Effect of Driver Behaviour on Traffic Jams

Abstract

Driving in a traffic flow implies involvement in difficult traffic situations that adversely affects response time of a driver, which in turn is considered when estimating stopping distance of a vehicle and determines road safety. This relationship shows the effect of driver behaviour in traffic flow on the road traffic situation. The objective of the study was to study behavioural factors that influence driver’s decisions. The study used methods of driver behaviour modelling, mathematical modelling, experimental studies of the mental and psychological functions of drivers. Modelling the driver’s behaviour, considering various combinations of many behavioural and other factors, leads to a large number of options for mathematical description of driver behaviour, which makes it difficult to use this approach to describe behaviour of drivers under the conditions of a real street-road network. The research has analysed several works devoted to the study of control action of drivers, using unknown coefficients, describing a model of movement of vehicles considering accuracy of their control. Driving through an unregulated intersection is considered as the most complex and informative version of driver’s behaviour. It is found that when modelling a traffic flow, it is necessary to take into account the degree of resoluteness of drivers (through determination of a coefficient of resoluteness which is a random variable that takes into account the probability distribution of the coefficient’s value in conjunction with the probability distribution of the function of traffic flow intensity). The distribution of the coefficient of resoluteness of drivers, obtained from experimental data, was subject to analysis. It is determined that the driving style affects formation of traffic congestion. The assessment of the driving style is made through conditional classification of driver behaviour on the road, namely marked by manifestation of aggression and timidity. When studying the behaviour of timid and aggressive drivers, several pairs of trajectories and the dynamics of the corresponding traffic flow density, were considered and calculated based on Edie’s model. It has been confirmed that traffic congestion has the greatest negative effect on choleric drivers and sanguine drivers. Besides, there is a relationship between the response time of a driver and the change in his functional condition. It is concluded that to improve road safety thanks to a more accurate assessment of possible risks of formation of congestion situations, it is necessary to consider behavioural characteristics and temperaments of the drivers.