Can segregating vehicles in mixed-traffic stream improve safety and throughput? implications using simulation

Abstract

In heterogeneous (mixed) traffic stream, there are different vehicle categories with ensuing non-lane disciplined traffic that affect the traffic stream's safety and throughput. Impacts of establishing separate lanes for motorized two-wheelers (MTW) are evaluated using microscopic traffic simulation. Traffic management scenarios for lane-utilization of vehicles were evaluated in terms of safety and traffic efficiency under prevailing mixed traffic conditions. It is observed that, with dedicated MTW lanes, the capacity has increased by 17 percent in comparison to the base scenario. The underlying logic involved in the scenarios was about segregating smaller vehicles. The results showed that the segregation of small vehicles could substantially improve the mixed traffic stream's performance and had a little impact on safety. Interestingly, the severe collision percentages are anticipated to be dropped down significantly from 1.2 and 1.4 to zero. Therefore, this study recommends dedicated lanes for MTW to address mixed-traffic problems on multilane urban corridors.

Keywords:

• Heterogeneous traffic
• instant perception time
• safety
• throughput
• dedicated lanes
• simulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).