Title: Commercial Vehicle Driver Behaviors and Decision Making: Lessons Learned from Urban Ridealongs

Abstract

As e-commerce and urban deliveries spike, cities grapple with managing urban freight more actively. In order to effectively manage urban deliveries, city planners and policy makers need to better understand driver behaviors and the challenges they experience in performing deliveries. In this study, we collected data on commercial vehicle (CV) driver behaviors by performing ridealongs with various logistics carriers. Ridealongs were performed in Seattle, Washington, covering a range of vehicles (cars, vans, and trucks), goods (parcels, mail, beverages, and printed materials), and customer types (residential, office, large and small retail). Observers collected qualitative observations and quantitative data on trip and dwell times, while also tracking vehicles through GPS devices. The results showed that, on average, urban CVs spent 80 percent of their daily operating time parked. The study also found that, unlike the common belief, drivers (especially those operating heavier vehicles) parked in authorized parking locations, with only less than 5 percent of stops occurring in the travel lane. Dwell times associated with authorized parking locations were significantly longer than those of other parking locations, and mail and heavy goods deliveries generally had longer dwell times. We also identified three main criteria CV drivers used for choosing a parking location:more » avoiding unsafe maneuvers, minimizing conflicts with other users of the road, and coopetition with other commercial drivers. Here, the results provide estimates for trip times, dwell times, and parking choice types, as well as insights into why those decisions are made and the factors affecting driver choices.« less

Authors:

Chiara, Giacomo Dalla  ^[1];

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Krutein, Klaas Fiete ^[1]; Ranjbari, Andisheh ^[1]; Goodchild, Anne ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

Publication Date:

Tue Mar 30 00:00:00 EDT 2021

Research Org.:

Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

OSTI Identifier:

1764618

Grant/Contract Number:  

EE0008462

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 2675; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 0361-1981

Publisher:

SAGE

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS; Commercial vehicle driver behavior; Urban freight delivery; Ridealong; Dwell time; Parking location choice; Parking cruising