Modeling a Multi-Lane Highway System Considering the Combined Impacts of Overtaking Mechanisms and Aggressive Lane-Changing Behaviors

This paper suggests a new multi-lane lattice model that incorporates both overtaking mechanisms and drivers’ aggressive lane-changing behaviors to investigate macroscopic traffic stability in multi-lane expressway environments. To enhance the fidelity of lane-changing simulation, the proposed model reformulates lane-changing protocols by integrating empirical observations of aggressive driving patterns in real-world scenarios. Through theoretical derivation, we formulate a density wave partial differential equation that captures the spatio-temporal propagation of congestion patterns near critical stability thresholds while analytically obtaining the linear stability criterion for the proposed model. The validity of these theoretical constructs is validated through systematic numerical simulation. Key findings reveal that when overtaking passing rates are relatively low, the driver’s aggressive lane-changing strategy exhibits a pronounced stabilizing effect on multi-lane systems and effectively mitigates traffic oscillation amplitudes. Conversely, under high passing rate conditions, such aggressive driving behaviors are shown to exert detrimental effects on both traffic fluctuation suppression and system-wide stability. Notably, our findings also demonstrate that expanding the number of lanes merges as a viable strategy to enhance systemic robustness.