Validation of a Customized Local Traffic Simulator (LocalSim)

Abstract

Traffic management offices in the Philippines commonly rely on experimentation or the trialand-error implementation of traffic management schemes to solve the growing traffic problem. This method is unreliable, time-consuming, costly, and inconvenient to road users who are often not aware of the sudden changes in traffic rules, regulations, and road configuration. One possible way to test the effectiveness of proposed traffic schemes is by implementing them in silico or by computer simulation. There are traffic simulation software programs available in the market, but they are either too expensive for massive use of the different local government units (LGUs) and/or too general such that they are unable to replicate some features of Filipino driving behavior. It is under this backdrop how LocalSim was conceptualized: A traffic simulation software customized to the needs of the different LGUs with driving models designed to capture Filipino driving behavior. This study presents the model validation performed, which proves that LocalSim can generate simulation results that are acceptable representations of the real-world scenario. The study area is the EDSA–Quezon Ave Intersection where the in situ or on-site traffic behavior was measured using the selected measure of performance (MOP) and evaluated with Theil’s indicator.