Staggered car-following induced by lateral separation effects in traffic flow

This Letter develops a new staggered car-following model taking into consideration lateral separation effects. Time-to-collision, calculated using visual angle variables, is introduced to describe the lateral separation distance and improve the optimal velocity model. The analytical and numerical results show that the stability of traffic flow can gradually be enhanced with the increase of lateral separation effects. The asymmetry property of traffic flow is also investigated using the new model. The results imply that incorporating lateral separation effects into the car-following model leads to the suppression of traffic jams and greatly enhances the realism of the model. -- Highlights: ► We firstly proposed a staggered car-following model induced by lateral separation effects. ► Time-to-collision is firstly introduced to describe the lateral separation distance. ► The stability of traffic flow is enhanced with the increase of lateral separation effects. ► The asymmetry property of traffic flow is firstly investigated from the proposed model.