LAUSR

Purpose Given the inconsistent application of various road markings on Czech rural roads, there is a question “How does road marking in horizontal curves influence driving behaviour?” The study objective was to assess how centreline and edgelines influence driving behaviour. Methods To focus on the critical conditions, six curves on secondary rural roads, with radii below 200 m, were selected and monitored before and after application of road marking. The studied indicators were average speed and lateral position, which were collected using trajectories detected in calibrated video recordings. Results The results indicated that speeds decreased in both edgeline and centreline applications; regarding lateral positions, the edgelines were associated with shifting the driving trajectories towards the centre of the road, and the centrelines were associated with shifting the driving trajectories towards the road edges. Conclusions The indicated trends are likely to be influenced also by other factors, such as specific curve radii values, superelevation, speed profile, or parameters of road surroundings. Following study should thus focus on collecting data in a larger sample of sites and building a cross-sectional model, statistically linking the mentioned characteristics with safety.