Effect of Surrounding Traffic Characteristics on Lane Changing Behavior
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 11
Abstract
Lane changing maneuvers could have a substantial influence on traffic flow characteristics as a result of their interfering effect on surrounding vehicles. The interference effect of lane changing is more pronounced when heavy vehicles change lanes compared to when passenger cars undertake the same maneuver. This is due to the physical effects that the heavy vehicles impose on surrounding traffic. This paper investigates and compares the traffic flow characteristics which influence the lane changing behavior of heavy vehicle and passenger car drivers on freeways under heavy traffic conditions. A trajectory data set comprising 28 heavy vehicle and 28 passenger car lane changing maneuvers is analyzed in this study. The results suggest a substantial difference exists between the traffic characteristics influencing the lane changing behavior of heavy vehicle and passenger car drivers. Heavy vehicles’ speed changes little during a lane changing maneuver. Heavy vehicle drivers mainly move into the slower lanes to prevent obstructing the fast moving vehicles which approach from the rear. However, passenger car drivers increase their speed according to the speeds of the lead and lag vehicles in the target lane. They more commonly move into the faster lanes to gain speed advantages.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 11 • November 2010
Pages: 973 - 985
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 22, 2009
Accepted: Apr 20, 2010
Published online: Apr 26, 2010
Published in print: Nov 2010
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