Numerical Simulation of Motor Vehicles' Courtesy Behavior on Crosswalk Based on Car-Following Model

In observing driver courtesy towards pedestrians at unsignalized crosswalks, a behavioral model was adopted in a simulation based on the GM Car-Following Model. The SIMI Motion Software was used to extract the vehicle operation data from Wenyi South Road and Hanyuan Road in Xi'an City. The parameters of the GM Car-Following Model were calibrated by genetic algorithm. The road simulation environment based on the Car-Following Model was constructed by MATLAB. In the case of no stopping, uniform deceleration avoidance with advance notice, emergency brake avoidance without advance notice, changes such as the displacement of the Car-Following queue, headway, speed, acceleration, and deceleration were analyzed by numerical simulation. The results show that when there is advance notice before the crosswalk, the minimum headway distances of Car1-Car2, Car2-Car3, Car3-Car4 and Car4-Car5 are 7.09 m, 7.38 m, 7.65 m, 7.91 m, and the average rates of change of the headway during deceleration are 0.78 m/s, 0.74 m/s, 0.71 m/s, 0.68 m/s respectively; in the absence of advance notice before the crosswalk, the minimum headway distances of Car1-Car2, Car2-Car3, Car3-Car4 and Car4-Car5 are 7.28 m, 7.75 m, 8.19 m, 8.59 m, and the average rates of change of the headway during deceleration are 1.57 m/s, 1.25 m/s, 1.04 m/s, 0.96 m/s, respectively. Therefore, in order to effectively prevent the occurrence of vehicle rear-end events, it's necessary to set traffic signs and markings on the preceding section of the intersection or road exhibiting behavioral comity.