Investigating the impacts of heavy vehicles on surrounding traffic

The effects of heavy vehicles on surrounding traffic are likely to be greater than passenger cars. While heavy vehicles account for a minority of traffic stream, they have a pronounced effect on traffic flow. Heavy vehicles impose physical and psychological effects on surrounding traffic which are the results of their physical (e.g. length and size) and operational (e.g. acceleration, deceleration and maneuverability) characteristics. The aim of this research is to investigate the differences in traffic characteristics in the vicinity of heavy vehicles and passenger cars. Traffic characteristics of heavy vehicle and passenger cars and their surrounding traffic are analyzed in this paper. This research also aims to macroscopically investigate the influence of heavy vehicles on their surrounding traffic (number of lane changing maneuvers, average speed and travel time). The analysis focuses on heavy traffic conditions (level of service E) and a trajectory data of a highway section in U.S. is used in this research. The results show some differences exist between the driving behavior of heavy vehicle and passenger car drivers. Furthermore, the results of analysis show that existence of heavy vehicles considerably influences the number of lane changing maneuvers, average speeds and average travel times of surrounding traffic.