In the traffic area of the city of Zurich, there are areas where, for example, a central island and a pedestrian crossing cause the lane width to narrow. This results in a so-called bottleneck, where, to date, the marking for the cycle lane has been temporarily removed. There is concern that cyclists may be overtaken by car drivers at the bottleneck due to the lack of marking, which could lead to safety-critical situations. Therefore, it should be investigated whether different road markings in bottlenecks have an influence on the driving behaviour of car drivers and thus have the potential to contribute to a safer traffic infrastructure.
The central question is therefore: Does the driving behaviour of drivers differ depending on the road markings in bottlenecks?

The aim of the present study is to gain insights into whether different road markings influence the driving behaviour of drivers and, if so, which of the tested markings promote safe driving behaviour in an objectively safe context.

In order to investigate the research question empirically, a test of the various road markings in a car driving simulator is recommended. Within the framework of the simulation, specially defined markings can be mapped and examined. An important advantage of this is that all environmental factors – including the surrounding road users – can be standardised in the driving simulator. This means that several identical bottleneck scenarios can be tested, which differ only in the road marking. Any differences in the driving behaviour of the car drivers can thus be clearly attributed to the different road markings. Another advantage of the simulation is from an ethical point of view: in particular when investigating critical situations – as in this case – testing in a protected environment for all road users is recommended.

The ZHAW Human Factors Psychology research group has a dynamic driving simulator at the Toni-Areal site in Zurich, with software that has been adapted for the Swiss traffic environment.