Evaluation of driver behavior and safety at urban mid-block sections under mixed traffic conditions

Abstract

Driver behavior on road sections is one of the most difficult phenomena to study, particularly in mixed traffic situations on urban roads, especially on the midblock sections. In this context, video data was collected from an access-controlled mid-block road sections. The main aims of this study are to establish vehicular trajectory data and to analyse driver lane changing and vehicle following behavior on the selected mid-block sections while taking into account relative velocities and relative distances between different types of vehicles. In traffic safety assessments, the time to collision is an effective time-based safety measure for detecting rear-ends collisions. Hence, the safe distance between successive vehicles was estimated. The study revealed that vehicles in the mixed stream, in general and in particular, Bikes and Autos particularly move substantially in the lateral direction. The safe distance between vehicles has been found to be dependent on traffic flow and roadway width.