Low illumination is a special driving condition that negatively affects drivers' vision, information acquisition (IA) ability, distance recognition and risk perception. This study evaluated drivers' car-following behaviours and characteristics using questionnaire-based research conducted among 214 drivers in Hefei. In this study, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to determine the factor structure of the scale, and the internal consistency of all factors was good. The results show that low illumination strongly influences drivers' following behaviour and that they tend to choose safe and conservative ways to follow leading vehicles. Street lights are beneficial, aiding drivers' IA and their grasp of surrounding or distant environments. Myopic drivers performed worse in car following when driving in a low illumination environment, regardless of the presence of street lights. Drivers with astigmatism performed worse when street lights were present. Drivers who reported more aberrant behaviours were more aggressive when driving and tended to adopt shorter following distances at night. Practitioner summary: This study developed two scales to evaluate drivers' car-following behaviours and characteristics. A total of 214 drivers participated in the survey. Low illumination strongly influences drivers' following behaviour. Drivers who reported more aberrant behaviours were more aggressive when driving and tended to adopt shorter following distances at night.
Keywords: Low illumination; car following; driving behaviour; questionnaire investigation.