 (38.6 %) large ve-
⎧ [vi (t ) − vi − 1 (t )]2
, vi (t ) > vi − 1 (t ) hicles in the effective sample. A descriptive statistics of the effective
DRACi (t ) = x i − 1 (t ) − x i (t ) − Li − 1
⎨ samples of each condition of α and λ is presented as follows in Table 3.
⎩ 0, vi (t ) < vi − 1 (t ) (13) In addition, a series of one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were
where rmTTC i i
, rDRAC are the rate of change of mTTC and DRAC of vehicle i conducted to verify the normality of the collected time headways and
between observation section #1 and #6, respectively, and a positive speeds of the 150 vehicles before the analysis of variance. The nor-
i i mality test results and the distribution of the sample are shown in
value of rmTTC or rDRAC means a decrease in crash risk caused by the line
markings, and vice versa; t1, t6 are the timestamps when vehicle i passed Table 4 and Fig. 3, respectively.
through observation section #1 and #6; mTTCi (t ) is the modified TTC
of following vehicle (i ) at timestamp t ; vi (t ) , vi − 1 (t ) are the velocity of 4.2. Effects on ηh and θh
following vehicle (i ) and leading vehicle (i − 1) at timestamp t , and
Si (t ) is the spacing between the two vehicles at timestamp t ; DRACi (t ) , In general, as demonstrated in Fig. 4, the general relative time
x i (t ) , and vi (t ) are the DRAC, position, and velocity of following vehicle headway differences (ηh ) in all conditions of α and λ were all found to
(i ) at timestamp t , and Li − 1 is the length of leading vehicle (i − 1). be positive indicates an increased time headway after the installation of
For the purpose of measuring the general effects of one particular PTLMs. As for the intersection angle (α ) of the line markings, the
form of PTLMs on crash risk, the rmTTC and rDRAC were averaged within
the n vehicles as follows: Table 2
n Descriptive statistics of the original samples.
1 i
rmTTC = ∑ rmTTC
n i=1 α λ Raw Original Avg. h (s) Std. Avg. Std. Avg. Std.
(14)
sample sample of h v (m/ of v d (m) of d
n size size (s) s) (m/ (m)
1 i s)
rDRAC = ∑ rDRAC
n i=1 (15)
30° 2m 1019 214 4.12 0.12 21.93 0.30 83.24 1.23
where rmTTC , rDRAC are the average of rmTTC and rDRAC of one combination 4m 1008 196 4.07 0.19 22.01 0.25 82.22 1.15
8m 993 199 4.01 0.18 22.27 0.32 81.94 1.20
of α and λ .
45° 2m 1005 203 4.17 0.17 21.70 0.26 83.83 1.17
4m 1104 207 4.11 0.14 21.82 0.26 82.35 1.22
3.5. Data analysis 8m 982 179 4.10 0.16 21.99 0.27 81.88 1.22
90° 2m 1001 205 4.24 0.13 21.43 0.32 83.99 1.15
4m 992 181 4.19 0.18 21.62 0.27 83.16 1.18
In general, the comparisons of drivers’ behaviors between the con-
8m 1005 203 4.10 0.16 21.89 0.31 82.71 1.16
ditions with and without (baseline) the PLTMs, were evaluated by the 135° 2m 1311 236 4.35 0.16 21.05 0.31 84.04 1.24
general relative difference of time headway (ηh ), speed (ηv ), and dis- 4m 985 158 4.28 0.19 21.25 0.28 83.18 1.23
tance (ηd ). The performance of the PLTMs on drivers’ behaviors while it 8m 1157 208 4.21 0.15 21.47 0.33 82.90 1.24
traveled through the experimental area was evaluated by the sectional 150° 2m 1203 198 4.42 0.13 21.01 0.28 84.33 1.18
4m 1011 193 4.34 0.12 21.35 0.31 83.32 1.17
relative difference of time headway (θh ), speed (θv ), and distance (θd ).
8m 1010 194 4.27 0.17 21.36 0.28 82.98 1.20
In specific, a relatively detailed statistical analysis of the converted Baseline 1012 213 4.02 0.19 22.29 0.31 80.15 1.24
traffic flow data (η , θ ) was performed by means of analysis of variance

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N. Ding, et al. Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701

Table 3
Descriptive statistics of the effective samples.
