SDS - Driving tests on the new Sapienza Driving Simulator.

The drivers’ behavior observation, in real context, generally introduces many operational difficulties related to safety problems, because of the necessity to take no actions on the traffic circulation. The complex installation of monitoring equipment encourages the use of alternative techniques such as virtual reality tests. Also in the Sapienza University of Rome a driving simulator, named SDS (Sapienza Driving Simulator), is realized and used for this study. It allowed to reconstruct three-dimensional driving scenarios, starting from a geometric discrete model of the road, by means of a utility interface that allows the conversion of geometric data set with a specific algorithm. The discrete input, based on a sequence of three-dimensional points, allows to create the road models, independently from the nature of geometric elements that constitute the layout (real or designed road sections). In the experimental phase, the tests are conducted on a sample of people composed 35 participants. Each participant drove on three virtual road layouts, generated in accordance to Italian standard, which also contain some design faults in order to analyze the behavioral participants’ response to these defects. As an example, the trajectories of sample on tangent-curve junctions realized without spiral curve were analyzed through these tests. Also the speed profile was obtained: it allows to evaluate the continuous speed increase on tangents and wide radius curves that have a long extension. At last, it was analyzed the influences of vertical signs on drivers speed by studying effects of some road signals position (especially located in stretches of road having different geometrical characteristics).