Safety Evaluation of Urban Interchange Merging Area: A Driving Simulator Study Considering Traffic Conflict Analysis

In this study, a safety evaluation method for the merging areas of the interchange with eight on-ramps was proposed based on traffic conflict analysis and driving simulation. A driving simulation experiment involving 25 volunteers was conducted. Various indicators, including speed, acceleration, steering wheel angle, and lateral position, were selected. Based on traffic conflict analysis, the Time to Collision (TTC) thresholds for the serious side collision and the serious rear-end collisions are determined to be 3.6 s and 4.7 s respectively. The safety evaluation was performed on simulated interchange scenes using these parameters. Based on the findings of the research, it is evident that Route 4 attains a mere score of 58.827, signifying the existence of substantial safety hazards along this particular stretch of road. Therefore, it necessitates utmost consideration and caution during the intricacies of the design phase.