Abstract
Traffic congestion problems have dramatically esca-lated with the increasing volume of vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists in the face of limited road capacity. This re-search aims to reduce the time road users spend in the system (school-zone area) and improve the efficiency of the process of dropping off and collecting children from a crowded school area. The study integrates discrete-event simulation (DES) and multi-criterion decision-mak-ing (MCDM) techniques to comprehensively evaluate the proposed alternatives to select an optimal solution based on many performance measures. A real-world case study of the traffic and congestion problems experienced by parents when they drop off and fetch their children from school during peak hours is presented. A heuristic algorithm was developed to simulate the random and un-predictable behaviour of road users. A cost-benefit anal-ysis considered the impact of waiting time, traffic den-sity, number of accidents, additional fuel expenses, and emission reduction. The technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and preference selection index (PSI) methods were utilised to select the most appropriate option for parents. The study found that the integration of simulation techniques with MCDM methods could efficiently solve traffic problems.
Highlights
Solving traffic-related problems is vital in reducing the number of casualties, costs, wasted time, and the social impact of traffic accidents
While the preference selection index (PSI) ranking orders were different from the TOPSIS performance-score ranks, the results showed the simulation results to be very close to the PSI ranking, there was a difference with the discrete-event simulation (DES)-TOPSIS ranks because TOPSIS uses weights not considered in the simulation model and PSI technique but applied to TOPSIS factors and attributes
This study presents a hybrid DES-multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) technique as a low-cost solution that can be quickly implemented to address current traffic congestion problem using available infrastructure and limited area capacity
Summary
Solving traffic-related problems is vital in reducing the number of casualties, costs, wasted time, and the social impact of traffic accidents. Many difficulties have been encountered due to the complexity, ever-changing traffic flow, network-limited capacity, unprecedented increase in the number of vehicles, population growth, poor traffic data, unpredictable driver behaviour, and the increasing volume of cyclists and pedestrians. Traffic becomes even more complex in school areas due to the random actions of students, the limited drop-off and pick-up points, and the behaviour of parents trying to get their children to school on time. There are several factors that greatly affect the performance, efficiency, and effectiveness of traffic control devices. These factors include driver behaviour, environment, weather and visibility, traffic rules and regulations, and roadway geometry [4]. During peak commuting times, enhancements that would effectively provide a protected zone for children are especially important to consider [7]
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