α λ Effective Avg. h (s) Std. Avg. v Std. of Avg. d Std. of
sample size of h (m/s) v (m/ (m) d (m)
(s) s)

30° 2m 150 4.08 0.14 21.81 0.26 83.35 1.17

4m 150 4.04 0.16 22.08 0.28 82.18 1.17
8m 150 4.02 0.16 22.13 0.29 81.81 1.16
45° 2m 150 4.15 0.16 21.61 0.28 83.76 1.16
4m 150 4.1 0.17 21.86 0.29 82.32 1.16
8m 150 4.07 0.14 21.91 0.29 81.97 1.17
90° 2m 150 4.21 0.15 21.44 0.28 83.93 1.18
4m 150 4.17 0.17 21.75 0.29 83.1 1.17
8m 150 4.13 0.14 21.82 0.29 82.55 1.2
135° 2m 150 4.33 0.17 21.14 0.29 84.08 1.21
4m 150 4.27 0.15 21.39 0.29 83.2 1.17
8m 150 4.23 0.14 21.48 0.29 82.81 1.18
150° 2m 150 4.41 0.16 21.03 0.29 84.25 1.19
4m 150 4.35 0.16 21.33 0.29 83.39 1.19
8m 150 4.31 0.14 21.40 0.29 83.05 1.18
Fig. 4. General relative time headway difference (ηh ) vs. α and λ .
Baseline 150 3.97 0.16 22.36 0.26 80.18 1.21

average respectively, when compared with the baseline (3.97 s). Simi-
Table 4 larly, as for, the average ηh were 0.067, 0.054, and 0.046 in conditions
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test results. of λ = 2m , λ = 4m , and λ = 8m , respectively, which indicates an
Experiment K-S test of h K-S test of v average increase in time headway of 0.266 s (+6.70 %), 0.216 s
(+5.44 %), and 0.182 s (+4.58 %) with respect to the baseline.
α λ statistic D p-value statistic D p-value In specific, a two-way (α × λ ) ANOVA revealed significant main
effects of α (F(4,2235) = 291.332, p < 0.001), λ (F(2,2235) = 71.408,
30° 2m 0.072 0.412 0.059 0.669
4m 0.056 0.742 0.089 0.190 p < 0.001) on the general relative time headway difference (ηh ).
8m 0.058 0.696 0.072 0.418 However, the interaction effect between α and λ (F(8,2235) = 0.385,
45° 2m 0.091 0.165 0.101 0.093 p = 0.929) was not found to be significant. In addition, post hoc
4m 0.058 0.695 0.084 0.245 comparisons (Tukey’s HSD test) showed significant differences at all
8m 0.097 0.117 0.100 0.099
pairwise comparisons of the general relative time headway differences
90° 2m 0.096 0.128 0.057 0.724
4m 0.076 0.359 0.084 0.245 (ηh ) among all α , λ (p < 0.001), respectively, but not at all combina-
8m 0.086 0.219 0.086 0.218 tions of α and λ . Yet, the combination of α = 150°, λ = 2m was found to
135° 2m 0.093 0.150 0.068 0.486 be significantly different with other combinations at 95 % family-wise
4m 0.096 0.128 0.087 0.202
confidence level.
8m 0.081 0.273 0.063 0.593
150° 2m 0.086 0.218 0.073 0.401 As for the observation sections, the sectional relative time headway
4m 0.093 0.149 0.064 0.565 differences (θh ) in all conditions of α and λ were all found to be positive,
8m 0.076 0.349 0.066 0.533 as shown in Fig. 5. It means that the time headway of a vehicle was
Baseline 0.068 0.501 0.069 0.464 increased as it passed through the line markings area, when compared
with the baseline specifically. The average sectional relative time
headway differences (θh ) were 0.027, 0.059, 0.070, 0.105, and 0.119 in
average ηh were 0.019, 0.034, 0.050, 0.077, and 0.097 in conditions of
conditions of α = 30°, α = 45°, α = 90°, α = 135°, and α = 150°, and
α = 30°, α = 45°, α = 90°, α = 135°, and α = 150°, respectively. It
represented time headway increases of 0.108 s, 0.234 s, 0.282 s, 0.425 s,
means the time headways increased 0.077 s (+1.93 %), 0.137 s (+3.44
and 0.483 s from observation section #1 to #6, respectively. Similarly,
%), 0.200 s (+5.04 %), 0.307 s (+7.72 %), and 0.387 s (+9.74 %) on

Fig. 3. Sample distribution. Here, the condition of α = 30°, λ = 2m was demonstrated as an example.

