Delay of Vehicle Motion in Traffic Dynamics

TL;DR

This paper shows that the delay times in vehicle motion predicted by the Optimal Velocity Model naturally match observed delays in real traffic, typically around one second, without needing explicit delay parameters.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that the OVM's inherent dynamics can explain realistic delay times in traffic flow without additional delay terms.

Findings

Delay times are approximately 1 second in various traffic scenarios.

The OVM's dynamical equations naturally produce realistic delay estimates.

Explicit delay parameters are unnecessary for modeling delays in traffic flow.

Abstract

We demonstrate that in Optimal Velocity Model (OVM) delay times of vehicles coming from the dynamical equation of motion of OVM almost explain the order of delay times observed in actual traffic flows without introducing explicit delay times. Delay times in various cases are estimated: the case of a leader vehicle and its follower, a queue of vehicles controlled by traffic lights and many-vehicle case of highway traffic flow. The remarkable result is that in most of the situation for which we can make a reasonable definition of a delay time, the obtained delay time is of order 1 second.