An Exploratory Survey of Drivers' Knowledge of Right of Way at Freeway On-Ramp Merging Areas

摘要

Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death in the United States.~1 The most recent data available show that in 2006 there were almost 6 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes in the United States where a total of 42,642 people were killed and an additional 2.6 million were injured.~2 The majority of these motor vehicle crashes occurred at intersections or within the intersection influence areas.2 Traffic conflicts occur at intersections due to traffic streams moving in different directions interfering with each other, and as a result they become areas with high potential for traffic crashes compared witli non-intersection areas of the roadways.