Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................1

1.1 General .........................................................................................................................1

1.2 Need of the study ..........................................................................................................2

1.3 Organization of the report ............................................................................................3

Chapter 2 Literature Review ..................................................................................................4

2.1 Studies on driving behaviors ........................................................................................4

2.2 Research gaps ...............................................................................................................8

2.3 Objectives of the study .................................................................................................9

2.4 Description of data .......................................................................................................9

Chapter 3 Identification of driving behaviors ......................................................................11

3.1 Plotting vehicle trajectories ........................................................................................11

3.2 Observations from trajectory plots .............................................................................13

3.3 Summary ....................................................................................................................16

Chapter 4 Vehicle Grouping Behavior ................................................................................17

4.1 About grouping behavior ............................................................................................17

4.2 Analysis of grouping behavior ...................................................................................18

4.2.1 Application of oblique plots ...................................................................................18

4.2.1.1 About oblique plots......................................................................................18

4.2.1.2 Method of Application to vehicle trajectories .............................................20

4.2.2 Observations from oblique plots of vehicle groups ................................................24

4.3 Summary ....................................................................................................................27

Chapter 5 Following behavior analysis ...............................................................................28

5.1 Analysis of parameters ...............................................................................................28

5.2 Analysis of following behavior ..................................................................................32

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 5.3 Macroscopic Analysis ................................................................................................39

Chapter 6 Conclusions .........................................................................................................43

Future Scope of Study ...............................................................................................................45

References…………………………………………………………………………………….46

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 List of Figures
Figure 3.1 Example of vehicle trajectories plotted for 5 second time interval ........................ 12
Figure 3.2 Observation of following behavior ......................................................................... 14
Figure 3.3 Observation of paired riding behavior .................................................................... 14
Figure 3.4 Observation of grouping behavior .......................................................................... 15
Figure 3.5 observation of overtaking behavior ........................................................................ 15
Figure 4.1 Steps involved in the study of grouping behavior .................................................. 19
Figure 4.2 Oblique plot applied for N-Curve(Cassidy, 1998) ................................................. 20
Figure 4.3 Steps involved in plotting oblique time-space curves ............................................ 22
Figure 4.4 Time-space plot for original trajectories................................................................. 23
Figure 4.5 Modified time-space plot for vehicle trajectories ................................................... 23
Figure 4.6 Example for a group of two wheelers and autos..................................................... 25
Figure 4.7 Example for a group of two wheelers ..................................................................... 25
Figure 4.8 Oblique plot for a group of two wheelers and cars ................................................. 26
Figure 4.9 Oblique plot for a group of two wheelers, auto rickshaws and cars ....................... 26
Figure 5.1 Parameters considered for preliminary study of following behavior ..................... 29
Figure 5.2 Representation of parameters R and Theta ............................................................. 31
Figure 5.3 Steps involved in the analysis of following behavior ............................................. 33
Figure 5.4 Percentage of following vehicles in total number of following vehicles ............... 34
Figure 5.5 Percentage of following vehicles in total number of vehicles ................................ 34
Figure 5.6 Representation of vehicle attributes for calculating R and Theta ........................... 36
Figure 5.7 Example for Speed vs R plot for a car-car pair ...................................................... 37
Figure 5.8 Example for Relative speed vs R for a car-car pair ................................................ 37
Figure 5.9 Speed of subject vehicle vs Theta for different R values ....................................... 38
Figure 5.10 Relationship between speed and spacing during staggered following ................. 39
Figure 5.11 Relationship between speed and spacing during strict following ......................... 40
Figure 5.12 Speed vs Density plot for strict following vehicles .............................................. 41
Figure 5.13 Flow vs Density plot for strict following vehicles ............................................... 41
Figure 5.14 Speed vs Density plot for staggered following vehicles ....................................... 42
Figure 5.15 Flow vs Density plot for staggered following vehicles ........................................ 42

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 List of Tables
Table 2.2 Sample of trajectory data used for the study .............................................................10
Table 3.1 Abbreviations used for different vehicle categories in time-space plots ..................12
Table 4.1 Free flow speeds of different vehicle types ..............................................................21
Table 5.1 Significance of parameters when longitudinal gap is below 30 meters ....................30
Table 5.2 Significance of parameters when the longitudinal gap is below 20 meters ..............30

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Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 General
Modeling the driving behavior in the traffic stream is one among the significant
researches being carried out in the field of traffic engineering. From the time when the vehicles
were first introduced on roads to the present day traffic conditions, the driving behavior was
always considered to be complex and one that is difficult to model. Several studies have been
carried out to model different vehicle maneuvers such as leaders following, lane changing,
merging and weaving etc., and models have been developed for the same. These models that
simulate the interaction of individual vehicles with the surrounding traffic are called the
‘Microscopic Traffic Simulation Models’.
Traffic simulation Models find their applications in design and planning of transport
systems. They are also useful in the assessment of performance of transport systems as well as
the impact of development of urban transport infrastructures.
Car-following is one among the significant driving behaviors on which several studies
have been carried out since 1950s (Pipes, 1953). Many models on car following behavior were
developed and calibrated. Most of the car-following models involve the prediction of movement
of a subject vehicle based on the vehicle ahead. The vehicle which follows the path of the
vehicle in front is a follower and the vehicle ahead acts as a leader. They were always
considered in pairs for calibrating car-following models. This method of microscopic modeling
is suitable for homogeneous traffic composition where most of the traffic is of cars and lane
discipline is observed. In case of traffic which is a mix of cars, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws,
buses and trucks, the traditional car-following models are not easily transferable (Munigety &
Mathew, 2016). In case of mixed traffic, the term car following has been replaced by vehicle
following since there are variety of vehicles are present in the traffic stream.
Attempts have been made previously to modify some of the car-following models and
calibrate them for mixed traffic conditions (Tom V. Mathew & Ravishankar, 2011). The lane
discipline cannot be achieved in most of the mixed traffic conditions since the vehicles occupy
the entire width of the roadway and the entire roadway has to be considered as a single lane. In
these cases, not only the longitudinal movements of vehicles but also the lateral movements
have to be considered for modeling.

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 In order to incorporate both longitudinal and lateral movements in traffic simulation
model, some attempts have been made by researchers in India for mixed traffic conditions.
HETEROSIM was developed by (Arasan & Koshy, 2005), Pal and C Mallikarjuna presented a
Cellular Automaton model for mixed traffic (Mallikarjuna, Tharun, & Pal, 2013) and a strip
based modeling concept was introduced by (Tv Mathew, Munigety, & Bajpai, 2013). An
integrated framework to model two-dimensional vehicular movements in mixed traffic was also
given (Asaithambi, Kanagaraj, & Toledo, 2016).
The present study aims at studying different driving behaviors in mixed traffic using
trajectory data. An idea of using time-space plots (trajectories) of vehicles in studying driving
behaviors has been proposed. The attempt has been made to visualize the trajectories of vehicles
from the data using time-space plots. Studies regarding the application of oblique curves and
their advantages in studying the variation in trajectories have been made. The possibility of
vehicle grouping behavior which has not been addressed in previous studies was attempted to
study using the vehicle trajectories.
The present work also makes an attempt to find the evidence of following behavior in
different leader and follower pairs in mixed traffic, assuming the steady state following. Two
new parameters R (center to center spacing) and theta (angle between the pair of vehicles) were
computed and used as independent parameters to study the speed of subject vehicle. An attempt
has been made to find the impact of staggered leaders on following vehicles. A macroscopic
study of fundamental relationship between the traffic parameters also has been done.
1.2 Need of the study
The development of technology and infrastructure resulted in increase in travel demand
and trip generation. Also, there has been a tremendous change observed in the traffic flow
characteristics and travel mode choices, especially in mixed traffic in urban areas. In order to
model this complex phenomena not only the study of fundamental characteristics of traffic-
speed, density and flow but also the study of vehicle to vehicle interaction is necessary.
Microscopic traffic simulation technique is an effective tool for modeling individual vehicle
behavior in the traffic stream.
In mixed traffic conditions the movement of vehicles on the roadway is found to be very
complex in nature and difficult for modeling purposes. The advantage of mixed traffic is that
the smaller vehicles will seep into the gaps between the larger vehicles so that the entire width

