Driving situations and driver decisions at road traffic signals

Abstract

Driver performance in responding to the green-amber-red signal change was studied based on a sample of 2316 last crossing and first stopping vehicles collected by unobtrusive observations at 10 junction approaches in Singapore. Two schemes, a speed-distance diagram (S-D) and an acceleration-deceleration (A-D) diagram, were used to demarcate the driving situations; the driver actions, as revealed outcomes of driver decision-making, were mapped onto these diagrams. The speed-distance diagram can give some indication on what a driver would possibly do. The more complicated acceleration-deceleration diagram is useful for diagnosing the appropriateness of the driver actions. An application of the A-D diagram was demonstrated, and several situations prone to red-running were noted.