Multivariate analysis of following and filtering manoeuvres of Motorized Two Wheelers in mixed traffic conditions

Mixed traffic conditions present a complex problem for analysis by transportation engineers and policymakers, due to the inherent heterogeneity and lane indiscipline. The chaotic arrangements make it difficult to identify and analyze basic riding behaviour such as following and filtering. Moreover, the smaller lateral dimensions of Motorized Two Wheelers (MTWs) and their higher manoeuvreability add to the difficulty. Presence of different types of vehicles in traffic mix, following the leader with or without obliqueness, filtering through tight pores between leader vehicles, etc. are some of the aspects that require special attention. In this respect, this study is aimed at investigating the attributes related to following and filtering manoeuvres of MTWs in such disordered traffic conditions. Real world data from two Indian cities was used for the analysis, which showed that the behaviour of MTWs is heavily influenced by the type of leader vehicle(s), Clear Lateral Gap (CLG), speed, etc. Safety analysis carried out using Time-To-Collision (TTC) showed that about 8.2% of the interactions were risky. Support Vector Machine (SVM) technique was used to investigate the choice of filtering based on Clear Lateral Gap (CLG) and relative speed. Moreover, analysis of the observed parameters was conducted to obtain their specific distributions based on leader vehicle type, following regime and choice of filtering. The analysis will give directions for further research on developing driving behaviour models of MTWs in mixed traffic. The results will also find potential application in traffic flow theories, safety studies, microsimulation, implementation of MTW infrastructure, etc.