Flow improvement caused by agents who ignore traffic rules

TL;DR

This paper models traffic flow with agents who either obey or ignore traffic rules, revealing that mixed behavior can reduce jamming risk and influence flow patterns in a cellular automata framework.

Contribution

It introduces a cellular automata model comparing traffic flow of rule abiders and ignorers, highlighting the benefits of mixed agent behaviors.

Findings

Traffic flow is optimized with a small fraction of ignorers among abiders.

Jamming risk is lower when all agents obey rules but can be minimized with mixed behaviors.

Spatial flow patterns depend on the proportion of rule abiders and ignorers.

Abstract

A system of agents moving along a road in both directions is studied numerically within a cellular-automata formulation. An agent steps to the right with probability $q$ or to the left with $1-q$ when encountering other agents. Our model is restricted to two agent types, traffic-rule abiders ($q=1$) and traffic-rule ignorers ($q=1/2$). The traffic flow, resulting from the interaction between these two types of agents, is obtained as a function of density and relative fraction. The risk for jamming at a fixed density, when starting from a disordered situation, is smaller when every agent abides by a traffic rule than when all agents ignore the rule. Nevertheless, the absolute minimum occurs when a small fraction of ignorers are present within a majority of abiders. The characteristic features for the spatial structure of the flow pattern are obtained and discussed.