“That’s a bit of a tight squeeze!”: a thematic analysis of narrow passage driving interactions using the perceptual cycle model
“That’s a bit of a tight squeeze!”: a thematic analysis of narrow passage driving interactions using the perceptual cycle model
The ability to accurately represent driver behaviours in microscopic traffic models and for autonomous vehicles to discern human driving behaviours is reliant on having a deep understanding of the behaviour that is being modelled. In spite of this, the decision-making processes undertaken during narrow passage interactions, a high risk and relatively unregulated situation in which a road narrowing means that two opposing vehicles cannot pass through at the same time, remain under investigated. To rectify this limitation, an on-road “think aloud” study was conducted with participants in the UK and supplemented by a video-cued retrospective interview using a shortened version of the Schema World Action Research Method. 175 decision points were then analysed using Neisser’s Perceptual Cycle Model, which highlights the relationships between the information perceived from the narrow passage environment, a driver’s schema, and the actions taken. It was found that drivers conduct four key assessments, including evaluating their interaction partner’s intention and the suitability of give way gaps on both sides of the road, when deciding what actions to take during a narrow passage interaction. These results provide a clearer understanding of how driver behaviour is influenced by different contextual/situational factors in a safety critical driving situation and helps ensure that future mathematical models better reflect driver decision-making during narrow passage interactions. This, in turn, can be used to ensure that autonomous vehicles are able to safely interact with human drivers at narrow passages and that microscopic traffic models are able to produce more accurate outputs.
Decision-making, Narrow passages, Perceptual Cycle Model, Verbal protocol, cooperative interactions, Perceptual cycle model, Cooperative interactions
1383-1401
Youssef, Peter
bab86f17-3022-43ff-bc74-7bbbd162ff51
Waterson, Ben
60a59616-54f7-4c31-920d-975583953286
Plant, Katherine L.
3638555a-f2ca-4539-962c-422686518a78
5 February 2025
Youssef, Peter
bab86f17-3022-43ff-bc74-7bbbd162ff51
Waterson, Ben
60a59616-54f7-4c31-920d-975583953286
Plant, Katherine L.
3638555a-f2ca-4539-962c-422686518a78
Youssef, Peter, Waterson, Ben and Plant, Katherine L.
(2025)
“That’s a bit of a tight squeeze!”: a thematic analysis of narrow passage driving interactions using the perceptual cycle model.
Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 109, .
(doi:10.1016/j.trf.2025.01.038).
Abstract
The ability to accurately represent driver behaviours in microscopic traffic models and for autonomous vehicles to discern human driving behaviours is reliant on having a deep understanding of the behaviour that is being modelled. In spite of this, the decision-making processes undertaken during narrow passage interactions, a high risk and relatively unregulated situation in which a road narrowing means that two opposing vehicles cannot pass through at the same time, remain under investigated. To rectify this limitation, an on-road “think aloud” study was conducted with participants in the UK and supplemented by a video-cued retrospective interview using a shortened version of the Schema World Action Research Method. 175 decision points were then analysed using Neisser’s Perceptual Cycle Model, which highlights the relationships between the information perceived from the narrow passage environment, a driver’s schema, and the actions taken. It was found that drivers conduct four key assessments, including evaluating their interaction partner’s intention and the suitability of give way gaps on both sides of the road, when deciding what actions to take during a narrow passage interaction. These results provide a clearer understanding of how driver behaviour is influenced by different contextual/situational factors in a safety critical driving situation and helps ensure that future mathematical models better reflect driver decision-making during narrow passage interactions. This, in turn, can be used to ensure that autonomous vehicles are able to safely interact with human drivers at narrow passages and that microscopic traffic models are able to produce more accurate outputs.
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Second_Review_OnRoad_Paper
- Accepted Manuscript
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1-s2.0-S1369847825000397-main
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Accepted/In Press date: 28 January 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 February 2025
Published date: 5 February 2025
Keywords:
Decision-making, Narrow passages, Perceptual Cycle Model, Verbal protocol, cooperative interactions, Perceptual cycle model, Cooperative interactions
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 498833
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498833
ISSN: 1369-8478
PURE UUID: e4bf6f1c-ce7f-4353-a257-e9cbc2794233
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Date deposited: 03 Mar 2025 17:56
Last modified: 22 Aug 2025 02:30
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Author:
Peter Youssef
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