Comparing Drivers’ Vehicle Operation When Reacting to Aggressive and Normal Lane Changes

In China’s urban road traffic, aggressive lane change driving behavior is very prevalent. Statistics from traffic accident data show that aggressive lane changing is one of the biggest potential dangerous behaviors for urban road traffic safety. This study aimed to analyze the impact on vehicle operation by aggressive lane change compared to normal lane change. Based on the actual road traffic environment, we built a real vehicle driving data acquisition system to collect driver operating data, including velocity, acceleration, and lateral acceleration. Based on the experimental data from vehicle test, we determined “time headway” as a quantitative parameter value to define “aggressive lane change.” Changes in vehicle movement are more obvious under the impacts of aggressive lane change and show that aggressive lane change makes drivers produce an oppressive sense of space and has a great influence on driver operation.