Hazard-based duration modelling of merging time interval on freeway on-ramps

Freeway on-ramps suffer high crash risks due to frequent merging behaviours.This study developed hazard-based duration models to investigate the merging time interval on freeway on-ramps based on microscopic trajectory data.Fixed effect,random effect and random parameters Weibull distributed accelerated failure time models were developed to capture merging time as a function of various dynamic variables.The random parameters model was found to outperform the two counterparts since the unobserved heterogeneity of individual drivers was captured.Modelling estimation results indicate that drivers along the merging section with an auxiliary lane perform a smooth merging process and are easily affected by speed variables.Dynamics of leading and following vehicles on the merging and target lanes are found to influence the merging time interval for merging without an auxiliary lane,whereas the influence of surrounding vehicles ismarginal for thosewith an auxiliary lane.The findings of this study identify potential countermeasures for improving safety during the merging process.

Modelling lane-changing execution behaviour in a connected environment:A grouped random parameters with heterogeneity-in-means approach

Lane-changing is performed either to follow the route to a planned destination(i.e.,mandatory lane-changing)or to achieve better driving conditions(i.e.,discretionary lane-changing).A connected environment is expected to assist during lane-changing manoeuvres,but it is not known well how driving aids in a connected environment assist lane-changing execution.As such,this study investigates the impact of a connected environment on lanechanging execution time during mandatory and discretionary lane-changing manoeuvres.To this end,this study designed an advanced driving simulator experiment where 78 drivers performed these manoeuvres on a simulated motorway in three randomised driving conditions.The conditions were baseline(without driving aids),a fully functioning connected environment with a perfect supply of driving aids,and an impaired connected environment with delayed driving aids.The lane-changing execution time has been modelled by a random parameters hazard-based duration modelling approach,which accounts for the panel nature of data and captures the unobserved heterogeneity.Results suggest that,compared to the baseline condition(i.e.,a non-connected environment),most of the drivers in the connected environment take more time to complete their lane-changing manoeuvres,indicating drivers’safer lane-changing execution behaviour in the connected environment.The communication delay driving condition has been found to have more deteriorating effects on mandatory lanechanging manoeuvres than discretionary lane-changing manoeuvres.This study concludes that(i)the connected environment increases safety margin during both lane-changing manoeuvres,and(ii)a higher magnitude of safety margin is observed during mandatory lane-changing manoeuvres whereby drivers have a higher need for assistance.