Driver's overtaking behavior on single carriageway road

Abstract

Overtaking is one of many important criteria considered in the analysis of road traffic accidents and performance of single carriageway road. It is undeniable that the inappropriate driver behavior is the major contributing factor to road crashes. This study was carried out to develop a mathematical model of overtaking behavior. The study focused on the factors considered by drivers before committing overtaking maneuver. The study was conducted for rural single carriageway roads. Overtaking maneuvers were recorded using video camera. The data abstracted from the recordings include the decision times, overtaking times, overtaking distances, safety margins, accepted and rejected gaps, headways at the start of the overtaking maneuvers, headways at the end of the overtaking maneuvers, speed of the overtaken vehicle, speed of the overtaking vehicle at the end of the overtaking and acceleration of the overtaking vehicle during the overtaking. The data were analyzed statistically using Minitab 14 software to establish mathematical relationships between the various overtaking parameters. It was found that the speed of overtaking vehicle dependant of the speed of overtaken vehicle, decision times, start headway, overtaking distance and acceleration.