Modeling Speed and Comfort Threshold on Horizontal Curves of Rural Two-Lane Highways Using Naturalistic Driving Data
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 145, Issue 6
Abstract
Modeling efforts for driver behavior parameters on horizontal curves have mostly focused only on the 85th percentile value. However, predicting whole distributions would help improve alignment design by allowing reliability-based design and design consistency evaluation. This paper used naturalistic driving study data to model distributions of speed and comfort threshold on horizontal curves of two-lane rural highways. Several variables along the approach tangent and curve were extracted and examined. This analysis helped determine the driver behavior parameters needed to evaluate driver behavior on horizontal curves and the headway threshold for free-flow conditions. Driver level models (DLM) and panel models (PM) were developed to predict distributions of curve speed and comfort threshold in addition to the traditional 85th percentile models. The models developed can be used in evaluating vehicle stability, driver comfort, and design consistency. Thus, the models can act as the basis for reliability analysis of horizontal curves, for which analysis methods are already established but realistic data are relatively scarce.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Anusha Nujjetty (HSIS lab manager) and Kevin Perkins (WSDOT Multimodal Planning Division) for providing necessary data and information to conduct the analysis in this research. The authors are highly indebted to Miguel Perez, Christina Witcher, and Whitney Atkins (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute) for their help in providing the naturalistic driving behavior data. Financial support by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (NSERC) is gratefully acknowledged.
Disclaimer
The findings and conclusions of this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, SHRP 2, the Transportation Research Board, or the National Academy of Sciences.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 145 • Issue 6 • June 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 11, 2018
Accepted: Nov 26, 2018
Published online: Apr 9, 2019
Published in print: Jun 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Sep 9, 2019
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