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Title:

Estimating Critical Gap--A Comparison of Methodologies Using a Robust, Real-World Data Set

Accession Number:

01477222

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

Understanding the gap acceptance behavior of drivers is critical to transportation professionals dealing with roadway design and safety. Inaccurate information on how drivers utilize gaps in traffic can lead to inappropriate and potentially dangerous design decisions. Arguably, the best mechanism for understanding this behavior is through field investigations; however, little uniformity exists regarding best practices for analyzing gap acceptance field data. A number of different methodologies have been proposed and are currently in use for analyzing gap acceptance data. Subsequently, the question that arises is whether the analysis method chosen affects the results of the analysis. Previous works have made comparisons of different analysis methods, but with the intent of demonstrating the superiority of the author’s new analysis method. The research conducted herein is focused on a direct, and objective comparison of existing methodologies. More specifically, this paper uses observations from a large-scale-field study of 2,700 drivers, and presents a comparison of the five most commonly employed methods with two variations of each for a total of ten unique gap analysis methods. The lone criteria for each analysis method considered was that it have a firm fundamental base and be computationally simple enough for everyday application. The ease of implementation, sample size requirements, and results of each method are discussed. Methods used for analysis resulted in significantly different results. This raises concerns when comparing studies using different analysis methodologies. In addition, critical gap estimates from the evaluated methodologies were compared with the widely accepted values of the Highway Capacity Manual.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AND30 Simulation and Measurement of Vehicle and Operator Performance.

Monograph Accession #:

01470560

Report/Paper Numbers:

13-5019

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Tupper, Steven
Knodler Jr, Michael A
Fitzpatrick, Cole
Hurwitz, David S

Pagination:

18p

Publication Date:

2013

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Identifier Terms:

Highway Capacity Manual

Uncontrolled Terms:

Critical gaps (Traffic)

Subject Areas:

Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-5019

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Feb 5 2013 12:57PM