6
N. Ding, et al.
Fig. 5. Sectional relative time headway difference (θh ) vs. α and λ .
the θh were 0.082, 0.078, and 0.068 on average in conditions of λ = 2m ,
λ = 4m , and λ = 8m , and represented 0.331 s, 0.315 s, and 0.273 s time
headway increases, respectively. The maximum θh (0.125) and time
headway increase (0.510 s) were found in the condition of α = 150° and
λ = 2m ; the minimum θh (0.018) and time headway increase (0.070 s)
in the condition of α = 30° and λ = 8m .
In specific, a two-way (α × λ ) ANOVA revealed significant main
effects of α (F(4,2235) = 295.166, p < 0.001), λ (F(2,2235) = 7.892,
p < 0.001) on the sectional relative time headway difference (θh ).
However, the interaction effect between α and λ (F(8,2235) = 0.884,
p = 0.529) was not found to be significant. In addition, post hoc
comparisons (Tukey’s HSD test) showed significant differences at all
pairwise comparisons of the sectional relative time headway difference
(θh ) among all α , λ , respectively, except for the λ = 2m and λ = 4m
pairwise comparison (p = 0.810) in terms of λ , but not at all combi-
nations of α and λ , at 95 % family-wise confidence level. Similarly, the
combination of α = 150°, λ = 2m was found to be significantly different
with other combinations, except for the pairwise comparisons between
α = 150°, λ = 2m and α = 150°, λ = 4m (p = 0.990) and α = 150°,
λ = 2m and α = 150°, λ = 8m (p = 0.874).
4.3. Effects on ηv and θv
Fig. 6 presents the general relative speed differences (ηv ) in all
conditions of α and λ . It was found that all ηv were negative, which
reveals a reduced speed after the installation of PTLMs. As for the
Fig. 6. General relative speed difference (ηv ) vs. α and λ .
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Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701
intersection angle (α ) of the line markings, the average ηv were -0.016,
-0.025, -0.031, -0.046, and -0.050 in conditions of α = 30°, α = 45°,
α = 90°, α = 135°, and α = 150°, respectively. It means the speeds re-
duced 0.359 m/s (-1.61 %), 0.567 m/s (-2.53 %), 0.690 m/s (-3.08 %),
1.025 m/s (-4.58 %), and 1.108 m/s (-4.96 %) on average respectively,
when compared with the baseline (22.36 m/s). As for λ , the average ηv
were -0.043, -0.030, and -0.027 in conditions of λ = 2m , λ = 4m , and
λ = 8m , respectively, which indicates an average reduction in speed of
0.956 m/s (-4.27 %), 0.679 m/s (-3.04 %), and 0.614 m/s (-2.75 %)
with respect to the baseline.
In specific, a two-way (α × λ ) ANOVA showed significant main ef-
fects of α (F(4,2235) = 516.360, p < 0.001), λ (F(2,2235) = 372.792,
p < 0.001), and the interaction effect between α and λ (F
(8,2235) = 2.098, p = 0.033) in terms of the general relative speed
difference (ηv ). In addition, post hoc comparisons (Tukey’s HSD test)
showed significant differences at all pairwise comparisons of the gen-
eral relative speed differences (ηv ) among all α , λ (p < 0.01), respec-
tively, but not at all combinations of α and λ . Yet, the combinations of
α = 150°, λ = 2m and α = 135°, λ = 2m were found to be significantly
different with other combinations at 95 % family-wise confidence level.
As for the observation sections, as demonstrated in Fig. 7, the sec-
tional relative speed differences (θv ) in all conditions of α and λ were all
found to be negative. It means that the speed of a vehicle was reduced
as it passed through the line markings area, when compared with the
baseline specifically. The average sectional relative speed differences
(θv ) were -0.032, -0.046, -0.053, -0.065, and -0.072 in conditions of
= 30°, α = 45°, α = 90°, α = 135°, and α = 150°, and represented speed
reductions of 0.721 m/s, 1.034 m/s, 1.194 m/s, 1.456 m/s, and
1.594 m/s from observation section #1 to #6, respectively. Similarly,
the θv were -0.066, -0.049, and -0.046 on average in conditions of
λ = 2m , λ = 4m , and λ = 8m , and represented speed reductions of
1.462 m/s, 1.100 m/s, and 1.038 m/s, respectively. The maximum ab-
solute θv (0.081) and speed reduction (1.806 m/s) were found in the
condition of α = 150° and λ = 2m ; the minimum absolute θv (0.021)
and speed reduction (0.463 m/s) in the condition of α = 30° and
λ = 8m .
