FE 03.0577 / 2019 / IRB - Recommendations for truck overtaking bans on federal highways.

The arrangement of general truck overtaking bans on federal highways has been the subject of public discussion repeatedly up to the highest political levels in recent decades and is also currently a pressing question from the political arena especially on sections of the track that are prone to accidents. The order is issued by the road traffic authorities of the federal states. Static, time-unlimited truck overtaking bans, static, temporary truck overtaking bans for defined hourly groups and traffic-dependent truck overtaking bans in the course of route control systems are possible.

The aim of this project is to check whether changed boundary conditions and existing new knowledge on the safety and ease of traffic taking into account the latest traffic forecasts and counts as well as the changed state of development lead to new conclusions. For this purpose, based on empirical studies of the traffic flow and simulation studies as well as a subsequent economic assessment of the effects on the traffic flow, applicable criteria and recommendations for the situation-based arrangement of truck overtaking bans on motorways, including their spatial extension, going beyond the consideration of accident notices, are to be derived. Building on this, the usefulness of general truck overtaking bans should be examined in relation to the current possibilities of the StVO.

As a result of the project, the political leadership is to be given a basis for the decision on general truck overtaking bans. As an alternative to such general prohibitions for two-lane directional lanes or possibly also for three and multiple lane directional lanes, nationwide uniform application criteria for the arrangement of truck overtaking bans (including route control systems) should be derived.