The impact of aggressive driving behaviors on multi-lane highway traffic flow

A modified cellular automata traffic model is proposed to simulate four-lane traffic flow, in which drivers are classified into aggressive drivers and cautions drivers and the anticipative velocity of the adjacent vehicles is considered. Analysis from the vehicles' evolution pattern indicates that vehicles driven by the aggressive drivers are more powerful in behaviors of lane-changing and car-following. The model is refined by using the small cell of one meter long in order to simulate the traffic flow meticulously and realistically. The results indicate that the lane-changing maneuver exhibits different property as the density varies, and it does have a significant impact on the characteristics of the surrounding traffic flow due to their interfering effects on the following vehicles. Furthermore, the phenomenon of high-speed car-following is exhibited, and the results coincide with the empirical data very well. It is shown that the proposed model is reasonable and can partially reflect the real traffic.