In specific, a two-way (α × λ ) ANOVA revealed significant main
effects of α (F(4,2235) = 37.66, p < 0.001), λ (F(2,2235) = 39.70,
p < 0.001) in terms of the sectional relative speed difference (θv ).
However, the interaction effect between α and λ (F(8,2235) = 1.91,
p = 0.055) was not found to be significant. In addition, post hoc
comparisons (Tukey’s HSD test) showed significant differences at all
pairwise comparisons of the sectional relative speed difference (θv )
among all α , λ , respectively, except for the α = 45° and α = 90°
(p = 0.298), α = 135° and α = 150° (p = 0.259) pairwise comparisons
in terms of α , and λ = 4m and λ = 8m pairwise comparison (p = 0.824)
Fig. 7. Sectional relative speed difference (θv ) vs. α and λ .
N. Ding, et al.
Fig. 8. General relative distance difference (ηd ) vs. α and λ .
in terms of λ , but not at all combinations of α and λ , at 95 % family-
wise confidence level. Yet, in specific, the combination of α = 150°,
λ = 2 m was found to be significantly different with other combina-
tions, except for the pairwise comparison between = 150°, λ = 2m and
α = 150°, λ = 4m (p = 0.177).
4.4. Effects on ηd and θd
As illustrated in Fig. 8, the general relative distance differences (ηd )
in all conditions of α and λ were all found to be positive, indicates an
increase in following distance of vehicles that caused by the PTLMs. As
for the intersection angle (α ) of the line markings, the average ηd were
0.028, 0.031, 0.038, 0.040, and 0.042 in conditions of α = 30° , α = 45°,
α = 90°, α = 135°, and α = 150°, respectively. It means the distances
increased 2.267 m (+2.83 %), 2.503 m (+3.12 %), 3.013 m (+3.76
%), 3.183 m (+3.97 %), and 3.383 m (+4.22 %) on average respec-
tively, when compared with the baseline (80.18 m). As for, the average
ηd were 0.046, 0.033, and 0.028 in conditions of λ = 2m , λ = 4m , and
λ = 8m , respectively, which indicates an average increase in distance of
3.694 m (+4.61 %), 2.658 m (+3.32 %), and 2.258 m (+2.82 %) with
respect to the baseline.
In specific, a two-way (α × λ ) ANOVA showed significant main ef-
fects of α (F(4,2235) = 76.625, p < 0.001), λ (F(2,2235) = 274.903,
p < 0.001), and interaction effect between α and λ (F
(8,2235) = 4.205, p < 0.001) on the general relative distance differ-
ence (ηd ). However, the was not found to be significant. In addition,
post hoc comparisons (Tukey’s HSD test) showed significant differences
at all pairwise comparisons of the general relative distance differences
(ηd ) among all α , λ (p < 0.001), except for the pairwise comparisons
between α = 30° and α = 45° (p = 0.083), α = 90° and α = 135°
(p = 0.149), and α = 135° and α = 150° (p = 0.195), but not at all
combinations of α and λ . Yet, the combinations of = 135° , λ = 2m and
α = 150°, λ = 2m were found to be significantly different with other
combinations, except for the pairwise comparison between combina-
tions of α = 135°, λ = 2m and α = 150°, λ = 2m (p = 1.000), at 95 %
family-wise confidence level.
As for the observation sections, the sectional relative distance dif-
ferences (θd ) in all conditions of α and λ were all found to be positive, as
shown in Fig. 9. It means that the following distance of a vehicle was
increased as it passed through the line markings, when compared with
the baseline where no extra line markings installed. The average sec-
tional relative distance differences (θd ) were 0.047, 0.050, 0.065, 0.065,
and 0.068 in conditions of α = 30°, α = 45° , α = 90°, α = 135°, and
α = 150°, and represented following distance increases of 3.790 m,
4.033 m, 5.167 m, 5.217 m, and 5.429 m from observation section #1 to
#6, respectively. Similarly, the θd were 0.071, 0.054, and 0.052 on
8
Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701
Fig. 9. Sectional relative distance difference (θd ) vs. α and λ .
average in conditions of λ = 2m , λ = 4m , and λ = 8m , and represented
distance increases of 5.704 m, 4.337 m, and 4.140 m, respectively. The
maximum θd (0.078) and distance increase (6.238 m) were found in the
condition of α = 150° and λ = 2m ; the minimum θd (0.038) and dis-
tance increase (3.038 m) in the condition of α = 45° and λ = 8m .
