Evacuation plan of the city of almere: simulating the impact of driving behavior on evacuation clearance time

The evacuation clearance time is one of the key indicators in an evacuation plan and is determined by the expected behavior of the endangered residents and roadway network characteristics. The city of Almere has developed an evacuation plan in case of the emergency of a flooding, but assumes a normal driving behavior of the evacuees. In this paper a microscopic S-Paramics simulation framework in an evacuation condition is set up to assess the impact of variations in driving behavior on the evacuation clearance time. Different scenarios in terms of acceleration rate, maximum speed, mean headway and minimum gap distance have been developed. The results show that increases in acceleration rate and in maximum speed do not have a significant impact on the evacuation clearance time. It is also found that a reduction both in mean headway and in minimum gap significantly reduce the evacuation time. Therefore, it is very important to consider the driving behavior in an evacuation condition for an evacuation plan.