Driver behavior at Kuwait roundabouts and its performance evaluation

This research aimed to evaluate the roundabout performance in Kuwait and to study drivers' behavior at roundabouts. A questionnaire was designed to obtain the needed information. Also, a field observation was done to link the survey data with the real situation on Kuwait roads. A sample of 804 participated in the survey with the collected data being analyzed by SPSS and Excel. The analysis showed that a large percent of drivers have a good knowledge regarding roundabout rules. Moreover, this research analyzed the roundabout capacity and performance. Two roundabouts were chosen for the study located in AL-Salmiya and Al-Jabriya of Hawali governorate. A few modifications for the selected sites were done to compare the roundabout overall performance before and after the change based on several measures of effectiveness. The collected data was analyzed using SIDRA Intersection software. The analysis showed that in Kuwait, for vital and active areas and for traffic volumes greater than 3000 veh/h, the level of service ranges between B and C, and the control delay ranges between 10 s to 30 s. The study help traffic planners and designers in the decision making process providing several intersection alternatives.     

Traffic safety culture of drivers in Canada: Implications for new traffic law implementation to enhance traffic safety

This study investigates Canada's traffic safety culture (TSC) as part of a global research project. The TSC survey data collected by an online survey is used to predict drivers' perception of changes in traffic problems in the past 3 years, driver's support, opposition towards enforcement of additional traffic laws, and drivers' perceived threat towards risky driving behaviors. A two-step procedure is followed to build models. The first step includes feature selection using the chi-square test of independence. The second step comprises building classification models using the Random Forest technique. Results suggest that drivers' personal attributes like the number of accident records, driving frequency, geographic region of nationality, and religion are top predictor variables for drivers' perception towards changes in traffic problems. In addition, compared to others most drivers perceive distracted driving as a major traffic problem today. There is strong disapproval of drivers against the following driving behaviors and strong support to implement laws against it: speeding in school zones, talking on a hand-held cell phone, tying text messages or e-mails, drowsy driving, driving without wearing their seatbelt, drive with passengers not wearing seatbelts, running through red lights, and impaired driving. In contrast, following risky driving behaviors is less of a perceived threat: speeding over limit on a freeway, on a residential street, and in an urban area and talking on a hands-free cell phone while driving. In addition, a driver's accident record is a significant indicator for a perceived threat towards risky driving behaviors followed by age and accumulated demerit points. The results from this study can be used to guide educational campaigns to transform the traffic safety culture of target groups and make more informed policy decisions.     

New viewpoints for evaluation of in-vehicle information systems: applying methods in cognitive engineering

This study describes new viewpoints for the evaluation of human interfaces of in-vehicle information systems. Firstly, by using quantitative analysis, the drivers' characteristics were compared and investigated in the cases of using a navigation system and a paper map. The results show that it is difficult to clarify what caused the difference of drivers' behavior. A new framework which includes methods based on cognitive science was introduced and the drivers' behavior was investigated using the framework. The results indicate that it is important to investigate the driver's cognitive process and that this framework is effective for evaluation of the human interface.     

Factors affecting lane change crashes

This study aims to investigate the contributing factors affecting the occurrence of crashes while lane-changing maneuvers of drivers. Two different data sets were used from the same drivers' population. The first data set was collected from the traffic police crash reports and the second data set was collected through a questionnaire survey that was conducted among 429 drivers. Two different logistic regression models were developed by employing the two sets of the collected data. The results of the crash occurrence model showed that the drivers' factors (gender, nationality and years of experience in driving), location and surrounding condition factors (non-junction locations, light and road surface conditions) and roads feature (road type, number of lanes and speed limit value) are the significant variables that affected the occurrence of lane-change crashes. About 57.2% of the survey responders committed that different sources of distractions were the main reason for their sudden or unsafe lane change including 21.2% was due to mobile usage. The drivers' behavior model results showed that drivers who did sudden lane change are more likely to be involved in traffic crashes with 2.53 times than others. The drivers who look towards the side mirrors and who look out the windows before lane-change intention have less probability to be involved in crashes by 4.61 and 3.85 times than others, respectively. Another interesting finding is that drivers who reported that they received enough training about safe lane change maneuvering during issuing the driving licenses are less likely to be involved in crashes by 2.06 times than other drivers.     