In specific, a two-way (α × λ ) ANOVA revealed significant main
effects of α (F(4,2235) = 163.258, p < 0.001), λ (F
(2,2235) = 395.982, p < 0.001), and the interaction effect between α
and λ (F(8,2235) = 7.925, p < 0.001) on the sectional relative dis-
tance difference (θd ). In addition, post hoc comparisons (Tukey’s HSD
test) showed significant differences at all pairwise comparisons of the
sectional relative distance difference (θd ) among all α , λ , except for the
α = 90° and α = 135° (p = 0.213), α = 90° and α = 150° (p = 0.435)
pairwise comparisons in terms of λ , but not at all combinations of α and
λ , at 95 % family-wise confidence level. Yet, the combinations of
= 135° , λ = 2m and α = 150°, λ = 2m were found to be significantly
different with other combinations.
4.5. Effects on rmTTC and rDRAC
Fig. 10(a)–(c) illustrate the crash risk variations under the influ-
ences of different forms of PTLMs. It can be discovered that the rmTTC
and rDRAC were all positive, which means a decrease in crash risk of
vehicles as it passed through the line markings area. In general, as for
rmTTC , the crash risk variations were 0.480, 0.500, 0.567, 0.603, and
0.650 on average in conditions of α = 30°, α = 45°, α = 90°, α = 135°,
and α = 150°, respectively; and the crash risk variations were 0.608,
0.574, and 0.498 on average in conditions of λ = 2m , λ = 4m , and
λ = 8m , respectively. As for rDRAC , the crash risk variations were 0.477,
0.527, 0.593, 0.670, and 0.727 on average in conditions of α = 30°,
α = 45°, α = 90°, α = 135°, and α = 150°, respectively; and the crash
risk variations were 0.710, 0.598, and 0.488 on average in conditions of
λ = 2m , λ = 4m , and λ = 8m , respectively. Besides, the effects of α and
λ on the crash risk indicators of rmTTC (α : F(4,2235) = 27.729,
p < 0.001; λ : F(2,2235) = 29.528, p < 0.001) and rDRAC (α : F
(4,2235) = 53.159, p < 0.001; λ : F(2,2235) = 116.560, p < 0.001)
were found to be statistically significant by a two-way (α × λ ) ANOVA.
However, the interaction effects between α and λ did not reach sig-
nificance (rmTTC : F(8,2235) = 0.418, p = 0.911; rDRAC : F
(8,2235) = 1.771, p = 0.078).
In addition, post hoc comparisons (Tukey’s HSD test) showed sig-
nificant differences at all pairwise comparisons in terms of rmTTC among
all α , λ (p < 0.001), respectively, except for the pairwise comparisons
of α = 30° and α = 45° , α = 90° and α = 135°, and α = 135° and
α = 150° with respect to α , and λ = 2m and λ = 4m with respect to λ .
However, post hoc comparisons of the combinations of α and λ did not
N. Ding, et al.
Fig. 10. Crash risk variation vs. α and λ . (a) λ = 2m , (b) λ = 4m , and (c)
λ = 8m .
reach statistical significance unanimously. Yet, the combination of
α = 150°, λ = 2m was found to be significantly different with other
combinations, except for the comparisons between combinations of
α = 135°, λ = 4m and α = 150°, λ = 2m (p = 0.137), and α = 150°,
9
Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701
λ = 4m and α = 150°, λ = 2m (p = 0.972), at 95 % family-wise con-
fidence level. As for rDRAC , post hoc comparisons (Tukey’s HSD test)
showed significant differences at all pairwise comparisons among all α ,
λ , respectively, except for the pairwise comparisons of α = 30° and
α = 45° (p = 0.209) with respect to α . However, post hoc comparisons
of the combinations of α and λ did not reach statistical significance
unanimously. Yet, the combination of α = 150°, λ = 2m was found to be
significantly different with other combinations.