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of the road is effectively made use for the movement. Most of the existing microscopic models
are suitable for homogeneous traffic having lane discipline and are less suitable for mixed traffic
conditions. Hence there is a need for a separate framework to model the uniqueness of vehicle
movements and interactions in mixed traffic.
The vehicle following models which are being used for the microscopic simulation of
mixed traffic depend on longitudinal spacing and relative speed between leader and follower
vehicles i.e., one dimensional vehicular movements. But in case of mixed traffic, both the
longitudinal and lateral movements of vehicles are significant. Thus, the two dimensional
vehicle following models capable of modeling the lateral and longitudinal movements of
vehicles are need to be developed. In order to develop such vehicle following models, different
types of driving behaviors in mixed traffic are need to be studied and modeled.
1.3 Organization of the report
This chapter is followed by the literature review in which the previous research related
to the vehicle following has been discussed and the significant research gaps are presented. It
also consists of the details of data used in the present work. Chapter 3 presents the study of
different driving behaviors. Study carried out regarding vehicle grouping behavior is described
in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5 the details of analysis of vehicle following behavior and the
fundamental diagram are presented. Conclusions of the present study have been given in
Chapter 6 after which the resources referred for the study have been provided.
.

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Chapter 2 Literature Review
To formulate the objectives and methodology and to find the research gaps, relevant
literature in the areas of driving behaviors in both homogeneous traffic with lane discipline and
mixed traffic having weak lane discipline are studied and presented in this chapter.
2.1 Studies on driving behaviors
Driving behavior concerns with different types of movements and actions performed by
the drivers in order to maneuver through the traffic stream to maximize their benefit. It
comprises of the following behavior, acceleration/deceleration behavior, lane changing and
overtaking behavior etc., The vehicle movement and the driving behaviors must be studied
together in order to appropriately model the traffic stream characteristics. Car following models
for homogeneous traffic are being developed and improved since many years. In recent years
the attempts are being made to develop similar models for mixed traffic called vehicle following
models. The important models developed both in homogeneous and mixed traffic are presented
in this section. This section presents few studies carried out regarding driving behavior and
following behaviors.
Several studies on driving behaviors such as lane changing, overtaking, acceleration and
deceleration behaviors in homogeneous traffic have been carried out (see Toledo,
Koutsopoulos, and Ben-Akiva 2007 for a detailed review of previous studies on driving
behaviors in homogeneous traffic).
Many lane based macroscopic, microscopic and mesoscopic models used for
homogenous traffic were reviewed by (Munigety & Mathew, 2016). The strength and weakness
of those models in describing the mixed traffic system were identified.
A review of existing driving behavior models and their suitability to mixed traffic is
provided in (Asaithambi et al., 2016). Models for different maneuver of vehicles such as lateral
and longitudinal movement, gap acceptance, car following etc., have been discussed in the
paper. Different following behaviors were identified from different studies such as staggered
following, oblique following, squeezing movement in between the vehicles and following
between two vehicles. An overall framework for modeling the driving behavior in mixed traffic
involving vehicle movements in two dimension has also been provided. The framework shows
that the driver choses his action based on his desired movement by path planning and it also
depends on the available lateral and longitudinal gaps.

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 (Gazis, Herman, & Rothery, 1961) presented a model based on stimulus-response
equation for car following. The model was based on the relative speed and the spacing between
the leader and follower. In this model, the relative speed was the stimulus and response was the
acceleration performed by the follower vehicle with a sensitivity parameter which depends on
the individual drive. Many other car following models were developed based on this concept
(Ceder and May,1976; Heyes and Ashworth, 1972; May and Keller, 1967) Weidemann’s
psychophysical car following model developed in 1974 was able to capture both physical and
psychological aspects in car following behavior. The follower’s reaction for the variation in
leader’s acceleration and also the relative speed and relative spacing are modelled. This model
was integrated with VISSIM, software for simulating microscopic characteristics of traffic
stream. P.G Gipps developed a new safety distance based model for vehicle following in 1979,
to predict the response of a vehicle in traffic stream to its predecessor vehicle’s behavior. In
this study it was assumed that each driver will set some limits for his/her acceleration and
braking rates while moving in a traffic stream. The model involved the parameters which
corresponded to obvious vehicle and driver characteristics. The factors such as distribution of
desired speeds, ratio of mean braking rate to estimated mean braking rate and driver reaction
time are found to affect the behavior of whole traffic stream whereas the effective spacing and
distributions of acceleration and braking affect the individual vehicle behavior. This model is
widely used in microscopic simulation and modeling of homogeneous traffic.
A simplified car following model was developed by G.F Newell in 2002, with less
number of parameters (Newell, 2002). This study is based on the assumption that in
homogenous highways an nth vehicle follows the path of (n-1)th vehicle. It was assumed the
trajectory of follower vehicle is same as that of the leader except for some transitions in space
and time. The model was based on the desired spacing which the follower tends to achieve with
the leader in order to respond to the movements of the leader. This spacing might be different
for different vehicles. The model also depends on the desired speed of follower. Follower
trajectory was predicted as the piecewise linear trajectory translated by certain distance and
time. Applications of this model is found in modeling traffic oscillations and stop and go
movements in congested freeway traffic having homogeneous traffic composition (J. A. Laval
and L. Leclercq, 2010; D.Chen et.al., 2012)

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 Gunay in 2007 presented a car following model which included the lateral discomfort
between the leader and follower(Gunay, 2007). In this model, the follower movements were
modeled as a function of the off center effects of the leader. The car following model proposed
by Gipps was used for modification with the involvement of lateral discomfort. Parameters
accounting for lateral friction during car following was incorporated into the model which
contributes for the staggered vehicle following. The speed at which the vehicle could decelerate
to maximum speed while passing called the Maximum Escape Speed was involved in the
model. Also the veering time i.e., the adequate time given to the follower in order to safely
perform the veering action without collision. Development of this model was a significant
research in the fields of car following and microscopic simulation which might be helpful in
modeling vehicular movements in mixed traffic where two dimensional modeling is necessary.
Jin et.al., in 2012 conducted study in China on staggered car following and developed a
model considering the lateral separation effects(Jin, Wang, Xu, & Huang, 2012). The optimal
velocity model has been modified by introducing the TTC (Time-To-Collision) in the model.
Linear stability analysis was done to verify the stability of the equation. Simulation results
showed that the lateral separation has significant effects on enhancing the traffic flow stability.
Implication of results indicate that involvement of lateral separation effects in car following
helps to suppress the traffic jams and also makes the model more realistic.
A vehicle type dependent car following model was proposed by (Tom V. Mathew &
Ravishankar, 2011). The model was developed based on the concept that in mixed traffic
consisting vehicles of different categories the following behavior depends on the type of leader
and follower vehicles. This study made an attempt to modify Gipps’ car following model to
include vehicle type dependent parameters. Two sets of data used for the study were collected
at U.S Highway 101 from NGSIM (homogeneous traffic) and Eastern Express Highway,
Mumbai, India (Mixed Traffic). For mixed traffic data three types of vehicles- car, bus and
auto-rickshaw were considered for the study with nine combinations of leader-follower
vehicles. The model was calibrated by minimizing the error between observed and predicted
values using the concept of genetic algorithm. The performance of the model was analyzed at
both macroscopic and microscopic levels. Simulation runs were performed involving the steps:
vehicle generation, vehicle placement and car following using C programming. This was the

