Investigation of recreational vehicles maneuverability on forest roads by computer-aided driving analysis

Forest road planning is a time-consuming and complicated process both because it requires environment-friendly road building, and due to the requirement to observe economic costs. This costs will be increase depending on maneuverability requirements of vehicle dimension. The main aim of this study is to analyze maneuverability of recreational vehicles on forest roads that primarily serve utilization of vehicles intended for production as well as geometrical characteristics of roads on computer environment. Both dynamic horizontal driving analysis and dynamic vertical driving analysis can be made with Autopath driving analysis module of Plateia 2013 software. Computer-aided horizontal driving analysis, which is used in examination of opportunities for utilization of available roads by different vehicle types, appears as an effective method for the decision maker in consideration of geometrical standards of vehicles during decision-making process. Graphical report is another output of driving analysis which visually presents vehicle maneuverability. In this context, Maneuverability of automobile, midibus and bus were analyzed on forest road with 4 m platform width. As a results of this study, it was concluded that computer-aided driving analysis is a beneficial tool in decision making process for re-planning of forest roads. As a consequence, it is considered that driver safety, as well as project costs, would increase by utilization of driving analysis during forest road planning and design.