Empirical Study on Close-Following Behaviour: A Case Study from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract

Close-following behaviour has been reported as one of the major factors which contributed to road accidents in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of socio-demographic factors, driving and vehicle characteristics on the close-following behaviour. This paper presents a preliminary results of n=150 respondents on their perceptions and beliefs of close-following behaviour. Through multiple regression analysis, the close-following behavior model is discussed. It was discovered that type of vehicle use, trip purpose, driving experience, speeding fined, driving speed, job status, average travel time and average travel distance were the factors which influenced the close-following behavior among the drivers. The accuracies of the independent variables, in predicting the close-following behavior was 74.1%. The findings from this study will be beneficial and significant to understanding the close-following behaviour among the drivers and to implement policies which can improve road safety in general.