基于嗅觉刺激的驾驶员负向情绪正向调控方法研究

针对驾驶员在异常情绪下更容易导致交通事故发生的问题，研究一种用于智能座舱的驾驶员异常情绪正向调控方法。招募 30 名被试者进行试验，利用视频素材诱发驾驶员愤怒等负向情绪，利用 E-prime 软件控制的嗅觉体验测试仪释放薰衣草、甜橙、沉香木气味对驾驶员负向情绪进行正向调节，采用 ErgoLab 多通道生理仪检测记录在气味刺激下被试者的心电信号 （ECG）、光电容积脉搏波信号 （PPG）、呼吸信号 （RESP） 等生理特征信号；采用问卷调查获取被试者的主观感受；使用面部表情识别软件对驾驶员情绪进行分析，联合主客观数据分析驾驶员的情绪调节效果，通过 30组对照试验研究3种嗅觉刺激气体对负向情绪的调节效果，结果表明，沉香木调节效果最好，甜橙其次，薰衣草最差。     

Optimal design of adaptive shaking vibration control for electric vehicles

This paper provides a complete design solution about adaptive optimal shaking vibration control for electric vehicles. A general 4-DOF and 5-order linear torsional vibration model is established under given wheel speed, and the frequency characteristics of the vibration system are elaborately analysed in terms of variation of wheel speed and different model parameters. Aiming at decreasing the shaking vibration at the least sacrifice of acceleration loss, and improving the robustness of the system against external disturbance, a combination of feed-forward and feed-backward adaptive control structure is proposed. Further, a non-linear multi-constraint optimisation problem is formulated for solving the optimal adaptive control variables within the two-dimensional design space composed of the wheel speed and driver's torque command. Furthermore, the distribution of the optimal adaptive control variables within the design space and its extended application under different tyre road conditions are discussed. Eventually, several simulation test cases are particularly designed to verify the performances of the controller on all aspects. Test results show that the optimal adaptive controller achieves satisfactory anti-shaking vibration, acceleration maintaining and robustness performances within the whole adaptive design space as desired.     

A new shared control for lane keeping and road departure prevention

In recent years, the driver's active assistances have become important features in commercialised vehicles. In this paper, we present one of these features which consists of an advanced driver assistance system for lane keeping. A thorough analysis of its performance and stability with respect to variations in driver behaviour will be given. Firstly, the lateral control model based on visual preview is established and the kinematics model based on visual preview, including speed and other factors, is used to calculate the lateral error and direction error. Secondly, and according to the characteristics of the lateral control, an efficient strategy of intelligent electric vehicle lateral mode is proposed. The integration of the vehicle current lateral error and direction error is chosen as the parameter of the sliding mode switching function to design the sliding surface. The control variables are adjusted according to the fuzzy control rules to ensure that they meet the existence and reaching condition. A new fuzzy logic-based switching strategy with an efficient control law is also proposed to ensure a level of continuous and variable sharing according to the state of the driver and the vehicle positioning on the roadway. The proposed control law acts either at the centre of the lane, as a lane keeping assistance system to reduce the driver's workload for long trips, or as a lane departure avoidance system that intervenes for unintended lane departures. Simulation results are included in this paper to explain this concept.     

Correlation between vehicle's meandering and driver's alertness level

This paper describes a method for measuring meandering using computer vision, and the correlation between vehicle meandering and the driver's alertness level.To calculate the amount of meandering, the system recognizes white lane markings on the road and reads the displacement of the center of both white lines. There is significant correlation between the amount of meandering and blinking duration, so the amount of meandering is an effective index to estimate a driver's alertness level.     

