Impact of driving style on rear-end crash risk in leading vehicle emergency braking situations

The driving style and skill of drivers have a significant impact on traffic safety, and the crash urgency level of the situation can affect drivers’ behavior. To investigate the differences in evasion behavior among drivers with different driving styles in rear-end crash urgency scenarios, this study classified drivers into aggressive and conservative types based on risk tendencies obtained from the Iowa Gambling Task. Using simulated driving equipment, rear-end crash risk scenarios were classified based on time to collision (TTC) thresholds and drivers’ reaction behavior characteristics in emergency braking situations were collected. Comparative analysis of evasion behavior characteristics among drivers with different styles was conducted, and the influence trends of various factors on the risk of vehicle crash events were explored using binary logistic regression. The results showed that with increasing crash urgency, drivers’ braking reaction time (BRT) decreased, while vehicle speed and jerk increased. Novice drivers exhibited longer BRT, larger vehicle spacing, higher maximum braking deceleration, jerk, and TTC −1 compared to experienced drivers. Aggressive drivers had significantly longer BRT than conservative drivers, while maximum braking deceleration and jerk were significantly lower. Vehicle spacing, maximum braking deceleration, and jerk were negatively correlated with crash risk. This study provides important references for the analysis of evasion behavior among different driving styles in crash urgency scenarios and the design of active safety intervention methods.