Driver behavior as affected by static objects: A naturalistic driving approach

Abstract

There are several studies in the literature on predicting and modeling driver behavior along longitudinal direction. However, drivers may also be influenced by objects, both static and dynamic, present laterally. Although a few works aimed at understanding the effect of static objects and features such as road geometric elements and roadside infrastructure on driver behavior have been carried out, there are certain limitations of these studies. Driver behavior studies are conducted with the purpose of identifying the effect of static objects that are not directly present on the path of travel. In most of these cases, microscopic models are developed to model driver behavior in the presence of static objects, but the results are validated through simulation. Also, majority of the reported work focused on macroscopic traffic flow modeling since macroscopic data can be collected easily using videographic method and vehicle detectors on the roadway section. In this study, an attempt is made to understand driver response to static obstacles present on the path of travel along the direction of movement. Naturalistic driving is used for the data collection on driver response. It is observed that the side of placement of obstruction and the pattern of restriction along the direction of movement influence driver behavior.