International analysis on social and personal determinants of traffic violations and accidents employing logistic regression with elastic net regularization

While the number of road fatalities is declining in developed countries, it is still increasing globally, especially in middle-and low-income countries. In addition to the driver's individual awareness and attitude toward traffic safety, various factors such as the development of road infrastructure and the legal system may have a significant influence on the occurrence of traffic accidents. Thus, it is essential to consider these factors to enhance traffic safety and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Targets of 3.6.In this study, we developed an Elastic Net Regression model to evaluate the factors that influence an individual's traffic violations and accidents based on an international questionnaire on traffic safety attitude, country fact survey data on traffic regulations, and other statistical databases. As a result, it was revealed that: i) In addition to country-level factors, the individual's attributes and attitudes toward traffic safety have an influence on the experience of traffic violations and accidents. and ii) While the same variables regarding individual attributes and attitudes are selected for both traffic violations and accidents, the selected variables relating to country factors differ between violations and accidents.     

A yaw-moment control method based on a vehicle's lateral jerk information

Previously, a new control concept called ‘G-vectoring control (GVC)’ to improve vehicle agility and stability was developed. GVC is an automatic longitudinal acceleration control method that responds to vehicle lateral jerk caused by the driver's steering manoeuvres. In this paper, a new yaw-moment control method, which generates a stabilising moment during the GVC command and has positive acceleration value and the driver's accelerator pedal input is zero, was proposed. A new hybrid control, which comprises GVC, electric stability control and this new control, was constructed, and it was installed in a test vehicle and tested on a snowy surface. The very high potential for improvement in both agility and stability was confirmed.     

A General Method for the Evaluation of Vehicle Manoeuvrability with Special Emphasis on Motorcycles

This paper presents a novel approach to the assessment of the manoeuvrability of vehicles which is not based on the simulation of open-loop manoeuvres, nor does it rely on the modelling of the driver as a control system. Instead, the essence of the method is the solution of a two-point optimal control boundary value problem, in which a vehicle, subject to physical constraints like tyre adherence and road borders, among others, is required to go between given initial and final positions as fast as possible. The control inputs - i.e., the driver's actions - that make the vehicle move between the two states in the most efficient way are found as a part of the solution procedure and represent the actions of a sort of ideal, perfect driver. The resulting motion is called the optimal manoeuvre and, besides being the most efficient way that the given vehicle has for travelling between the two points according to the chosen optimal criterion, may be taken as a reference for meaningful comparisons with other vehicles. The value of the penalty function, used to define the optimal condition occurring at the optimal manoeuvre, may be taken as a measure of manoeuvrability or handling. With this approach the manoeuvrability properties are established as intrinsic to the vehicle, being defined with respect to an ideal perfect driver. Some possible forms of the penalty function, which means slightly different concepts of manoeuvrability and handling, are discussed. In the end, the case of motorcycles and some examples of optimal manoeuvres are given.     

A passenger car driver model for higher lateral accelerations

Due to increasing demands for time and cost efficient vehicle and driver assistant systems development, numerical simulation of closed-loop manoeuvres becomes increasingly important. Thus, the driver has to be considered in the modelling. On the basis of a two-layer approach to model a driver's steering behaviour, the field of application is extended to higher lateral accelerations in this study. An analytical method to determine the driver parameters is presented, which is based on the two-wheel vehicle model. The simulation results are determined using a full vehicle model including all essential nonlinearities. Standard manoeuvres in the nonlinear range of vehicle handling behaviour are performed. A cornering manoeuvre is chosen to show the characteristics of the proposed driver model.     

Drivers' perceptions regarding speeding and driving on urban residential streets with a 30 km/h speed limit