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first attempt to include the heterogeneity in traffic composition in microscopic simulation and
modeling of mixed traffic and is being used extensively by researches in this field.
Asaithambi and Basheer conducted a study on analysis and modeling of vehicle
following behavior in mixed traffic conditions(Asaithambi & Basheer, 2017). The following
behaviors were classified into three types: strict following, staggered following and following
between two vehicles. Following behaviors were identified based on the percentage of lateral
overlap between leader and follower. A multinomial logit model was used to model the choice
of following behavior by the drivers. Type and size of leader follower, longitudinal gap between
follower and leader and speeds of leader and follower were considered as the factors that
influence the choice of following behavior.
A porous flow approach was proposed for modeling heterogeneous and disordered
traffic conditions (Nair, Mahmassani, & Miller-hooks, 2011). In this continuum model, the
maneuverability of vehicles to pass through the pore spaces defined by other vehicles. This
concept was verified by Ambarwati et.al.(Ambarwati, Pel, Verhaeghe, & Arem, 2014) using
the data collected in Indonesia. The model is said to represent the mixture of two wheelers and
cars only where as in Indian context the traffic consists of auto rickshaws and heavy vehicles
along with cars and two wheelers.
Cellular automata model was used to model the variable gap maintaining behavior of
vehicles in mixed traffic (Bangarraju, Ravishankar, & Mathew, 2016). The relationship
between lateral gap and area occupancy was analyzed and it was concluded that at higher
occupancy levels, the effect of variable gap maintaining behavior is more.
Analysis of two leader car following behavior was done by Ossen and Hoongerdoon in
2006 (Hoogendoorn and Ossen 2006) using the equation for multivehicle generation given by
Bexelius in 1968 based on stimulus-response equation (Bexelius 1968).
A study on multiple vehicle following behavior in mixed traffic was done by (Budhkar
& Maurya, 2017). The behavior of a vehicle having two leading vehicles was studied and
compared with that of the vehicle with one leading vehicle. Data was collected at mid-block
sections of different metro cities of India for longitudinal gap analysis. Extraction of the
collected data was done using camera calibration technique. A regression model was developed
considering the longitudinal gap as dependent variable, average speed and centerline separation
as independent variables. An attempt was also made to represent two closely spaced leading

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vehicles as a single vehicle. From the results of the analysis various conclusions were drawn
for the variation of longitudinal gap.
Lateral vehicular interactions in mixed traffic were studied using 6016 interactions
collected using sensors and GPS devices (Kishor, Akhilesh, & Maurya, 2017) . The relationship
between lateral clearance and speed of the vehicle has been modeled. It was observed that there
were very less interactions with lateral clearance above 2.5 meters. A study was conducted by
Anushree et.al. in 2017 to compare the methods of identifying the leader and follower pairs in
mixed traffic. The methods used for the study were: videography method, longitudinal headway
method and vehicle influence area method among which videography method was seemed to
give the better results.
(Kanagaraj, Asaithambi, Toledo, & Lee, 2015) presented the collection and analysis of
trajectory data of mixed traffic. The trajectory data was collected by videography at a mid-block
in Chennai city and extracted using trajectory extractor. The mixed traffic trajectory data
collected by them is used in this research to study the vehicle following behavior. The data was
collected during moderate flow conditions at a mid-block section of an urban arterial in
Chennai, India. Further details of the data used for this project work have been provided in the
last section of this chapter.
2.2 Research gaps
In the microscopic traffic simulation models and car following models for homogeneous
traffic, only the longitudinal movement of vehicle is taken care as the vehicle seeks for gaps
mostly in one direction. But, in mixed traffic without lane discipline vehicles are distributed
throughout the roadway and they seek for both lateral and longitudinal gaps simultaneously.
Hence there is a need of two dimensional model which takes care of both lateral, longitudinal
and also oblique movements. In such cases there is a need to separate models for each type of
vehicles to address the issues of vehicle type dependent behaviors and lateral movement of
vehicles (Munigety & Mathew, 2016).
In order to incorporate these complicated vehicle movements in mixed traffic as in case
of India there is a need of customized physical models which replicates the traffic scenario.
Before using the driving behavior models such as vehicle following models in mixed traffic,
there needs to be an evidence for the existence of those behaviors. The attempts to prove that
there is certain behavior followed by mixed traffic such as following behavior were very less

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in previous research studies. In the studies done so far it was unable decide who the true leader
is for a follower in mixed traffic without lane discipline (Anushree et.al , 2017) i.e., there was
no method described to evaluate the level of influence of other vehicles on the subject vehicle.
In the following behavior studies in mixed traffic the following behavior was observed
visually by videography and by knowing the overlaps and headways which may not be true.
The variation in dynamic characteristics such as speed and gap of leader and follower pairs in
the course of following was not studied.
2.3 Objectives of the study
Based on the gaps in the existing literature, the following objectives were formulated
for the present study. The goal of the present work is to study the vehicle driving behaviors at
mid-block locations in mixed traffic conditions using trajectory data. Specific objectives
include:
 Identify and characterize different driving behaviors among vehicles in a traffic stream.
 Discover evidence for the vehicle following behavior in mixed traffic.
 Evaluate the impact of staggered leaders on the following vehicles.
2.4 Description of data
Data selected for the present study was collected at a mid-block section by Kanagaraj
et.al. on February 13, 2014. The study stretch was of the length 245 meters and had six lanes.
Traffic composition was a mixture of two wheelers, cars, auto rickshaws, buses, LCVs and
Trucks. The data was collected using video graphic technique from 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM and
a portion of the video for 30 minutes duration with moderate flow was selected for the extraction
of vehicle trajectories. The trajectories of vehicles were extracted using trajectory
extractor(Lee, Polak, & Bell, 2008), a semi-automated tool at 0.5 second time resolution.
The total number of vehicle trajectories extracted were 3015 from two 15 minutes time
intervals (2:45 PM to 3:00 PM and 3:00 PM to 3:15 PM).
The study stretch had a mixture of most of the vehicles found in mixed traffic conditions.
More than half of the traffic consisted two wheelers (56%). The other part of traffic consisted
of cars (27%) and auto-rickshaws (13%) forming the major portion and percentage of Buses,
LCVs and Trucks was very less (4% in total).
Sample of the data used for the present work is given in Table 2.1. The veh_no column
shows the ID of the vehicle whose trajectory has been extracted. The vehicle category is

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indicated by the numbers (1-motorcycle, 2-car, 3-bus, 4-Truck, 5-LCV, 6-Auto rickshaw) in
veh_type column. Dimensions of vehicle have been provided in meters in length and width
column. The time value in seconds has been given for each time step in the time column. real_x
and real_y represent the longitudinal and lateral positions of the vehicle respectively on the road
stretch at every time step.

