Synergistic Influence of Rainstorm and Waterlogging on Drivers’ Driving Behavior—An Experimental Study Based on High-Fidelity Driving Simulator

Abstract

Drivers are vulnerable to inclement weather such as heavy rainstorms and severe rain-induced waterlogging. A thorough investigation of drivers’ driving behavior during rainstorms and waterlogging is a strong basis on which characteristics of traffic flow in such circumstances could be thoroughly studied; however, relevant studies from the individual perspective are very rare. In this paper, an experiment based on a driving simulator investigates the synergistic influence of rainstorm and waterlogging on drivers’ driving behavior, where a total of 47 drivers are recruited, and 30 circumstances with diverse rainfall intensities or water depth are included. The dataset of drivers’ driving behavior obtained from the experiment is furtherly analyzed using two-way analysis of variance (two-way ANOVA) and statistical analysis. The results show that rainfall, waterlogging, and their synergistic influence significantly reduce vehicles’ speed, acceleration, and deceleration, and increase headway distance generally. This indicates that the drivers tend to adopt a more conservative driving strategy when encountering stronger rainfall and more severe waterlogging. Moreover, waterlogging was found to have a much more significant impact on vehicles’ motion parameters than rainfall, and should be viewed with more importance. This study quantitatively analyzes drivers’ driving behavior from the individual perspective in circumstances of rainstorm and waterlogging, and the findings in turn strengthen our understanding of the impacts on driving behavior.