A macroscopic traffic model based on driver physiological response

Abstract

In this paper, a new traffic model is presented, which characterizes spatial changes in traffic density to align the traffic flow with forward conditions. The commonly employed Payne–Whitham (PW) model adjusts the traffic with a constant speed (velocity) regardless of the conditions, which is unrealistic. With the proposed model, the spatial density alignment is a function of the driver physiological response. As a consequence, traffic aligns quickly for an aggressive driver and slowly for a sluggish driver. Results are presented for abrupt changes in traffic density caused by a bottleneck on a circular road, which shows that the proposed model provides more realistic behavior than the PW model.