Impact analysis of delay, occupancy, and traffic flow parameters on service quality of three-wheelers at uncontrolled intersections

Abstract

In developing nations with enormous traffic flows like India, very weak lane discipline and heterogeneous traffic streams clog the flow of our subject vehicle category, i.e., motorized three-wheelers. While going through the available literature, we do not find any reliable Level of Service (LOS) model for predicting motorized three-wheelers' service quality at un-signalized intersections considering the heterogeneous traffic conditions preponderating in the developing countries. This study proposes suitable Three-wheeler Level of Service (3WLOS) models to assess the service quality provided by uncontrolled un-signalized intersections operating under heterogeneous traffic flow conditions. 21 uncontrolled un-signalized intersections are investigated from 7 different cities placed in 5 different states of India to obtain well-diversified and extensive datasets. Spearman's correlation analysis has been performed to understand the influence of different service attributes towards perceived 3WhLOS score. Statistical modelling techniques, namely, Partial Least Square (PLS) regression, Ordered Pobit are utilized to predict 3WLOS scores of un-signalized intersections. Ordered Probit model is found to be very much efficient in predicting 3WLOS scores with R2 of 0.9276 and 0.7347 for training and testing datasets, respectively. Sensitivity Analysis has been performed to determine the relative importance of each parameter. Based on the sensitivity analysis report, improvement strategies are also mentioned to help the transport authorities to identify the issues and rectify them for a better driving environment.