The conventional car-following theory is based on the assumption that vehicles will travel along the center line of lanes. However, according to the field survey data, in complex traffic conditions, a lateral separation between the leader and the follower frequently occurs. Accordingly, by taking lateral separation into account, we redefined the equation of time-to-collision (TTC) using visual angle information. Based on the stimulus-response framework, TTC was introduced into the basic General Motors (GM) model as a stimulus, and a non-lane-based car-following model of steady-state traffic flow was developed. The property of flow-density relationship was further investigated after integrating the proposed car-following model with different parameters. The results imply that the property of steady-state traffic flow and the capacity of each lane are highly relevant to the microscopic staggered car-following behavior, and the proposed model significantly enhances the practicality of the human driving behavior model.
