Current models of driving behaviour and designs of driver support systems are not taking adequately into account the interactions between drivers. Although a driver’s intended manoeuvre may not be physically possible at a specific time point, it may still be safely executed if the driver’s intention is successfully communicated to and interpreted by another driver, who alters the own future trajectory so as to enable the manoeuvre execution. This paper presents some empirical findings relevant to communicative and cooperative interactions between drivers along naturalistic overtaking manoeuvres on an undivided road. The cues used by drivers to interpret other drivers’ intention and the drivers’ interactions were extracted through video observations of the manoeuvres together with the frequency of such interactions per level of traffic risk. The findings show that drivers use formal and informal cues to anticipate other drivers’ intention. A significant percentage of manoeuvres were performed after facilitation by other drivers. Future studies should focus on this phenomenon while future models of driving behaviour should incorporate communicative and cooperative interactions among drivers, so as to design adequate cooperative support systems to enhance road safety. (Author/publisher)
Abstract