Table 2.1 Sample of trajectory data used for the study

veh_no. veh_type Length(m) Width(m) Time(sec) real_x(m) real_y(m)

1 1 2.93 1.16 1.5 8.27 2.41
1 1 2.93 1.16 2 10.39 2.3
1 1 2.93 1.16 2.5 19.48 2.2
1 1 2.93 1.16 3 20.72 2.56
1 1 2.93 1.16 3.5 28.04 2.08
1 1 2.93 1.16 4 31.09 2.35
1 1 2.93 1.16 4.5 37.25 2.33
1 1 2.93 1.16 5 45.9 2.57
1 1 2.93 1.16 5.5 51.7 2.01
1 1 2.93 1.16 6 52.04 2.13
1 1 2.93 1.16 6.5 59.81 2.35
1 1 2.93 1.16 7 64.51 2.23
1 1 2.93 1.16 7.5 70.72 2.14
1 1 2.93 1.16 8 74 2.2
1 1 2.93 1.16 8.5 81.55 2.23
1 1 2.93 1.16 9 84.81 2.39
1 1 2.93 1.16 9.5 90.83 2.58
1 1 2.93 1.16 10 100.62 2.4
1 1 2.93 1.16 10.5 103.37 2.53
. . . . . . .
. . . . . . .

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Chapter 3 Identification of driving behaviors
Vehicle trajectories are the primary data extracted from field (videos) using which the
current study was undertaken. This chapter presents an attempt made to study the trajectories
visually and to identify different driving behaviors exhibited by the vehicles in the field. The
following sections describe the method followed to plot the trajectories and the observations
made from them.
3.1 Plotting vehicle trajectories
Plotting the trajectories is the first step in order to know how each vehicle moves along
the stretch of the study corridor. The time is plotted along the X-axis and the longitudinal-
ordinate along Y- Axis. The sorted data are given as input to MATLAB which was used as the
tool for plotting the trajectories.
. The trajectories were plotted at different resolutions such as 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5
seconds and 10 seconds was found to be appropriate resolution to visually study the trajectories.
An example of trajectories plotted for vehicles in 5 second time interval is shown in Figure 3.1.
The 15 minutes have been divided into 5 second time intervals and the vehicle
trajectories have been plotted for every time interval. The plots were also divided along the Y-
axis i.e., along the longitudinal coordinate for better visibility of the trajectories. Each trajectory
is labeled with their vehicle identification numbers and the vehicle type. The abbreviations used
for type of vehicles is as shown in Table 3.1.

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 Figure 3.1 Example of vehicle trajectories plotted for 5 second time interval

Table 3.1 Abbreviations used for different vehicle categories in time-space plots

Vehicle type identification

Vehicle type Abbreviations
number (As per the data)
1 Motorcycle(Two Wheeler) TW

2 Car Car

3 Bus Bus

4 Truck Trk

5 Light Commercial Vehicle Lcv

6 Auto rickshaw AU

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3.2 Observations from trajectory plots
In the present study, an attempt has been made to study and analyze the vehicle
following behavior using the vehicle trajectories. From the literature (Asaithambi & Basheer,
2017) some of the following behaviors which can be studied for single leader and single
follower are: Strict following , Staggered or oblique following, Following in between two
vehicles. Also there are other possible and less addressed vehicle following behaviors other
than single leader-follower pairs (Munigety & Mathew, 2016)that can be considered for the
study in mixed traffic such as, Two leader or multiple leader following behavior and Group
following behaviors. The study also attempted to observe other driving behaviors such as
overtaking, passing and paired riding behaviors.
The plotted trajectories were visually observed for the change in longitudinal positions
of vehicles with respect to time as a part of preliminary study. The lateral positions of the
vehicles were not considered during this observation. Few examples have been provided to
describe how the identification of driving behaviors has been attempted.
In the Figure 3.2, car with vehicle ID 242 and two wheeler 243 have similar trajectories
with a longitudinal gap of around 6 meters during the 5 second time interval. So, the two
wheeler might have been following the car for those 5 seconds.
In the next example Figure 3.3, cars 193 and 195 have trajectories which are
overlapping, i.e., their longitudinal positions of the two are same for every time step for these
5 seconds duration. Also, the similar overlapping is seen in the trajectories of two wheelers 191
and 196. Hence, this can be considered as an instance of moving abreast or paired riding.
In the next two plots Figure 3.4 and Figure 3.5, the instances of grouping behavior and
overtaking behavior has been shown. In Figure 3.4, a group of trajectories formed by cars (166
and 172) and two wheelers (165, 169 and 173) having very less longitudinal spacing. This might
be a group of vehicles following car 168 which is ahead of all these vehicles. In Figure 3.5 the
two wheeler 206 seems to overtake the vehicles (three two wheelers and two cars) ahead of it.

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 Figure 3.2 Observation of following behavior

Figure 3.3 Observation of paired riding behavior

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 Figure 3.4 Observation of grouping behavior

Figure 3.5 observation of overtaking behavior

Cars were found to be showing more following behavior than other vehicles. Two
wheelers mostly exhibited passing, paired riding and grouping behaviors. Slow moving vehicles
(Bus, Truck, LCVs) were found to obstruct the traffic flow most of the times having more
number of followers since they occupy more space on the roadway. However the proper
evidence for the driving behaviors was still not found using this method. More variations in
speeds (acceleration) were found by observing the slopes of trajectories of two wheelers and
auto rickshaws, which seemed to exhibit overtaking or seeping behaviors.

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3.3 Summary
Time-space plots of vehicle trajectories plotted together helps to visualize the real field
longitudinal movement of vehicles at any required time step. The speed of the vehicle and
variations in speed along the stretch can be seen in the plots by observing the slope of time-
space curve of any vehicle which cannot be seen in the videos. The changing slope of a time-
space curve depicts the acceleration/deceleration performed by the vehicle during its
movement. When several trajectories are plotted together, the speeds and accelerations can be
compared. Different driving behaviors such as vehicle following, paired riding, overtaking,
passing, etc., can be identified from the trajectory plots as mentioned in the above section.
The time-space plots provide information about only the longitudinal movement of
vehicles in traffic stream. In mixed traffic conditions with weak lane discipline, the lateral
positions of vehicles are as important as longitudinal positions of vehicles. But, the two
dimensional time-space plots will not be to determine the lateral positions of vehicles. The
minor variations in the trajectories and speed characteristics of the vehicles could not be found
through the time-space plots.

