Gap acceptance behavior of drivers at uncontrolled T-intersections under mixed traffic conditions

Explicit traffic control measures are absent in uncontrolled intersections which make them susceptible to frequent conflicts and resulting collisions between vehicles. In developing countries like India, drivers at such intersections do not yield to higher priority movements which cause more crashes between vehicles. The objective of this study is to analyze and model the gap acceptance behavior of minor street drivers at uncontrolled T-intersections considering their aggressive nature. Three intersections in the northeast region of India have been selected as the case study area. Preliminary analysis of the data revealed that drivers behave aggressively, not because they have to wait for a long time at the stop line, but because of their lack of respect for traffic rules. Binary logit models are developed for minor road right turning vehicles which show that gap acceptance behavior is influenced by gap duration, clearing time and aggressive nature of drivers. The equations obtained were used to estimate the critical gaps for aggressive and non-aggressive drivers. Critical gaps are also calculated using an existing method called clearing behavior approach. It is also shown that the estimation of critical gap is more realistic if clearing time and aggressive behavior of drivers are considered.

Analysis of occupation time of vehicles at urban unsignalized intersections in non-lane-based mixed traffic conditions

In India, traffic flow on roads is highly mixed in nature with wide variations in the static and dynamic characteristics of vehicles. At unsignalized intersections, vehicles generally do not follow lane discipline and ignore the rules of priority. Drivers generally become more aggressive and tend to cross the uncontrolled intersections without considering the conflicting traffic. All these conditions cause a very complex traffic situation at unsignal- ized intersections which have a great impact on the capacity and performance of traffic intersections. A new method called additive conflict flow （ACF） method is suitable to determine the capacity of unsignalized inter- sections in non-lane-based mixed traffic conditions as prevailing in India. Occupation time is the key parameter for ACF method, which is defined as the time spent by a vehicle in the conflict area at the intersection. Data for this study were collected at two three-legged unsignalized intersections （one is uncontrolled and other one is semi- controlled） in Mangalore city, India using video-graphic technique during peak periods on three consecutive week days. The occupation time of vehicles at these intersections were studied and compared. The data on conflicting traffic volume and occupation time by each subject vehicle at the conflict area were extracted from the videos using image processing software. The subject vehicles were divided into three categories： two wheelers,cars, and auto-rickshaws. Mathematical relationships were developed to relate the occupation time of different cate- gories of vehicles with the conflicting flow of vehicles for various movements at both the intersections. It was found that occupation time increases with the increasing con- flicting traffic and observed to be higher at the uncontrolled intersection compared to the semicontrolled intersec- tion. The segregated turning movements and the presence of mini roundabout at the semicontrolled intersection reduces the conflicts of vehicular movements, which ulti- mately reduces the occupation time. The proposed methodology will be useful to determine the occupation time for various movements at unsignalized intersections. The models developed in the study can be used by practitioners and traffic engineers to estimate the capacity of unsignalized intersections in non-lane-based discipline and mixed traffic conditions.

Analyzing variations in spatial critical gaps at two-way stop controlled intersections using parametric and non-parametric techniques

At two-way stop controlled(TWSC)intersections drivers on minor stream are generally at risk because of the difficulty in judging safe gap between major stream vehicles.Any misjudgment by the driver while choosing gap may result in a collision with major stream vehicle.This paper provides important insights for determining and analyzing spatial critical gaps of drivers at high speed and medium speed TWSC intersections.The critical gap line(CGL)fitted for the accepted and rejected gaps using parametric(binary logit model-BLM)and non-parametric(support vector machines-SVM)techniques gives critical gap values at 15 th,50 th and 85 th percentile speeds.The evaluation of spatial critical gap with respect to major road vehicle(conflicting vehicle)speed makes it easier to understand the impact of variation in speed on spatial gaps accepted by the drivers on the minor road.The logit models developed revealed that the probability of accepting gap decreases with increase in the speed of the conflicting vehicle and it increases with increase in the distance of conflicting vehicle.The spatial critical gaps estimated using support vector machines were found in close approximation with those estimated using binary logit model.The study results showed that SVMs have very good potential to be an alternative tool for the estimation of driver's critical gap.The spatial critical gaps corresponding to 15 th,50 th and 85 th percentile speeds for medium speed intersections were 32 m,38 m and 46 m respectively and for high speed intersections these values were 64 m,76 m and 104 m respectively.The increase in the magnitude of gap value with respect to the percentile speed clearly states the effect of speed on spatial gaps.The insights from the study can be used to suggest various measures to improve the safety of crossing drivers at uncontrolled intersections.