An impact of gap acceptance on road safety: A critical systematic review

Abstract

An uncontrolled intersection is a critical area for crashes that depends on macroscopic traffic parameters. While the intersection is the potential of the center of crashes due to inappropriate decision of driver. Therefore, the study focuses on the effect of the gap acceptance parameter for the safety of drivers at an uncontrolled intersection. To examine, a systematic review of the literature is implemented to understand the different parameters, their impact, and models developed by the researchers. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the crashes are highly affected by the gap acceptance and the different models are formed to estimate the critical gap for different road sections under homogeneous and heterogeneous traffic conditions. However, it is not possible to definitively conclude the best model to evaluate the gap acceptance factor but can be preferred to reduce the severity of crashes. Nonetheless, most studies remain inconclusive, there is an emerging trend in the literature suggesting the increase of the crash risk at an uncontrolled intersection. Lastly, it is most important to mention the model suitability based on empirical studies commenced under the strong limitations. Consequently, there is a need for research in this area to correlate the gap acceptance with road safety to reduce the severity of accidents to improve the existing transportation system.