Simulation of Driver Behaviour in Heterogeneous Untidy Traffic in Developing Countries

This paper describes the research attempt to understand driver behaviour in heterogeneous, untidy traffic in developing countries through simulation. Cities of Dhaka, Bangkok and Delhi were identified as three case study areas where traffic surveys were conducted and driver behaviour analysed. The paper tries to quantify the level of ‘aggressiveness’ in a particular driver-vehicle environment and proposes a simulation package to understand it. A modified Tetris approach has been developed to simulate heterogeneous and untidy traffic. The study looks into the relationship of varying driver typologies, based on age and their relative aggression levels associated with trips and vehicle typologies in the three case locations. It proposes a simulation package to generate varying driver responses in context of slow moving and untidy traffic. The study reveals that age, and driver experiences are a significant factor in determining level of driver aggression. The driver response in a particular environment is a system optimum response of his individual state, in relation to the performance of system’s ‘driver-vehicle environment’. The study concludes that while heterogeneous and mixed traffic increases vehicle delays, and stops at the signalised links, untidy traffic reduces it. The combined effect of heterogeneity and untidiness cancel each other. The simulation reveals that segregation of traffic based on vehicular typologies and speeds leads to optimisation of link performance and environment. The research proposes a simulation model that can accurately simulate mixed, slow moving, and untidy traffic condition with varying degree of driver aggression and recommends its applications.