Analysis of Driver Behavior for Mobile Work Zones Using a Driving Simulator

This study is aimed at validating a driving simulator for study of driver behavior in work zones. Previous studies had indicated the lack of safe vantage points at critical locations as a challenge in validation of driving simulators. For comprehensive validation of the driving simulator, a framework is proposed which is demonstrated using a fixedbase driving simulator. Objective and subjective evaluations were conducted, and validation of the driving simulator was performed at specific locations and along the highway. Field data were collected for a partial lane closure using a global positioning system (GPS) along the work zone and supplemented with video recordings of traffic data at specific locations in the work zone. The work zone scenario was reconstructed in a driving simulator and analyzed with 46 participants. The results from the simulator were compared to the field data. Qualitative and quantitative validations were performed to evaluate the validity of the driving simulator. The qualitative evaluation results indicated that the mean speeds from the driving simulator data showed good agreement with the field video data. The quantitative evaluation established the absolute and relative validity of the driving simulator. The results of subjective evaluation of the simulator indicated realistic experience by the participants. This study has validated the driving simulator in both absolute and relative terms. This paper has described validation framework, the application of which was demonstrated by validation of a driving simulator.