Driving Behavior Risk Measurement and Cluster Analysis Driven by Vehicle Trajectory Data

Abstract

The correct identification and timely pre-warning of driving behavior risks can remind drivers to correct their unsafe driving behaviors effectively. First of all, four risk evaluation indicators of driving behavior were defined based on lateral and longitudinal driving characteristics: the lateral stability indicator, the longitudinal stability indicator, the car-following risk indicator, and the lane-changing risk indicator. The Pearson correlation coefficient method was used to analyze the correlation of the four indicators, and the conclusion showed that the four indicators were very weakly correlated or presented an irrelevant correlation. Thus, the four indicators can describe different driving behavior risks. Secondly, the criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) method was used to determine the weight of each indicator, and a comprehensive measurement model of driving behavior risk was established. To test the model, this study preprocessed the trajectory data of small vehicles in Lanes 1–5 of the I-80 Expressway from the NGSIM dataset, collected statistical analysis results of vehicle speed and acceleration, and obtained the parameters data required for risk assessment. Then, based on the obtained trajectory data, the variation laws and the thresholds of the four indicators were determined by using the interquartile difference method. Finally, by using the K-means clustering algorithm, the risk types of driving behavior were divided into four categories, namely, dangerous, aggressive, safe, and conservative. The dangerous, aggressive, safe, and conservative driving behaviors accounted for 5.40%, 23.30%, 43.22%, and 28.08% of the total samples, respectively. The expert’s assessment results of the driving behavior risk aligned with the results obtained from the model measurements. This indicated that the driving behavior risk measurement model here described can evaluate a driver’s risk status in real time, provide safety tips for the driver, and offer theoretical support for driving safety warning systems.