Comparison of Microscopic Car following Models

Abstract

In traffic engineering, traffic congestion problems become a serious problem that reduces significantly urban mobility. Microscopic simulation models are among different techniques which have been proposed to alleviate this problem. To analyze a variety of complex and dynamic traffic problems, microscopic traffic simulation determines the movements of individual vehicles traveling on road networks, and representing details of every entity and the relationships between them within traffic streams. For each microscopic model, the most important component to describe traffic flow are: Car Following (CF) and Lane Changing (LC). This paper deals with the analysis and understanding of drivers’ behaviors during car-following and lane changing. The study identifies how the proposed MFVDM and MVSDM compared to the existing car following models avoid collisions and reduce traffic congestion resulting from the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicles. Moreover, lane change behavior combined with a car following model to simulate a traffic flow in a realistic manner which has a great influence on traffic safety. The simulation test outcomes indicate that the proposed models produce better results and more reactive when the vehicle brakes. The proposed approach has enabled to simulate more realistic vehicle movements and it’s can avoid accidents compared to the existing models. Overall, the major outcome of this research is a more realistic microscopic traffic simulation model that will be effective in traffic safety studies.