Defining Traffic Conflict in Nonlane-Based Traffic Conditions: An Extreme Value Approach
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 150, Issue 9
Abstract
Reliable crash data are not usually available in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In these regions, surrogate safety measures (SSMs) can be used as effective tools for quantifying road safety. Traffic conflicts are the most-used SSMs, primarily defined based on temporal or spatial proximity between vehicles. Time-to-collision (TTC), a conflict indicator and its derivatives, are commonly used to define conflicts based on 1D interactions may not be suitable for nonlane-based traffic where vehicular interactions are 2D (longitudinal and lateral). This study aims to propose a methodology to define conflicts considering 2D vehicle interactions. Traffic video data were recorded at four unsignalized T-intersections, identified as black spots on divided highways in India. A bivariate extreme value approach was used to define conflict in 2D vehicular interaction using TTC and lateral gap. The results show that incorporating lateral and longitudinal conflict indicators into the bivariate extreme value models can significantly improve conflict-based risk assessment. The proposed approach can be used to define safety-critical events required in vehicle warning systems for nonlane-based traffic.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT (BHU) for the support we received during our study. We also acknowledge the valuable feedback provided by the anonymous reviewers at the Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems on previous versions of this paper. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 150 • Issue 9 • September 2024
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© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Apr 13, 2023
Accepted: Apr 8, 2024
Published online: Jun 27, 2024
Published in print: Sep 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Nov 27, 2024
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