5. Discussions
In this study, we examined the effects of peripheral transverse line
markings (PTLMs) on drivers’ speed and headway choice in car-fol-
lowing by a series of on-road experiments on a real-world freeway
segment. In the experiments, the intersection angle (α ) and the long-
itudinal spacing (λ ) of line markings were manipulated as the critical
factors to attempt to explore the visual perceptual mechanism behind
the PTLMs, which was rarely substantially reached before. Besides, in
this study, the naturalistic traffic flow data and its subsequent statistical
analyses of indicators of relative differences (η, θ ) were another sup-
plement to the existing research that would greatly rely on driving si-
mulations. In addition, the direct safety benefits, such as the accident
prevention outcome, are relatively limitedly evaluated previously.
Accordingly, we tentatively emphasized and evaluated the crash risk
reduction effects caused by the line markings using two modified and
extended conflict-based surrogate safety indicators, i.e., rmTTC and rDRAC .
As follows, the effectiveness, the visual perceptual mechanism, and the
influence on crash risk of the PTLMs are discussed and explored in
depth, respectively.
5.1. Effectiveness of PTLMs
According to the collected naturalistic driving data in our on-road
experiments, the positive values of the general relative difference of
time headway (ηh ) and distance (ηd ) suggested substantial headway
(distance) increases after the installation of the peripheral transverse
line markings compared with the baseline in this study. In particular,
the maximum increases of 0.44 s or 4.07 m were witnessed in condition
of α = 150°, λ = 2m . Similarly, the positive values of the sectional re-
lative difference of time headway (θh ) and distance (θd ) also indicated
headway (distance) increases as vehicles passed through the line
markings area, and the maximum increases were also appeared in
condition of α = 150°, λ = 2m (0.51 s or 6.24 m). Actually, this direct
distance change is rarely reported by other researchers.
In addition, similar speed reduction effects were produced. The
general average speed reduction of the fifteen combinations of α and λ
was 0.75 m/s as compared with the baseline, wherein the condition of
α = 150°, λ = 2m had the greatest speed reduction of 1.33 m/s. As for
observation sections, the average sectional speed reduction (from ob-
servation section #1 to #6) was 1.20 m/s, and the greatest sectional
speed reduction of 1.81 m/s was also observed in condition of α = 150°,
λ = 2m . Admittedly, the magnitude of speed reduction in this study was
relatively limited when compared with the previous ones (Godley,
1999; Montella et al., 2010; Calvi, 2018; Awan et al., 2019; Rakha
et al., 2006; Gates et al., 2008), which reported at least a 1.67 m/s
speed reduction on average (Montella et al. (Montella et al., 2010)
found a 5.46 m/s reduction especially).
Nevertheless, the speed reduction in this study is still of great sig-
nificance in terms of traffic safety. In this study, we specified our
concern on the car-following, which is a typical non-free flow of traffic
operation. As mentioned at the beginning, car-following is a state that
closely related with rear-end crashes. So, even 1 km/h (0.28 m/s) speed
reduction would be valuable to the following vehicles for the possibility
to successfully avoid a crash or to mitigate the strength of a crash at
least. Actually, this concern is closely associated with the applicability
of the perceptual interventions. In other words, the implementation of
N. Ding, et al.
the perceptual interventions should be well considered for certain
scenarios and/or vehicles, to possibly gain a better effect of accident
prevention. Several specific scenarios, like the curves (Calvi, 2018;
Awan et al., 2019; Ding et al., 2013; Ding et al., 2015; Ding et al., 2016;
Gates et al., 2008), intersections (Montella et al., 2010; Guo et al.,
2016), and ramps (Zhao et al., 2018; Retting et al., 2000) have already
received attentions from researchers, yet many other scenarios need to
be taken into considerations. The traffic flow state is just the funda-
mental one, because the crash risk varied greatly when there is or isn’t a
vehicle ahead in the vision of a following driver. More importantly, the
drivers would have to pay much more attention to its relative speed and
distance to the leading vehicle in a car-following state, which means the
visual perception-based line markings may then have a better perfor-
mance on drivers’ choice of speed and headway (distance). Actually, the
decrease in crash accidents and/or crash risk can hardly be achieved
through the speed reduction alone, a comprehensive measure in-
corporating speed reduction and headway (distance) increase is there-
fore needed to fill the gap.
