Analysis of Driver Aggression’s Effects on Safety-Related Microscopic Traffic Behaviors Using Driving Simulator and Surrogate Measures

The main objective of this paper is to propose a methodology to simulate the traffic conflicts caused by aggressive driving behaviors in real-world driving environments. A research gap was identified in which driving simulators and microscopic simulation software co-simulation were not well-researched for traffic safety studies. The driving simulator and microscopic simulation software have been used to study autonomous vehicles (AV) and connected automated vehicles (CAVs) driving algorithms, behavior, and sensor use case research. However, little research directly utilizes co-simulation to replicate or study driving behaviors and road safety impacts in a non-AV or non-CAV environment. In this paper, two example driving simulator interfaces are examined for their co-simulation interface, capabilities to simulate a real-world driving environment, and their suitability for driving behavior or safety studies. A co-simulation pair would be used to mimic the aggressive driving behaviors that would appear in real-world driving conditions, and the microscopic simulation parameters and vehicle trajectories would be recorded for each vehicle. The trajectories are then analyzed using surrogate safety measures to determine if the change in driving aggression in the simulation resulted in significant changes in traffic conflicts, a surrogate of traffic accidents.