ROAD TRAFFIC FLOW CONSIDERED AS A STOCHASTIC PROCESS

THIS PAPER IS CONCERNED WITH THE USE OF MODELS TO DESCRIBE THE MANNER IN WHICH BUNCHES OR PLATOONS OVERTAKE IN ONE-LANE TRAFFIC. THE DETAILS OF THE MODEL TO BE USED INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ASSUMPTIONS: (1) VEHICLES ARE ASSUMED TO TRAVEL IN BUNCHES WHICH ARE INDEPENDENT IN SIZE, VELOCITY AND POSITION, OF ALL SLOWER BUNCHES AHEAD AND ALL FOLLOWING FASTER BUNCHES, (2) CHANGES IN VELOCITY ARE INSTANTANEOUS AND OCCUR ONLY UPON CATCHING UP OR OVERTAKING, (3) VEHICLES AND RUEUES OF VEHICLES HAVE NO LENGTH IN THE MODEL, AND (4) OVERTAKING OCCUR RANDOMLY AND INDEPENDENTLY BOTH OF PREVIOUS OVERTAKINGS AND OF THE TIMES AT WHICH CATCHING-UPS OCCURRED. THE AUTHOR DEVELOPS SEVERAL EQUATIONS DESCRIBING THE MODEL. HE FINDS SOME DIFFICULTY IN OBTAINING ALGEBRAIC SOLUTIONS TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF DESIRED VELOCITIES, AND NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS APPEAR TO BE CALLED FOR. THE ALTERNATIVE APPROACH ADOPTED IN COMPUTING SOLUTIONS IS THE EMPIRICAL ONE OF CHOOSING A FUNCTION WHICH APPEARS TO HAVE THE RIGHT CHARACTERISTICS, BUT ALLOWING ONE OR TWO PARAMETERS TO BE FITTED FROM THE RESULTS OF THE OBSERVATIONS OF REAL TRAFFIC. OBSERVATIONS HAVE SHOWN THAT UNDER A WIDE RANGE OF CONDITIONS, THE DISTRIBUTION OF BUNCH VELOCITIES IS APPROPRIATE FOR A GAMMA DISTRIBUTION. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 58, ParT 2, PP 312-325, 17 REF
• Corporate Authors:

  Cambridge Philosophical Soc Proceedings

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Miller, A J
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Mathematical models; Numerical analysis; Passing; Traffic platooning; Traffic simulation; Velocity
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227272
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 26 1970 12:00AM