5.2. Visual perception mechanism of PTLMs
5.2.1. Effects of α
A reduced lane width is probably the most intuitive feeling of dri-
vers as the peripheral transverse line markings indeed occupied certain
lane space visually. Additionally, an enhanced narrower lane width
would be perceived by drivers when the line markings are not per-
pendicular (α ≠ 90°) to the roadway edge, as an optical illusion, i.e.,
Zollner Illusion (Eagleman, 2001), would be generated by the line
markings and the roadway edge due to their special geographical re-
lationship. This illusion presents a series of straight parallel lines
crossed with overlapping short lines, and the straight parallel lines
appear as if to converge at one end and diverge at the other. To be
specific, the convergence appearance would occur when the short lines
forward pointing to distant of vision, and the divergence would gen-
erate in the opposite situation. Analogously, to certain extent, the
peripheral transverse line markings on the two edges of a lane of the
roadway may induce the Zollner Illusion, yet the backward pointing
(α = 135°, and α = 150°) PTLMs would accordingly produce the
greatest effect of convergence of the original white edge lines (a rela-
tively more enhanced lane width narrowing) to drivers, resulted in a
relatively more significant speed reduction.
The underlying reason behind was tentatively but adequately ex-
plained by Oyama (Oyama, 1975). He argued that the reason for the
perceived non-parallel of the roadway edges was that the drivers in-
herently inclined to perceive the intersection angle between the line
markings and the original edge lines as perpendicular (α = 90°). If the
angle did not equal to 90°, then the drivers would mentally and visually
compromise this discrepancy by “rotating” the edge lines to approx-
imate a perpendicular intersection (see Fig. 11). In details, when the
Fig. 11. Rotation of the edge lines under acute or obtuse intersection angles.
Here, α = 45° and α = 135° were taken as examples.
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Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701
intersection angle was larger than 90° (α > 90°), the original edge lines
would be rotated inward to the lane center, which led to the effect of
lane width narrowing; when the angle was smaller than 90° (α < 90°),
an outward rotation would lead to lane width expansion. More im-
portantly, the larger the obtuse intersection angle was the more inward
rotation needs with result of a stronger effect of lane width narrowing.
Similar effects would be produced in the acute intersection angles si-
tuations. That was the reason there was the greatest speed reduction in
condition of α = 150°.
5.2.2. Effects of λ
The longitudinal spacing (λ ) of PTLMs was rarely intentionally
controlled in previous experiments no matter in virtual or real-world
scenarios. Besides, the common seen spacing of the line markings was
fixed to 4.49 m or 7.32 m to produce a constant frequency of 4 markings
per second at a beginning speed ranged from 22.35 m/s to 26.82 m/s
(Godley, 1999; Montella et al., 2010; Rakha et al., 2006; Gates et al.,
2008). In comparison, the frequency in this study were set as 11.1
(λ = 2m ), 5.6 (λ = 4m ), and 2.8 (λ = 8m ) markings per second at the
beginning speed of 22.22 m/s (80 km/h), respectively. Actually, from a
perspective of speed perception, the explanations for the effects of
longitudinal spacing (λ ) of PTLMs on car-following behaviors could be
three-folded. First, drivers’ perception of speed could be affected by the
edge rate information produced by the line markings. According to
(Francois et al. (2011)), (Liu et al. (2013)), and (Ding et al. (2019a);
Ding et al. (2017a); Ding et al., 2017b; Ding et al., 2019b) edge rate
could induce speed overestimations of drivers, which eventually gave
rise to the reduction in its actual speeds. In the present study, the dri-
vers may experience with edge rate as there was relative motion be-
tween the line markings and the drivers while the vehicle passed
through, which could lead to speed reductions. Second, drivers’ per-
ception of distance could be affected by the “discontinuity effect” (Feria
et al., 2003) produced by PTLMs. Similar to the textures in the ex-
periments of (Sinai et al. (1998)), (Yarbrough et al. (2002)), (Wu et al.
(2004)), and (Feria et al., 2003), to certain extents, the line markings in
the present study could be regarded as discontinuous textures on road
surface. Accordingly, the distance to the leading vehicle could be un-
derestimated by the following drivers. However, for safety, drivers in-
clined to (or had to) increase its following distance to compromise the
crash risk. Besides, (Liu et al. (2013)) found that when the value of edge
rate fell in [8 Hz, 16 Hz], drivers could be most visually sensitive to the
edge rate, which resulted in the greatest effect of speed reduction. One
of our previous study found a similar interval of the value of edge rate
([5 Hz,14 Hz]), in which the time headway increased as the edge rate
increased (Ding et al., 2017a). Furthermore, a high density of the line
markings may lead to a greater “discontinuity effect”, since a severer
disruption was acted on the original continuous road surface. So, these
are the reasons that there were the greatest effects of speed reduction
and headway (distance) increase in condition of λ = 2m .
