Driver Car-Following Behavior: From Discrete Event Process to Continuous Set of Episodes

This paper provides a new approach for driving behavior; driving is not anymore a discrete process but a story divided into multiple episodes. This continuous story is characterized by a probability of terminating a given episode based on the driving experience encountered. To capture the above approach in a quantifiable framework, duration modeling is used (1) Duration models are frequently encountered in the domains of economics, social sciences, political studies and even, in transport (2) However, due to the complexities involved in specifying the boundary conditions of the problem, duration modeling was never applied in traffic. To overcome this difficulty, extensive analysis and modifications was performed on the NGSIM data (3) detailed trajectory data is transformed into episode duration data. The extracted episode-based data was studied and two final duration models were found: A Weibull Duration Model and a Log-Logistic Duration Model. Both models suggest that the probability of changing lanes (hazard functions) increases at the beginning of the episode (impatience or snow-balling effect). The hazard function starts decreasing afterward (habit or inertia effect). Moreover, it was shown that the behavior of the follower and the second leader have a significant role in the decision of the driver when changing lanes. This proves that driving is an anisotropic phenomenon where anticipation plays an important role.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Hamdar, Samer H
  • Mahmassani, Hani S
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 87th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2008-1-13 to 2008-1-17
• Date: 2008

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 37p
• Monograph Title: TRB 87th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers DVD

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Car following; Drivers; Highway vehicle operators; Human factors; Logistics; Operations; Travel behavior; Weibull distributions
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Freight Transportation; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01099290
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 08-3134
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 21 2008 7:05AM