An Integrated Driver-Vehicle-Environment (I-DVE) model to assess crash risks
Keywords: Engineering
ARSRPE
Submission Date: 2007
Abstract
A wide range of driver and vehicle models have been proposed by
traffic psychologists, engineers and traffic simulation researchers to assess crash
risks. However, existing approaches are often confined within a single discipline
and lack concepts that formally express the complexity of interactions between
the driver, vehicle and environment as well as the broader scope and the
interdisciplinary nature of the driving behaviour modeling. For example, traffic
psychologists have defined a driver performance model as the driver’s perceptual
and motor skills (capabilities), or what the driver can do. In contrast, a driver
behavior model refers to what the driver actually does do while driving (Evans,
1991). A driver behaviour model is determined by an infinite and complex number
of factors related to the environment, driver and vehicle but is not explicitly
modeled in Evans (1991). Existing driver models lack substantive concepts that
express the interactions between the Driver, Vehicle and Environment (DVE). A
new Integrated Driver-Vehicle-Environment (I-DVE) model is formally presented
as a set of concepts and equations representing interactions between the driver,
vehicle and environment with the view to assess crash risks. The I-DVE model
features realistic and measurable attributes, which ultimately influence the driving
performance and associated crash risks. I-DVE model is validated in a
simulation. The simulation uses empirical data related to Time To Collision (TTC),
Energy Equivalent Speed (EES), injury severity and driver profile to assess crash
risks. This paper (i) reviews existing driver modeling approaches and highlights
the need for an integrated approach, (ii) defines a novel model capable of
expressing risks associated interaction between the driver, environment and
vehicle and (iii) provides directions for further research in driver behaviour
modeling.