The rural roads are a large part of the existing roads network, particularly that
consisting of two-lane. Evaluation of traffic performance for two-way, two-lane rural roads
is complex process due to their characteristics. Many performance measures
were
introduced by many authors in many countries to fit the local conditions.
This research presents an empirical evaluation of the relationship between
operational performance and platooning phenomenon in rural two-lane roads in Tartous.
Six performance measures and three platooning variables were defined and calculated for
ten study sites using traffic data from rural roads in Ash-Shaykh Badr region of Tartous
governorate. Using graphical and statistical analyses, the associations between the
performance measures and the platooning variables were examined.
The platooning variables investigated, traffic flow in the direction of travel has the
highest correlations with performance measures. As the overall findings confirmed that the
follower density is the most characterization of the relationship between traffic
performance and platooning, which is suitable for the study of operational performance.