Effect of Imitation Phenomenon on Two-Lane Traffic Safety in Fog Weather

Jinhua Tan, Li Gong and Xuqian Qin
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Jinhua Tan: School of Information and Safety Engineering, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Li Gong: School of Information and Safety Engineering, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China
Xuqian Qin: School of Information and Safety Engineering, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: A neighboring lane’s vehicles are potentially important influence factors of traffic safety. In fog weather, drivers will automatically imitate the behaviors demonstrated by other vehicles in the neighboring lane. To illustrate the effect of the imitation phenomenon on traffic safety, this paper develops an extended two-lane car-following model in fog weather. Numerical simulations are carried out to study the effect of imitation on multiple-vehicle collision induced by a sudden stop, as well as perturbation propagation when a small perturbation is added to the uniform traffic flow. The results indicate that the number of collisions depends on the influence coefficient of neighboring lane’s vehicles, sensitivity, headway and initial velocity. Furthermore, the number of crumpled vehicles decreases when the imitation phenomenon is taken into account. In addition, lower vehicular velocity in the neighboring lane can reduce the magnitude of acceleration and fluctuation of headway. The perturbation can be absorbed under certain given conditions regarding the imitation phenomenon. Therefore, traffic safety can be improved by considering the effect of the imitation phenomenon on two-lane traffic flow in fog weather. The findings in this study can provide a theoretical reference for the development of multi-lane intermittent release measures in fog weather.

Keywords: traffic safety; imitation phenomenon; two-lane car-following model; fog weather (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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