Citation

Al-Kaisy A, Durbin C. J. Adv. Transp. 2009; 43(1): 71-88.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Institute for Transportation, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents an empirical investigation into platooning on 2-lane, dual highways. The main goal is to better understand this phenomenon that has important implications on traffic performance and safety. Field data from 3 sites in Montana were used in this study. Separate investigations were performed to examine the relationships among platoon-related variables; namely, time headway, travel speed, and platoon size. The study confirmed that interaction between successive vehicles in the traffic stream generally diminishes beyond a time headway threshold value that fell in the range of 5-7 seconds. Also, the study revealed that very short headways (less than 1 second) are more associated with aggressive driving and higher speeds than with slow-moving platoons due to lack of passing opportunities. Further, the study found that amount of impedance to traffic is proportional to the size of platoon as evidenced by the relative difference between mean speed of various size platoons and the mean speed of unimpeded vehicles. The study provided other valuable insights into the platooning phenomenon that are essential in developing a better understanding of traffic operation on 2-lane highways.