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Chapter 4 Vehicle Grouping Behavior

4.1 About grouping behavior

The traffic in India/developing countries is a mixture of different type of vehicles
distributed along the entire width of the roadway is commonly referred as called mixed traffic.
The study of driving behaviors in mixed traffic is different and more versatile compared to that
of homogeneous traffic conditions (Asaithambi et al., 2016; Munigety & Mathew, 2016). A car
following model can depict the traffic scenario in case of homogeneous traffic with lane
discipline but, it is not so in case of mixed traffic. The traffic is such that a single vehicle is not
under the influence of a single vehicle, but surrounded by more than one vehicle with different
characteristics at a time instant.
The grouping behavior is said to be exhibited by the vehicles in mixed traffic when more
than two vehicles travel together for a particular time period in mid-blocks of urban arterial.
The vehicles in moving as a cluster will be having few similar behaviors and also some different
behaviors. The tendency to form or join a group and interactions of vehicles within the group
as well as with the traffic stream are yet to be studied.
Some characteristics of vehicles such as less inter vehicular spacing (longitudinal and
lateral), similarity in vehicle trajectories i.e., having same slope lesser than free flow speed, se
formation of clustered separated from the traffic stream and vehicles move together for more
than a particular time duration(say 5 sec) could determine the grouping behavior of vehicles.
Also it has to be studied if the acceleration/deceleration of the vehicles in the group is affected
by the group behavior and there might be a single leader or multiple leaders for a group.
The parameters those affecting the grouping behavior of vehicles might be listed as:
number of vehicles in the group, types of vehicles in the group, width of the road, nature of
traffic flow (free/moderate/congested), inter vehicular spacing etc.,.
In modeling mixed traffic, presently the car following models constructed for
homogeneous traffic with lane discipline are being used with some modifications (Gunay, 2007;
Tom V. Mathew & Ravishankar, 2011). These models, also called as vehicle following models
are able to represent the effect of a single leader on a single subject vehicle. But, in case of
mixed traffic, not only a pair of vehicles but a bunch of vehicles (more than two) are to be
considered for the study. The following behavior is not only applicable for a pair of vehicles

`17
but might also be applicable for a number of vehicles travelling together as a group. The study
of how the vehicles tend to form a group and how they behave while moving in a group having
different combinations of vehicles is helpful in simulating the mixed traffic scenario more
realistically, representing the similar field conditions.
The grouping behavior once modeled can be used in microscopic simulation model
along with the other currently used vehicle following models. The frequency of group formation
can be given as input and when the group formation takes place grouping behavior model can
be invoked. Instead of modeling a pair of vehicles together, a group of vehicles can be studied
and simulated together.
4.2 Analysis of grouping behavior
With reference to the theoretical aspects mentioned in the paragraphs above, the study
on vehicle grouping behavior was carried out using mixed traffic trajectory data. Initially, the
vehicles were visually observed in the video to identify group movements. The groups
identified were observed from frame to frame to ensure that they were moving together.
After the visual observation from videos, the trajectory of the vehicles in the groups
identified were studied. It was observed that, if the vehicle trajectories were similar, with similar
acceleration and deceleration characteristics, then the vehicles might have a grouping behavior.
The selected trajectories from the previous step were observed for their speed. The
speeds of the vehicles were compared with their free flow speed with the help of oblique plots.
4.2.1 Application of oblique plots
4.2.1.1 About oblique plots
Oblique plots are used for N-curves where, N-curves are the cumulative traffic flow vs
time plots for different locations. Cassidy and Windover proposed this methodology in 1995.
The method is about subtracting a value of flow (say average flow) qo from all the data and plot
the modified data vs time i.e., to plot the functions N(x,t)-qo*t vs time, as shown in Figure 4.2.
By choosing qo properly the range of count variables of N-curves gets reduced on plotting the
modified curve. When several N curves are plotted together modified plot reduces the curves
to smaller scaled curves using which the desired details of the curves are restored without
changing the vertical seperation between the curevs.

`18
 Observation for groups of vehicles from video

Matching the vehicles from video to trajectory data

Observing vehicle trajectories in time-space plots

Obtaining the oblique time-space plots for the selected vehicles

Observation of speed and acceleration characteristics from oblique plots

Figure 4.1 Steps involved in the study of grouping behavior

`19
 Figure 4.2 Oblique plot applied for N-Curve(Cassidy, 1998)

4.2.1.2 Method of Application to vehicle trajectories

Time-space plots are very good representatives of vehicle trajectories. In order to make
them show the minor variations in the trajectories that show the accelerating/decelerating
behavior of vehicles visually, the idea of applying the concept of oblique plots to vehicle
trajectories has been proposed. In case of time-space plots of vehicle trajctories, the slope
represents the speed of the vehicle. To plot the oblique plot for a vehicle trajectory speed (vo)
is used in place of flow (qo). Based on the concept of oblique plots applied for N-curves, a
methodology to plot them for time-space plots of vehicle trajectories has been presented. The
application of oblique plots to trajectories was done with following objectives,
In order to observe minor variations in trajectories i.e., change in speed,
acceleration/deceleration.
To check whether the vehicle is moving below or above certain value of speed (Free
flow speed, average speed) by observing the direction of slope positive or negative.
Steps involved in obtaining oblique plot for vehicle trajetories are as shown in Figure
4.3.
The speed of vehicles in the trajectory data set were determined by central difference
method given by Equation 1. The speed data was sorted according to the types of vehicles.
Using this data, frequency distribution curve was plotted separately for each vehicle category.

`20
From these curves the 85th percentile speed was found i.e., the speed below which 85 percent
of vehicles travel along the study stretch. The free flow speeds of different vehicle types found
from the data is as shown in Table 4.1.
(𝑥𝑖+2 −𝑥𝑖 )
𝑣𝑖 = (2×∆𝑡)

[∆𝑡 = 𝑡𝑖+1 − 𝑡𝑖 = 𝑡𝑖+2 − 𝑡𝑖+1 ]

………………Equation 1

Where,
𝑣𝑖 – Speed at ith time step in m/s
𝑥𝑖 - Longitudinal position at time instant 𝑡𝑖 in meters
𝑥𝑖+2 - Longitudinal position at time instant 𝑡𝑖+2 in meters
∆𝑡 - Time interval between the two consecutive time instants in seconds (0.5 sec)
Table 4.1 Free flow speeds of different vehicle types

Free flow speed

Type of vehicle
in m/s in Kmph
Auto Rickshaw 11.5 41.4
Bus 12.3 44.28
Truck 12.5 45
Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) 12.6 45.36
Car 13.6 48.96
Two Wheeler 13.8 49.68

`21
 The speeds of different category of vehicles were compared and few observations were
made. Auto Rickshaws were found to have the lowest free flow speed. Heavy vehicles such as
Bus, Truck and LCVs had similar values of speed higher than auto-rickshaws and lower than
that of two wheelers and cars. Two wheelers and cars had highest free flow speed values.
In the present study mixed traffic trajectory data has been used for plotting the oblique
time-space plots. The value of vo was decided based on the purpose of using the oblique plot
i.e., if we wanted to compare the speed of a two wheeler with its free flow speed then, the free
flow speed of two wheelers was used as vo. Then, the modified longitudinal co-ordinates of the
trajectories were calculated for the time steps by subtracting the function vo*t from original
longitudinal co-ordinates.
The examples of original time-space plots a possible leader and oblique time-space plots
are as shown in Figure 4.4 and Figure 4.5.

