Longitudinal control behaviour: analysis and modelling based on experimental surveys in Italy and the UK

•Presented analyses refer to 146 drivers from two different countries (Italy and UK).•A cluster analysis is adopted to identify equilibrium car-following conditions.•Observed equilibrium spacing can be fitted using lognormal distributions.•A significant number of potentially dangerous behaviours is observed in all the samples.•Large datasets show a larger incidence of risk-adverse behaviours.