A Methodology for Evaluating Driving Styles in Various Road Conditions

Abstract

For many institutions, it is important to evaluate a given driving technique as safe or unsafe based on measurable vehicle movement parameters. The paper constitutes a part of studies aimed at establishing a method of parameter-based evaluation of drivers in various road conditions, in other words, to create a so-called ‘driver profile’. The tests were carried out on a 650 km route, on four varying road types. Longitudinal and lateral acceleration values are used to evaluate the driving style. An analysis is presented of the impact of the type and shape of road on acceleration values. The results demonstrate that the same driver, when driving the same vehicle on an expressway, an inter-urban road or in urban traffic, will move with various acceleration values. A detailed analysis of acceleration values and distributions was conducted. Interesting conclusions were drawn after excluding the so-called ‘smooth driving’ sections, by acceleration ranges of −0.5 to 0.5 m/s2 from the analysis. This allowed for the evaluation of the structure of other longitudinal and lateral acceleration values. After this modification, the distributions showed specificity for the given road type, thereby allowing the road type used by the vehicle’s driver to be recognized based solely on the distribution.