Personal efficiency in highway driving: An agent-based model of driving behaviour from a system design viewpoint

This research investigates improvement in personal efficiency of a driver based on the driver behaviour on a generic three-lane highway in Ontario. The behaviour is classified in: Law-Abiding drivers, opportunistic Deviant drivers, cautious Non-Myopic drivers, tailgating Aggressive drivers, and ambivalent Imitator drivers. For each driver in a class, the instantaneous ratio between actual and preferred speed is measured. A ratio of 1 defines an efficient driver. Here we measure throughout the personal efficiency of a driver by comparing their ratio to 1. We then aggregate these personal measures for classes of drivers; the system is more efficient if the aggregate ratio is closer to 1. Our research leads to the following conclusions: efficiency declines with higher car densities; it improves with the presence of Deviant and Aggressive drivers; Non-Myopic drivers do not affect traffic flow in a significant way. Imitators are Law-Abiding drivers who temporarily mimic deviating driver behaviour. We note that Imitator drivers fare worse than Law-Abiding drivers, but slightly improve overall system efficiency. The most surprising conclusion was to see that although Deviant drivers deviate from traffic rules from a selfish desire to improve their personal efficiency, they fare the worst in the end, while overall contributing to all other drivers' personal efficiencies.