Gap-acceptance behavior at a priority intersection: field observations versus experiments with driving simulator

In recent years, driving simulators have become an interesting alternative to field studies in order to analyze driving behavior. The main goal of this work is to validate a driving simulator with reference to gap-acceptance behavior at priority intersections (specifically, the right turn maneuver at a three-leg intersection has been considered). In order to test the driving simulator ability to represent adequately a real situation, a comparison with real behavior has been carried out. Using both field data and driving simulator data of gap-acceptance, we estimated the mean critical gap. The comparison of these mean critical gaps has been considered as a test to validate the driving simulator. In particular a descriptive analysis and a statistical analysis were performed. The results obtained appear interesting and confirm that a driving simulator can be used for the representation of driver behavior at intersections.