Notat 5 - 2001 
 
2+1 roads - Danish experiences  
 
Dato
16. november 2001 
 
Forfatter
Lene Herrstedt 
 
Resume
A “2+1” road is a three-lane road marked in such a way that the central lane offers the two traffic directions alternating opportunities for overtaking. Three trial sections with \\\"2+1\\\"-marking were established on main rural roads in Denmark In 1993. Behaviroral studies focusing speed, overtaking and merging were carried out and published by the Road Directorate in 1995 and the safety effects were evaluated in 1999. This note summarise the experiences so far.
The behavioural studies showed that in the great majority of cases merging at the end of the overtaking sections take place without problems. Even though the chevron markings were crossed in individual cases, there have been no critical situations. But the observations emphasise the importance of the chevron markings being established over a suitably long section. Even though braking was observed in a small share of the merging performed on the last 100 m of the overtaking sections actual problems were ascertained only in a few cases on Route 16. This happens in the morning rush hours, when traffic is very dense. In individual cases observations have shown that the traffic in the overtaking lane has stopped and waited in order to be able to merge.

In general, no clear conclusions can be drawn regarding safety on “2+1” roads, because of the limited accident material. However, there is much to indicate a fall in the seriousness of accidents on the roads studied. This is demonstrated by a significance level of 10% in the number of road deaths.
 
 
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