Empirical Analysis of Lane Changing Maneuvers in Motorway Weaving Area

Abstract

A lane-changing vehicle effectively occupies two neighboring lanes for a few seconds. In complex sections of motorways networks, especially in weaving areas, the rate of these maneuvers is significantly higher. This is the primary source of turbulence in flow, which results in a decrease in speed, density, and flow quality. There is a significant research gap in the empirical analysis of lane-change maneuvers. This paper presents an empirical analysis of lane change maneuvers in a weaving area in a motorway network with a length of about 3.1 km. Differences in traffic characteristics between the source and target lanes, such as flow volume, density, and speed, were shown to incentivize drivers to undertake lane change movements. However, while discretionary maneuvers are usually associated with easier driving conditions, in most cases, the mandatory maneuvers have been towards slower lanes or with higher flow volume and/or density.