Driver coordination in complex traffic environments

Abstract

Even though many situations in driving involve more than one road user and interaction between those road users, most car driving models utilize a single driver perspective. Collisions between cars constitute a significant part of the total number of crashes each year. A consequence is that driver modeling should move beyond single driver behavior and aim at explaining interaction between drivers. In this paper we will present an approach that merges Hollnagel's Extended Control Model with Clark's Joint Action perspective on coordination. The purpose is to suggest a basic model to help explain coordination in traffic.

Defining interactions: A conceptual framework for understanding interactive behaviour in human and automated road traffic

“…When road users interact, they can be regarded as sustaining a shared focus of attention, even if this often happens in a very fleeting and elusive manner (Haddington and Rauniomaa 2014). This relates strongly to the perspective on road traffic actions as brief episodes of joint action (Clark 1996;Renner and Johansson 2006). Furthermore, Goffman suggests a number of key motivations behind human behaviour in interactions.…”

“…For example, interaction failures where one driver assumes that another driver will be yielding have been identified as a key contributory factor behind fatal intersection crashes (Ljung Aust, Fagerlind, and Sagberg 2012), and similar misunderstandings, such as a failure to clearly communicate one's own intended future behaviour, have been observed in safety-critical car-pedestrian incidents (Habibovic et al 2013). Therefore, traffic interactions have been investigated both for their applied importance and their general relevance to human interaction, in a number of different fields, including road safety engineering (Tarko 2012;Svensson 1998;Hydén 1987), traffic psychology (Elvik 2014;Risser 1985;Renner and Johansson 2006), as well as anthropology and sociology (Merlino and Mondada 2019;Goffman 1971;Haddington and Rauniomaa 2014;Portouli, Nathanael, and Marmaras 2014), but using different tools, theoretical perspectives, and terminologies, to address slightly different aspects of the phenomenon of road traffic interactions. At present, there is no unifying conceptual framework bringing these different perspectives together, to support effective cross-fertilisation of theories and methods.…”

Naturalistic observation of drivers’ interactions while overtaking on an undivided road

“…Existing models of driving behavior [Hollnagel et al, 2003] employ a single driver perspective and do not consider interaction with other drivers. One attempt to integrate such interactions is proposed in [Renner and Johansson, 2006], who specify that drivers' joint actions are performed with a common goal, which is based on drivers' assumptions and always demands coordination and propose the Joint Action Control Model to explain driver coordination. This model however only refers to drivers' coordination, which does not necessarily employ intentional exchange of information but rather automated and unconscious adjustment of own vehicle movement so as to achieve the common goal of safe driving and reaching of destination.…”

Defining interactions: a conceptual framework for understanding interactive behaviour in human and automated road traffic

“…For example, interaction failures where one driver assumes that another driver will be yielding have been identified as a key contributory factor behind fatal intersection crashes (Ljung Aust, Fagerlind, and Sagberg 2012), and similar misunderstandings, such as a failure to clearly communicate one's own intended future behaviour, have been observed in safety-critical car-pedestrian incidents (Habibovic et al 2013). Therefore, traffic interactions have been investigated both for their applied importance and their general relevance to human interaction, in a number of different fields, including road safety engineering (Tarko 2012;Svensson 1998;Hydén 1987), traffic psychology (Elvik 2014;Risser 1985;Renner and Johansson 2006), as well as anthropology and sociology (Merlino and Mondada 2019;Goffman 1971;Haddington and Rauniomaa 2014;Portouli, Nathanael, and Marmaras 2014), but using different tools, theoretical perspectives, and terminologies, to address slightly different aspects of the phenomenon of road traffic interactions. At present, there is no unifying conceptual framework bringing these different perspectives together, to support effective cross-fertilisation of theories and methods.…”