Usually a rather formal approach is being taken, i.e. a specific model is postulated and compared to actual car driving. In chapter II the theory of driving will be surveyed and the various car following models will be discussed. It will be noted that linear as well as non-linear models are in existence both describing similar situations. In this study the approach was taken the best starting point toward a model is at the experimental level. It is difficult, however, to evaluate linear as well as non-linear models with the present day techniques such as linear regression. In other words linear regression may suggest a car following model which is optimum in the least squares sense but which is far from optimum when a non-linear regression function is use. To remedy this situation a non-linear regression technique has been developed. This technique, called piecewise linear regression, is discussed in Appendix I. The piecewise linear regression technique will be applied to an actual car following experiment in Chapter III; the results of this analysis are linked at the end of this chapter. One of the results is an actual car following formula which is the analytical description of the trajectory of the following car.
Abstract