Selection of speed value vo

Calculation of modified co-ordinates (x-vo*t)

Plotting modified co-ordinates vs time

Figure 4.3 Steps involved in plotting oblique time-space curves

`22
 Original Time-Space plot
Original Longitudinal Co-ordinate (x) in m 300

250

200

150

100

Subject Vehicle
50
Vehicle in front of the Subject Vehicle

0
15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35
Time in sec

Figure 4.4 Time-space plot for original trajectories

Modified Time-Space plot[Oblique plot]

-205
Modified Longitudinal Co-ordinate(x-vo*t) in m

15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35
-210

-215

-220

-225

-230

-235

-240
Subject vehicle
-245
Vehicle in front of subject vehicle
-250
Time in sec

Figure 4.5 Modified time-space plot for vehicle trajectories

`23
4.2.2 Observations from oblique plots of vehicle groups
From the aforementioned steps, there were a few groups of vehicles identified among
which few examples of their oblique plots are presented here. In all the four examples described
here, the free flow speed of two wheelers has been taken as vo.
In the Figure 4.6 it was observed that two wheeler with vehicle ID 430 is moving with
a speed lesser than its free flow speed since the slope is negative. Two wheelers 438 and 437
are moving with the similar speeds almost equal to their free flow speed since the slopes are
almost flat. But the two wheeler 441 is moving with speed much higher than the free flow speed
of two wheelers and it is overtaking other vehicles aggressively.
Figure 4.7 is an example of oblique plots of a two wheeler group. Here the slopes of
most of the two wheelers is negative and it shows that they all are moving with speeds below
the free flow speed of two wheelers. The two wheeler 1417 is the one moving with free flow
speed and seeping through the two wheeler group. In the next example Figure 4.8 the
trajectories of two cars and three two wheelers were found to be together. Here, all of the
oblique curves have a positive slope indicating that the vehicles are moving at a speed higher
or nearly equal to the free flow speed of two wheelers.
The fourth example shown in Figure 4.9 is a mixture of two wheelers, cars and auto
rickshaws moving together. Here, after the time step of 110 seconds the vehicles seem to be
moving together. The auto rickshaw 151 and two wheeler 152 had similar speeds lower than
the free flow speed of two wheelers. Two wheeler 162 moving at free flow speed overtakes the
car 159, two wheeler 152 and auto rickshaw 151 and accelerates to higher speed than free flow
speed. Car 160 and two wheeler 157 are travelling at speeds lower than the free flow speed of
two wheelers whereas the two wheeler 162 overtakes all these vehicles with a speed equal to
its free flow speed.
This was how the oblique plots of vehicle trajectories were used to observe and
understand the movement of vehicles and also to get an overall view of their speed and
acceleration characteristics.

`24
Figure 4.6 Example for a group of two wheelers and autos

Figure 4.7 Example for a group of two wheelers

`25
 Figure 4.8 Oblique plot for a group of two wheelers and cars

Figure 4.9 Oblique plot for a group of two wheelers, auto rickshaws and cars

`26
 The time-space plots of vehicle trajectories are reduced to smaller scale on plotting the
oblique time-space plots. This facilitates us to know the small variations in the vehicle
trajectories which cannot be seen in original time space plots. The changes in slope of time-
space plots can be clearly seen using oblique plots. Those changes in slope and the intensity of
slope indicates the acceleration/deceleration characteristics of the vehicle.
The speed of vehicle can be compared with a desired speed value using oblique plots.
For example, if we need to compare the speed of two wheeler to its free flow speed, the vo value
is taken as free flow speed and the oblique time-space is plotted. In the oblique plot, if the slope
is positive/increasing then the vehicle is moving with a speed higher than the free flow speed,
if it is negative/decreasing then the vehicle is said to be moving with a speed lesser than the
free flow speed and if the slope is flat/zero then the vehicle is said to be moving with free flow
speed.
4.3 Summary
The observations from the vehicle grouping behavior study yielded the following results,
The data used for the study had a short time duration and moderate flow condition,
hence the group movement was observed in very few instances. The samples obtained for the
study of grouping behavior were less.
From the visual observation of groups in video, it was observed that the similar type of
vehicles were trying to get together and move in groups. For e.g., a two wheeler had a tendency
to move towards another two wheeler or a group of two wheelers and then proceed the journey
along with the group.
Among the few groups identified, most of them were two wheeler groups and few were
mixed groups of auto and two wheelers. Due to their size and similar maneuvering capability,
only autos and two wheelers were found to exhibit group behavior most of the times.
The observations from the oblique plots we could identify the vehicles moving with
higher or lower than or equal to their free flow speed.

`27
Chapter 5 Following behavior analysis
5.1 Analysis of parameters
To analyze the following behavior of vehicles several parameters were considered. To
study the behavior of a vehicle with respect to another, the parameters regarding both the
vehicles needs to be considered for the study. Initially a list of parameters was created based on
the previous studies and experiences. Later, on the basis of the data in hand, six parameters
were selected for preliminary study. The parameters extracted from the data were: speed of
subject vehicle, speed of vehicle in front, longitudinal gap and lateral overlap of subject vehicle
with the vehicle in front, speed of adjacent vehicle, lateral gap and longitudinal overlap of the
subject vehicle with the vehicle adjacent to it. The parameters were extracted using MATLAB
code.
Initially, the combination of two vehicles around the subject vehicles was considered to
extract parameters. In our case, cars were taken as representative vehicles since, cars were the
vehicles which were found to exhibit more following behavior from trajectory observations.
The instances were taken such that the subject vehicle had one vehicle at its front and one
vehicle adjacent to it.
Using vehicle trajectory data the nearest vehicles present at front and adjacent side of
the subject vehicle were identified and the lateral, longitudinal gaps and overlaps were
calculated for the selected adjacent and front vehicles. The relative speeds at the respective time
intervals were calculated using the speeds calculated before. The speed of subject vehicle was
taken as a dependent parameter and other six parameters were taken as independent parameters.
A multiple linear regression was performed to know the parameters influencing the
speed of subject vehicle significantly. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was the
tool used to perform Multiple Linear Regression. The regression was performed several times
with data having different longitudinal gaps. The range of clear lateral gap was considered up
to 3 meters. The maximum longitudinal gap considered was 30 meters which is considered as
the maximum look ahead distance. The inputs with varying longitudinal gaps (up to 10 meters,
20 meters and 30 meters) were given and the results of MLR were obtained for each trial. The
results obtained from these regressions were as described in Figure 5.1.

`28
 Speed of adjacent vehicle

Adjacent vehicle
Lateral gap with subject vehicle
parameters

Longitudinal overlap with the subject vehicle

Speed of subject
vehicle
Speed of front vehicle

Front vehicle
Longitudinal gap with subject vehicle
parameters

Lateral overlap with the subject vehicle

Figure 5.1 Parameters considered for preliminary study of following behavior

The observations made from the results of regression were,

Speed of front vehicle, longitudinal gap, Speed of adjacent vehicle were found to be
significant at all the longitudinal gaps below 30 meters and all lateral gaps below 3 meters.
Longitudinal overlap of subject vehicle with the adjacent vehicle was found to be insignificant
at all the longitudinal gaps. Lateral overlap with the front vehicle was significant for the
longitudinal gaps below 20 meters.

