A model representing the single-lane no-passing driving situation has been formulated and run on a digital computer. Although the model involves the use of a car-following equation, the simulation also includes, for individual drivers, human factors such as reaction time lag, driver sensitivity, and the threshold of detection of relative velocity. The model allows for variation of these characteristics both between drivers, and over time for each individual driver. The study has been directed to the accident prevention problem with the aim of determining the critical parameters of the driving situation, and of ascertaining the ranges of values of these parameters which define a safe or stable driving situation. The model has exhibited excellent behaviour in the sense that those values of parameters which permit stable model behaviour are the same values found experimentally to determine actual stable driving patterns. /author/.
Abstract