Previous studies have shown very little information regarding drivers' opinions, attitudes and behaviours with respect to speeding and driving on urban residential streets with a 30 km/h speed limit. The present research aims to address this issue by conducting a questionnaire study with a sample of 367 Japanese drivers. The results showed that drivers tended to have positive beliefs about complying with the 30 km/h speed limit and understand the negative consequences of speeding; however, a majority of the drivers considered breaking the speed limit as a way to reduce their travel time. While the extent of speeding was found to be very serious, a number of drivers still supported the use of a 30 km/h speed limit on residential streets and favoured protecting the right of vulnerable street users. The logistic regression models developed in this study identified that the drivers who did not support the 30 km/h speed limit were associated with those who had committed traffic-law violations, who had negative beliefs about complying with the speed limit, who did not consider residents' opinions, who believed it is acceptable for them to drive at a high speed, and who felt it difficult to refrain from speeding. With regard to anti-speeding countermeasures, under drivers' point of view, streets should be designed to make the 30 km/h speed limit more credible, although this study also showed evidence supporting the application of public awareness programmes and social campaigns as speeding interventions. In addition, this research investigated drivers' speed choices in various specific driving circumstances, and six underlying factors affecting drivers' speed choices were determined. On the basic of the findings, the implications and suggestions for speeding interventions were also discussed.     

Parameters optimisation of a vehicle suspension system using a particle swarm optimisation algorithm

The purpose of this paper is to determine the lumped suspension parameters that minimise a multi-objective function in a vehicle model under different standard PSD road profiles. This optimisation tries to meet the rms vertical acceleration weighted limits for human sensitivity curves from ISO 2631 [ISO-2631: guide for evaluation of human exposure to whole-body vibration. Europe; 1997] at the driver's seat, the road holding capability and the suspension working space. The vehicle is modelled in the frequency domain using eight degrees of freedom under a random road profile. The particle swarm optimisation and sequential quadratic programming algorithms are used to obtain the suspension optimal parameters in different road profile and vehicle velocity conditions. A sensitivity analysis is performed using the obtained results and, in Class G road profile, the seat damping has the major influence on the minimisation of the multi-objective function. The influence of vehicle parameters in vibration attenuation is analysed and it is concluded that the front suspension stiffness should be less stiff than the rear ones when the driver's seat relative position is located forward the centre of gravity of the car body. Graphs and tables for the behaviour of suspension parameters related to road classes, used algorithms and velocities are presented to illustrate the results. In Class A road profile it was possible to find optimal parameters within the boundaries of the design variables that resulted in acceptable values for the comfort, road holding and suspension working space.     

Vehicle stability control based on driver’s emergency alignment intention recognition

In this work, the reference model modification strategy for vehicle stability control based on driver's intention recognition under emergent obstacle avoidance situation was proposed. First the conflicts between the driver's emergency alignment (EA) intention and vehicle response characteristics were analyzed in critical emergent obstacle avoidance situation. Second combining steering wheel angle and its speed, the driver's EA intention was recognized. The reference model modification strategy based on steering operation index (SOI) was presented. Then a LQR model following controller with tire cornering stiffness adaption was used to generate direct yaw moment for tracking modified reference yaw rate and reference sideslip angle. Finally based on the four-in-wheel-motor-drive (FIWMD) electric vehicles (EV), double lane change and slalom tests were conducted to compare the results using modified reference model with the results using normal reference model. The experimental tests have proved the effectiveness of the reference model modification strategy based on driver's intention recognition.     

山区道路橡胶减速带车辆运行特性分析

为明确山区道路中减速带布设对车辆运行的影响，选择在重庆市主城区江南立交开展减速带布设区域的实车试验，采集了车辆的速度和加速度等数据，以此分析试验路段的运行特征。结果表明:①速度分布带宽在减速带两侧各40 m左右达到极小值，在减速带位置速度带宽出现反弹，表明在减速带布设位置车辆运行速度差异较大，容易产生追尾风险；②减速带对驾驶员的速度选择行为有较强的约束力，且2个减速带相隔越近对速度选择行为的约束作用越强，减速效果更好；③通过减速带之前的初速度越大，所需的减速长度越长，应越早采取减速措施；85th百分位减速长度值和加速长度值分别为225，212 m；④车辆通过减速带时的加速度、减速度与制动初速度、加速前初速度的大小密切相关；道路环境越复杂，车辆通过减速带时减速度与加速度曲线的差异性越显著；⑤减速带对车辆的速度折减率上限可达0.9，下限随初始速度的增大而增加。      