`29
 Table 5.1 Significance of parameters when longitudinal gap is below 30 meters

Order of Significance
Explanatory Variables Coefficients
Significance Level
1 Constant 4.536 <0.0005
Speed of front
2 0.350 <0.0005
vehicle(LEAD_SPEED)
3 Longitudinal gap(LONG_GAP) 0.180 <0.0005
Speed of adjacent
4 0.101 0.006
vehicle(ADJ_SPEED)
5 Lateral gap(LAT_GAP) 0.068 0.037
Overlap with the front
6 0.053 0.103
vehicle(LAT_OVLP)
Overlap with the adjacent
7 -0.004 0.912
vehicle(LONG_OVLP)

Table 5.2 Significance of parameters when the longitudinal gap is below 20 meters

Order of Significance
Explanatory Variables Coefficients
Significance Level
1 Constant 3.609 <0.0005
Speed of front
2 0.415 <0.0005
vehicle(LEAD_SPEED)
Longitudinal gap(LONG_GAP) 0.09 <0.0005
Speed of adjacent
3 0.116 0.014
vehicle(ADJ_SPEED)
Overlap with the front
4 .447 0.033
vehicle(LAT_OVLP)
5 Lateral gap(LAT_GAP) 0.249 0.122
Overlap with the adjacent
6 -0.011 0.885
vehicle(LONG_OVLP)

`30
 From the results it was known that the overlapping with front vehicle is also significant
when the longitudinal gap is lesser than 20 meters. Hence instead of using many parameters in
the Cartesian coordinate system, Polar coordinate system would take care of both the gap and
overlap using two new parameters, R and theta.
R is the center to center spacing between the subject vehicle and the other vehicle. Theta
is the angle between the subject vehicle and other vehicle measured from a same reference line.
The R parameter involves both lateral and longitudinal center to center spacing and theta
describes the position of the vehicle with respect to the subject vehicle wherever the vehicle is
around the subject vehicle. The pictorial representation of these parameters is as shown below
(Figure 5.2).

Vehicle 2
Vehicle 3 Vehicle 1

R2
R3 R1

θ3
θ2

θ1

Subject

Vehicle

Figure 5.2 Representation of parameters R and Theta

`31
5.2 Analysis of following behavior
The literature review showed that there is a need of an effective method to identify
leader and follower pairs or a true leader for a subject vehicle in mixed traffic conditions. Hence,
in this study an attempt to form a methodology to find the evidence for the following behavior
in mixed traffic has been made.
The steps we followed to analyze the following behavior of a car when it has a car in its front
are described below (Figure 5.3):
Selection of vehicle samples from video
The vehicle pairs were initially selected by visually observing the vehicles in the video
and the results are shown in Figure 5.4 and Figure 5.5 . The figures show the comparison
between the percentages of vehicles seems to exhibit following behavior among the total
number of vehicles of different categories. Among the selected pairs more number of cars
seemed to follow cars than other type of vehicles.
Comparably cars were the vehicles which seemed to exhibit the vehicle following
behavior more when compared to other vehicles and hence only car-car pairs were selected for
further study.
The vehicle pairs which seemed to be travelling one behind the other throughout the
study stretch (250m) or at least for half of their travel period along the study stretch were
selected for the study.
From the 2 sets of videos each of 15 minutes duration, around 40 and 50 car- car pairs
were selected initially from the first and second videos respectively for further study.
Calculation of R and Theta
The two parameters R and Theta were considered to be the stimulus for which the
response is the subject vehicle speed. R is the center to center spacing for the pair of vehicles
which includes both the lateral and longitudinal spacing. Theta is the angle formed by the
subject vehicle with the front vehicle, it is always measured from the first quadrant in order to
know the position of the vehicle in front with respect to the subject vehicle.
The trajectory data (with their speeds calculated using central difference method at
every time step) of selected pairs of vehicles was extracted from the data sets by matching the
vehicle IDs from video and taken out separately for further analysis.

`32
 Selection of samples from video

Matching the vehicles from video to data

Seperating the trajectory data of vehicle pairs

Calculation of R,Theta and relative speeds for each time step

Obtaining speed vs R and realtive speed vs R plots for each pair

Observation of each plot for vehicle following behavior

Figure 5.3 Steps involved in the analysis of following behavior

`33
 PERCENTAGE OF FOLLOWING VEHICLES AMONG TOTAL
FOLLOWING VEHICLES

60.43%
23.48%

10.87%
3.04%

2.17%
0.00%
MOTORCYCLE CAR BUS TRUCK LCV AUTO RIKSHAW

Figure 5.4 Percentage of following vehicles in total number of following vehicles

PERCENTAGE OF FOLLOWING VEHICLES AMONG TOTAL

VEHICLES

Following vehicles Total vehicles

56.45%

26.60%
17.33%

12.50%

12.17%
7.37%

6.81%
3.17%

3.15%

1.33%
0.30%
0.00%

MOTORCYCLE CAR BUS TRUCK LCV AUTO RIKSHAW

Figure 5.5 Percentage of following vehicles in total number of vehicles

`34
. The parameters R and Theta were then calculated using Equation 2 and Equation 3
respectively for vehicle pairs at each time step. The details of lateral and longitudinal positions
and dimensions of leader and follower vehicles used for the calculation are as shown in Figure
5.6.

2
𝐿𝑛 𝐿𝑛−1 2
𝑅 = √((𝑋𝑛 − ) − (𝑋𝑛−1 − )) + ((𝑌𝑛 − 𝑌𝑛−1 ))
2 2
..…....Equation 2

𝐿 𝐿
(𝑋𝑛 − 2𝑛 ) − (𝑋𝑛−1 − 𝑛−1
𝜃 = tan−1 ( 2 ))
(𝑌𝑛 − 𝑌𝑛−1 )

………Equation 3

Check for speed of subject vehicle

After knowing the R and theta values initially the speed of subject vehicle vs R plots
are plotted to check if the speed of subject vehicle is significantly below the free flow
speed(13.8m/s)
If the subject vehicle had sufficient data points below 12 m/s then only the vehicle pair
was taken into consideration for further study. After this investigation 15 pairs from first data
set and 16 pairs from second data sets were selected.
Analysis of steady state following behavior
In this step, the plots Speed subject vehicle vs R and Relative speed (Subject vehicle
speed – Front vehicle speed) were plotted for each pair of vehicles selected from previous step.
The data points were marked in the order of time step in order to observe the following behavior
of subject vehicle. From these plots the data points where the subject vehicle speed is low and
also the relative speed is nearer to zero were considered to exhibit steady state following
behavior.

`35
 The consecutive data points from each vehicle pair showing the following behavior for
a time period greater than or equal to 5 seconds (greater than or equal to 10 data points) were
considered for further analysis. For example, as shown in Figure 5.7 only data points 22 to 40
are considered which satisfied the criteria of speeds.

Xn = Longitudinal position of front vehicle

Xn-1 = Longitudinal position of subject vehicle

Yn = Lateral position of front vehicle

Yn-1 = Lateral position of subject vehicle

Ln = Length of front vehicle

Figure 5.6 Representation of vehicle attributes for calculating R and Theta

`36
Figure 5.7 Example for Speed vs R plot for a car-car pair

Figure 5.8 Example for Relative speed vs R for a car-car pair

`37
 .The data points extracted from these selected pairs were aggregated for studying the
behavior of subject vehicle at different R and Theta values. The R values had a range of 5 meters
to 16 meters and Theta varied from 70 degrees to 100 degrees. Angles less than 90 degrees
show that the leader is at right side infront of the subject vehicle and angles are more than 90
degrees determines that the leader is to the left side infront of the subject vehicle. The following
behavior observed at the angles other than 90 degrees can be considered as staggerred following
behavior.
Variation of speed values for different values of theta i.e., depending on the position of
leader is as shown in Figure 5.9. When the leader vehicle is at right side of the follower vehicle
the speed of follower was found to vary between 7 m/s to 12 m/s, whereas when the leader is
at left side of the follower the variation of speed values was found to be in between 9 m/s to
11.7 m/s.
It can be seen from Figure 5.9 the instances of staggered following behavior seems to
be more when the front vehicle is at the right side of the subject vehicle compared to the
situations when front vehicle is at left side of subject vehicle.

