Characteristics of Chinese Driver Behavior

Printed in the Netherlands Dedicated to my family i Preface I will always remember the moment in 2006 when I received a call from dean Xiao: do you like to take the chance to study in the Netherlands? Without second thought, I replied 'YES'! I did not yet know I had to get a qualified score of IELTS and an invitation from the Netherlands in three months. At that time, my English was so poor (even now, I still do not think my English is sufficiently good) and the Netherlands was just a beautiful country out of my world. After three months of hard study of English, I was lucky to pass IELTS. With help from many friends, Delft University of Technology opened the door and accepted me as a PhD student in 2007. At that moment, I knew that a new chapter of my life was open. Pleasure, novelty, together with difficulty and frustration were waiting for me. To me, doing PhD research is really full of happiness and misery. The happiness comes from every step forward, even if the improvement is small compared with the achievements of other researchers working at Delft University of Technology. Research has a magic power to inspire my potentialities by exploring new and more interesting research topics. In my case, the comparative study of driving behavior offers me a contrasting perspective on the world: education, culture, life, etc. However, feelings of misery appeared more often in the past several years. As a mother of a daughter in high school and being a part time PhD student from China, to be frankly speaking, I never dared to imagine the moment I get the doctor degree from Delft University of Technology. Doubting my ability in research almost became a habit. I was always under great pressure due to the slow progress. How could I fight with this pressure? Without the helping hands from my colleagues and friends, I could never overcome those difficulties. I would like to take this opportunity to thank these kind people. Firstly, my thanks go to Henk van Zuijlen and Serge Hoogendoorn. Both of you support my research in effective ways. Henk supervises my PhD research, stimulates my interest for research, as well as inspires my confidence. I also appreciate Henk's family for the delicate food made by Adrie, the cute bungalow offered by Hans, and the wonderful parties organized by …