Application of in-vehicle traffic lights for improvement of driving safety at unsignalized intersections

Most of intersections are without traffic signals to help drivers safely pass through intersections. Nowadays, it becomes possible to transfer traffic information of unsignalized intersections to drivers by application of communication technologies. Therefore, this study concentrated on in-vehicle traffic lights for assisting drivers to cross unsignalized intersections. Dependent on different traffic situations, unsignalized intersections can be classified as priority-controlled and non-priority-controlled intersections. Consistently, in-vehicle traffic lights were elaborated and provided to drivers in different unsignalized intersections, considering gap acceptance to ensure driving safety. A driving simulator experiment involving nine participants was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system. The experimental results indicated that post-encroachment time was significantly improved when in-vehicle traffic lights were applied for crossing unsignalized intersections.