Driver behavior formulation in intersection dilemma zones with phone use distraction via a logit-Bayesian network hybrid approach

Use of cellular phone while driving is one of the top contributing factors that induce traffic crashes, resulting in significant loss of life and property. A dilemma zone is a circumstance near signalized intersections where drivers hesitate when making decisions related to their driving behaviors. Therefore, the dilemma zone has been identified as an area with high crash potential. This article utilizes a logit-based Bayesian network (BN) hybrid approach to investigate drivers' decision patterns in a dilemma zone with phone use, based on experimental data from driving simulations from the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS). Using a logit regression model, five variables were found to be significant in predicting drivers' decisions in a dilemma zone with distractive phone tasks: older drivers (50–60 years old), yellow signal length, time to stop line, handheld phone tasks, and driver gender. The identified significant variables were then used to train a BN model to predict drivers' decisions at a dilemma zone and examine probabilistic impacts of these variables on drivers' decisions. The analysis results indicate that the trained BN model was effective in driver decision prediction and variable influence extraction. It was found that older drivers, a short yellow signal, a short time to stop line, nonhandheld phone tasks, and female drivers are factors that tend to result in drivers proceeding through intersections in a dilemma zone with phone use distraction. These research findings provide insight in understanding driver behavior patterns in a dilemma zone with distractive phone tasks.     

Intelligent speed adaptation: Preliminary results of on-road study in Penang,Malaysia

The first field experiment with intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) in Malaysia was held in December 2010 in the State of Penang. Eleven private cars were instrumented with an advisory system. The system used in the present study included a vocal warning message and a visual text message that is activated when the driver attempts to exceed the speed limit. When the driver decreases the speed, the warning stops; otherwise it is continuously repeated. The test drivers drove the vehicles for three months with the installed system, and the speed was continuously logged in all vehicles. The warning was however only activated in the second month of the three month period. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of an advisory ISA on driving speed, traffic safety, and drivers' attitude, behavior, and acceptance of the system. To examine these effects, both the survey and the logged speed data were analyzed and explored. The results show a significant reduction in the mean, maximum and 85th percentile speed due to the use of the system. However, there was no long-lasting effect on the speed when the system was deactivated. In the post-trial survey, drivers declared that the system helped them well in following the speed limits and that it assisted them in driving more comfortably. Furthermore, the warning method was more accepted compared to a supportive system, such as active accelerator pedal (AAP). After the trial, most drivers were willing to keep an ISA system.     

车路协同无信号交叉口的矩形冲突检测及消解

针对车路协同环境下的冲突问题，建立了以系统反应时间代替驾驶员反应时间的自动驾驶车辆制动距离模型，以此作为安全距离改进了矩形冲突检测模型，并根据轨迹优化的研究思路，提出了以矩形冲突检测模型为基础的冲突消解算法，对非通行优先权车辆进行速度引导，避免车辆冲突。在车联网开源框架 Veins 的基础上，将交通仿真器 SUMO和网络仿真器 OMNeT++双向耦合，并对冲突检测模型与消解模型进行验证。仿真结果显示，该冲突检测及消解模型具有可行性，与传统无信号交叉口四路停车让行规则相比，模型中的速度引导方案能减少合流冲突车辆 8.6%的平均行驶时间，减少交叉冲突车辆 8.3%的平均行驶时间；合流冲突和交叉冲突中车辆的平均速度分别提高了61.4%和105.0%。在实际应用中，冲突消解模型可以为不同速度范围内的自动驾驶车辆提供速度参考，降低无信号交叉口车辆发生碰撞的概率，提高无信号交叉口的通行效率。     

Evaluation of driver’s mental workload by facial temperature and electrodermal activity under simulated driving conditions

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the mental workload of increasing driving speed, from 60 km/h to 180 km/h, when operating a driving simulator. The evaluation, based on changes in facial temperature and electrodermal activity, showed that the difference between nose and forehead temperature increased, that the skin potential level decreased, and that the skin conductance level increased. Monitoring facial temperature and electrodermal activity were both found to be effective in evaluating the mental workload involved.