CAR-CAR pairs
13
5m
12 6m
Speed of subject vehicle in m/s

7m
11
8m
10 9m

9 10m
11m
8
12m

7 13m
14m
6
70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 15m

Angle Theta in degrees 16m

Figure 5.9 Speed of subject vehicle vs Theta for different R values

`38
5.3 Macroscopic Analysis
The trajectory and speed data obtained from the following pairs was aggregated and
verified macroscopically. The relationship between fundamental diagrams for strict and
staggered following behavior was obtained. Initially the aggregated data of all the vehicle pairs
was used to plot speed of subject vehicle versus center to center spacing (R) for all particular
range of theta (85 to 95 degree).
The scatter plot between speed and spacing was fitted in two parts. The plot was
observed visually and cutoff point to fit the data points was selected as 13 m spacing. The first
part was of the data for spacing below 13 meters and the second part for spacing above 13
meters. The two parts of the speed vs spacing plot were fitted separately as shown in Figure
5.11 .
The relationship between speed of the subject vehicle and spacing was obtained as
shown in. The relationship between the speed and spacing(R) when the angle is not equal to 90
degrees (i.e., 70 to 85 degrees and 95 to 100 degrees) was obtained (Figure 5.10).
The density was calculated using spacing (Density = 1/Spacing) and speed was plotted
against it. The flow was calculated using the fundamental relationship as the product of speed
and density. The relationships between fundamental parameters are as shown in Figure 5.13,
Figure 5.13, Figure 5.14 and Figure 5.15.

14
Speed of subject vehicle m/s

12
10
8
6
4
y = -0.1459x2 + 3.376x - 8.5418
2 R² = 0.5145

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
R in meters

Figure 5.10 Relationship between speed and spacing during staggered following

`39
 14

12

10
Speed in m/s 8

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
C/C spacing R in meters

14

12

10
Speed in m/s

4
y = 0.3956x + 5.3261
2 R² = 0.448

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
C/C spacing R in meters

14

12

10
Speed in m/s

4
y = -0.1646x + 12.617
2 R² = 0.0917

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
C/C spacing R in meters

Figure 5.11 Relationship between speed and spacing during strict following

`40
 Speed vs Density
50
45
40
35
Speed in Km/hr

30
25
20
15
10 y = 51.231e-0.004x
5 R² = 0.4893

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Density in veh/km

Figure 5.12 Speed vs Density plot for strict following vehicles

Flow vs Density
5000
4500
4000
3500
Flow in vehicle/hr

3000
2500
2000
1500
1000 y = -0.1008x2 + 40.12x + 377.47
500 R² = 0.6051

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Density in veh/km

Figure 5.13 Flow vs Density plot for strict following vehicles

`41
 Speed vs Density
50
45
40
35
Speed in Km/hr

30
25
20
15
y = -0.0077x2 + 1.4502x - 29.475
10
R² = 0.5096
5
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Density in veh/km

Figure 5.14 Speed vs Density plot for staggered following vehicles

Flow vs Density
5000
4500
4000
3500
Flow in vehicle/hr

3000
2500
2000
y = -0.7644x2 + 177.58x - 6233.9
1500
R² = 0.9134
1000
500
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Density in veh/km

Figure 5.15 Flow vs Density plot for staggered following vehicles

`42
Chapter 6 Conclusions
During the visualization of data it was realized that it is challenging to observation
longitudinal spacing between the vehicles, the acceleration/deceleration characteristics, the
trend of speed of vehicles and many such observations from the time-space plots. Application
of oblique plots to vehicle trajectories showed that the minor variations which cannot be seen
in the actual time-space plots of vehicle trajectories can be observed in modified time-space
plots. It was also found that the comparison of vehicle speed with any desired value of speed
can be easily done using oblique time-space plots. This application of oblique plots used in
defining the speed, acceleration/deceleration characteristics of a vehicle and can also be used
to compare the characteristics of one vehicle to other. For example, in vehicle following cases
the behavior of follower vehicle’s trajectory can be compared with that of leader’s trajectory.
The study on vehicle grouping behavior showed that the two wheelers were forming
groups in more number than the other vehicle types. In the present data the number of groups
found were very less for further study of grouping behavior. Hence, the characteristics of
grouping behavior couldn’t be defined properly.
The study of parameters affecting the speed of a vehicle was done using multiple
regression analysis. The regression results showed that the lateral and longitudinal gaps affect
the speed of the subject vehicle along with the speed of adjacent vehicles. Also, it was known
that the longitudinal overlapping of adjacent vehicle had no significant effect on the speed of
subject vehicle. But, the lateral overlap of the front vehicle was found to be significant below a
longitudinal gap of 20 meters. The idea of two new parameters which involved both the gaps
and overlaps irrespective of the position of vehicles around the subject vehicle. The parameters
R and Theta were found to be appropriate to use instead of all the six parameters.
The following behavior analysis in the present study resulted in a new methodology to
prove the influence of leading vehicle on the subject vehicle. By observing the speeds of subject
vehicle and the vehicle in its front, if the speed of subject vehicle is lesser than its free flow
speed and the relative speed is nearer to zero for more than 5 seconds it can be considered as
following behavior.
The relationship between the new parameters R, Theta and speed has been studied for
the vehicles in following state. The results showed that there is a different relationship existing
between R and Speed of subject vehicle with theta being nearly equal to 90 degrees and other

`43
than 90 degrees. The following behavior when theta is from 85 to 95 degrees can be considered
as strict following cases and those with angles lesser or greater than this range can be considered
as staggered following. Hence, the evidence for staggered following in mixed traffic has been
provided.
During staggered following, the influence of leader on following vehicle’s speed was
found to be different depending on the position of leader with respect to follower’s position.
More speed variations were found when the leader was at right side of the follower. This might
be due to the fact that the drivers generally do not prefer to overtake from the left side of the
vehicle, so in that case they tend to follow the front vehicle. In case of leaders present at left
side of the follower then the follower mostly tries to overtake the leader provided there is a
sufficient gap on the right side of follower. Hence, it was concluded that the effect of leaders
present at right and left side of the follower is different on the following vehicle.
The following vehicle data was verified macroscopically by plotting the fundamental
diagram. The relationship between the fundamental traffic parameters speed, flow and density
are obtained for strict and staggered following behaviors in mixed traffic conditions. The results
obtained from the study are useful in modeling driving behaviors of vehicles in mixed traffic
conditions with weak lane discipline as in countries like India.

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 Future Scope of Study
Based on the studies conducted in the present work there are many aspects which can
be studied further and applied to traffic simulation models,
 Visualization tools such as time-space plots of trajectories can be further improved by
incorporating the lateral movement of vehicles which will depict the traffic scenario in
mixed traffic conditions with weak lane discipline more efficiently.
 Application of oblique plots can be done in in order to have a better building traffic
simulation models visualization of curves and also for rescaling curved for smaller size.
 Study of grouping behavior can be done using suitable data sets and it can be used for
modeling two wheeler behavior in mixed traffic.
 Since, the vehicle following behavior is not seen to be exhibited by many vehicles
except for cars, for mixed traffic condition separate models have to formed and applied
according to the different driving behaviors exhibited in mixed traffic other than
following behavior. A study on the probability of a vehicle to exhibit following behavior
has to be done. Also, the existence of driver variability and heterogeneity in mixed
traffic can be verified using similar methodologies.

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