Analyzing the Safety Impacts of Variable Speed Limit Control on Aggregated Driving Behavior Based on Traffic Big Data
Variable speed limit (VSL) control dynamically adjusts the displayed speed limit to harmonize traffic speed, prevent congestions, and reduce crash risks based on prevailing traffic stream and weather conditions. Previous research studies examine the impacts of VSL control on reducing corridor-level...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Advanced Transportation |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/8823292 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849683382442655744 |
|---|---|
| author | Xu Qu Mofeng Yang Junyi Ji Linheng Li Bin Ran |
| author_facet | Xu Qu Mofeng Yang Junyi Ji Linheng Li Bin Ran |
| author_sort | Xu Qu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Variable speed limit (VSL) control dynamically adjusts the displayed speed limit to harmonize traffic speed, prevent congestions, and reduce crash risks based on prevailing traffic stream and weather conditions. Previous research studies examine the impacts of VSL control on reducing corridor-level crash risks and improving bottleneck throughput. However, less attention focuses on utilizing real-world data to see how compliant the drivers are under different VSL values and how the aggregated driving behavior changes. This study aims to fill the gap. With the high-resolution lane-by-lane traffic big data collected from a European motorway, this study performs statistical analysis to measure the difference in driving behavior under different VSL values and analyze the safety impacts of VSL controls on aggregate driving behaviors (mean speed, average speed difference, and the percentage of small space headway). The data analytics show that VSL control can effectively decrease the mean speed, the speed difference, and the percentage of small space headways. The safety impacts of VSL control on aggregated driving behavior are also discussed. The aggregated driving behavior variables follow a trend of first decreasing and then increasing with the continuous decrease in VSL values, indicating that potential traffic safety benefits can be achieved by adopting suitable VSL values that match with prevailing traffic conditions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-dca75097aea24848bb64508fbce7cf0f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0197-6729 2042-3195 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Advanced Transportation |
| spelling | doaj-art-dca75097aea24848bb64508fbce7cf0f2025-08-20T03:23:55ZengWileyJournal of Advanced Transportation0197-67292042-31952021-01-01202110.1155/2021/88232928823292Analyzing the Safety Impacts of Variable Speed Limit Control on Aggregated Driving Behavior Based on Traffic Big DataXu Qu0Mofeng Yang1Junyi Ji2Linheng Li3Bin Ran4School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, ChinaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland-College Park, College Park, MD 20742, USASchool of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, ChinaSchool of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, ChinaSchool of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, ChinaVariable speed limit (VSL) control dynamically adjusts the displayed speed limit to harmonize traffic speed, prevent congestions, and reduce crash risks based on prevailing traffic stream and weather conditions. Previous research studies examine the impacts of VSL control on reducing corridor-level crash risks and improving bottleneck throughput. However, less attention focuses on utilizing real-world data to see how compliant the drivers are under different VSL values and how the aggregated driving behavior changes. This study aims to fill the gap. With the high-resolution lane-by-lane traffic big data collected from a European motorway, this study performs statistical analysis to measure the difference in driving behavior under different VSL values and analyze the safety impacts of VSL controls on aggregate driving behaviors (mean speed, average speed difference, and the percentage of small space headway). The data analytics show that VSL control can effectively decrease the mean speed, the speed difference, and the percentage of small space headways. The safety impacts of VSL control on aggregated driving behavior are also discussed. The aggregated driving behavior variables follow a trend of first decreasing and then increasing with the continuous decrease in VSL values, indicating that potential traffic safety benefits can be achieved by adopting suitable VSL values that match with prevailing traffic conditions.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/8823292 |
| spellingShingle | Xu Qu Mofeng Yang Junyi Ji Linheng Li Bin Ran Analyzing the Safety Impacts of Variable Speed Limit Control on Aggregated Driving Behavior Based on Traffic Big Data Journal of Advanced Transportation |
| title | Analyzing the Safety Impacts of Variable Speed Limit Control on Aggregated Driving Behavior Based on Traffic Big Data |
| title_full | Analyzing the Safety Impacts of Variable Speed Limit Control on Aggregated Driving Behavior Based on Traffic Big Data |
| title_fullStr | Analyzing the Safety Impacts of Variable Speed Limit Control on Aggregated Driving Behavior Based on Traffic Big Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analyzing the Safety Impacts of Variable Speed Limit Control on Aggregated Driving Behavior Based on Traffic Big Data |
| title_short | Analyzing the Safety Impacts of Variable Speed Limit Control on Aggregated Driving Behavior Based on Traffic Big Data |
| title_sort | analyzing the safety impacts of variable speed limit control on aggregated driving behavior based on traffic big data |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/8823292 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xuqu analyzingthesafetyimpactsofvariablespeedlimitcontrolonaggregateddrivingbehaviorbasedontrafficbigdata AT mofengyang analyzingthesafetyimpactsofvariablespeedlimitcontrolonaggregateddrivingbehaviorbasedontrafficbigdata AT junyiji analyzingthesafetyimpactsofvariablespeedlimitcontrolonaggregateddrivingbehaviorbasedontrafficbigdata AT linhengli analyzingthesafetyimpactsofvariablespeedlimitcontrolonaggregateddrivingbehaviorbasedontrafficbigdata AT binran analyzingthesafetyimpactsofvariablespeedlimitcontrolonaggregateddrivingbehaviorbasedontrafficbigdata |