5.3. Crash risk variations due to PTLMs
Safety benefits of the perceptual interventions, like pavement
markings, have been evaluated by crash frequency and/or crash counts
(Guo et al., 2016; Griffin and Reinhardt, 1996; Drakopoulos and
Vergou, 2003). Apparently, these results are based on long term crash
records, which are not that readily available and not timely for the
purpose of safety evaluation of the perceptual interventions. So, com-
paratively, traffic conflict-based surrogate indicators (rmTTC and rDRAC )
would be more useful and more effective in this regard, as they re-
present real-time crash risk variations under different perceptual in-
terventions.
On the other hand, the quantitative results of the rmTTC and rDRAC are
actually an integrated performance of the line markings on variations in
car-following behaviors (ηh , θh , ηv , θv , ηd , and θd ). As demonstrated and
discussed above, a greater value of the intersection angle (α ) would lead
N. Ding, et al.
to an enhanced speed reduction effect, a smaller value of the long-
itudinal spacing (λ ) could result in a more significant increase in
headway (distance) and reduction in speed. Therefore, apparently, a
greater variation in crash risk could be expected in the condition of
α = 150° and λ = 2m . In addition, this effect on crash risk variations
could originally be attributed to the “visual perception-risk perception”
influential mechanism (Ding et al., 2019b) we proposed recently. That
was, a greater intersection angle (α ) and/or a smaller longitudinal
spacing (λ ) would lead to a more sensitive and stronger distance and/or
speed risk perception among drivers, due to its effects on drivers’ dis-
tance and speed perception in real natural scenarios.
6. Conclusions
In this study, we attempted to explain the effects of a kind of per-
ceptual interventions of peripheral transverse line markings (PTLMs) on
drivers’ speed and headway choice in car-following from drivers’ visual
perception, a perspective that is rarely deeply reached but the meaning
of “perceptual” actually dwells in. This was achieved by installing a
series of line markings on real-world freeway in China to form the
PTLMs, and with naturalistic driving data collected. The results of
general and sectional relative differences of time headway (ηh , θh ),
speed (ηv , θv ), and distance (ηd , θd ) suggests that the peripheral trans-
verse line markings could lead to substantial increases in car-following
time headway and distance, and reduction in speed. The maximum time
headway increase (0.44 s), speed reduction (1.33 m/s), and distance
increase (4.07 m) were found in the condition of α = 150° and λ = 2m
compared with the original condition, where no extra line markings
installed. Besides, the real-time safety benefit of the PTLMs was eval-
uated by two modified and extended surrogate safety indicators, i.e.,
rmTTC and rDRAC . The results were discussed and explained considering
the effectiveness, the visual perceptual mechanism, and the influence
on crash risk of the PTLMs, respectively.
However, several limitations remain in that, 1) we unable to collect
any documented data concerning the direct (actual) perception of the
drivers with regard to the peripheral transverse line markings; 2) the
personal traits, like gender, age, etc., and vehicle type (size) might also
be contributive to car-following behaviors and crash risk; 3) the long
term effectiveness of the line markings was not evaluated. With these
limitations, the implementation of the PTLMs should be well considered
for certain scenarios, to possibly gain a better effect of accident pre-
vention and to minimize the possible adverse effects which we are
currently ignorant of. So, currently, before the visual perception me-
chanism of the line markings could be well understood, the plausible
locations for the implementation of the PTLMs would be in limited
areas on highways, and be better on the common accident-prone seg-
ments, such as the long straight segments, segments connecting the exit
ramp, curves with small radius, and so on. These issues were in-
tentionally ignored in the present study for the sake of simplification
and clarity, but are within considerations of our future research.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Naikan Ding: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation,
Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing - original draft. Shunying Zhu:
Supervision. Nisha Jiao: Data curation. Bing Liu: Writing - review &
editing.
11
Accident Analysis and Prevention 146 (2020) 105701
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (grant number 71901166, 71801176, 71771183);
the Science and Technology Project of Department of Transportation of
Hubei Province (grant number 2018-422-3-4); the Research Project of
Hubei Provincial Department of Education (grant number Q21091509);
and the Scientific Research Foundation of Wuhan Institute of
Technology (grant number K201845).
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