Lane changing manoeuvres can be divided into three sequential stages: the motivation to change lanes, the selection of a lane to change into and the execution of the lane change. The first two stages constitute the lane changing decision and the final stage is associated with the lane changing performance. The aim of this research is to investigate the explanatory factors in lane changing decisions of heavy vehicles in motorways using detailed vehicle trajectory data under congested traffic conditions. Therefore, the important factors which motivate the heavy vehicle drivers to change lanes are investigated first. Then, the factors which appear to influence the choice of a lane to change into are considered. This paper is structured as follows. In the next section, the literature on lane changing models is reviewed and summarised. The following section presents the trajectory data used in this study. It is followed by an examination of the explanatory factors in different stages of heavy vehicles lane changing decisions. The final section summarises the findings and conclusions of the paper and identifies directions for model development research. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E217541.
Samenvatting