Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) for the evaluation of risk perception of roundabouts for young people

Risk perception, i.e. the ability to "read the road" in relation to potentially dangerous situations in the traffic environment, is strongly related to accident involvement. Human driving behavior is strongly conditioned by the road environment in its entirety, as driving involves complex interactions between the driver and the environment. This study in estigated the risk perception of roundabouts for young people in order to identify the major factors which influence such perception. A road users survey was developed to obtain young people feedback on roundabouts. Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) was used in order to understand how the young people features, the geometric characteristics and the traffic conditions of roundabouts affect the respondents risk perception. Finally, a risk perception scale NV as defined for the configurations of roundabouts identified. The research findings provides insight into young people risk perception of roundabouts: traffic conditions strongly affect risk perception of roundabouts; the roundabouts with small circulatory roadway (smaller than 7 in), with a diameter less than 40 m and with one lane on the legs and on the circulatory roadway are generally perceived as more dangerous than those with a medium/large circulatory roadway (larger than 7 in), with a diameter longer than 40 in and with two lanes n the legs and on the circulatory roadway: the right-turn bypass lane affects the respondents risk perception, but not in a clear and unambiguous manner. The authors believe that the results presented on this paper provide updated findings which may be useful to improve roundabouts design.