Modeling duration of overtaking in two lane highways

• Survival analysis is employed to model overtaking duration in two lane highways.
• Data are from a driving simulator experiment using young female and male drivers.
• Total overtaking duration and acceleration and back-to-lane durations are considered.
• The Log–logistic distribution is found to best describe the overtaking maneuver.
• Gender, speed difference, opposing traffic speed and spacing are significant.

The paper attempts to reveal which factors may influence the duration of overtaking in two lane highways. Questions such as what is the duration of young male and female drivers’ overtaking activities and, given that a driver conducts an overtaking maneuver, how long will it take, are addressed using classical survival analysis. Data are collected using a driving simulator. Different models are developed for describing the total overtaking duration, as well as the duration of the acceleration and back-to-lane phases. Results show that the duration of each of the phases of overtaking considered, as well as the total overtaking duration may be best described by a Log–logistic distribution. Analyses point out that, apart from the acceleration phase, the gender is a critical factor to the duration modeling. Other influential factors are the speed difference from the lead vehicle, the speed of opposing traffic, the spacing from the lead and opposing traffic, as well as whether the driver is engaged in multiple overtakes. Finally, the modeling implications to driving assistance systems are discussed.