Determining Traffic Stream Impacts of Radar Detectors Using Microscopic Simulation
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 129, Issue 1
Abstract
Police radar is known to have an effect on the speed of drivers. This effect derives from the presence of vehicles equipped with radar detectors in the traffic stream and the reactions that the drivers of these vehicles have to radar. The level of impact on a traffic stream exposed to radar transmissions is a function of the proportion of radar detector equipped vehicles in the traffic stream, i.e., the radar detector density. Microscopic simulation can be used to model this impact. A microscopic simulator extension is proposed that allows determinations of this type to be carried out by adding the capability to model driver response to radar transmissions. This approach can also be applied to the modeling of other driver warning technologies such as changeable message signs. A case study using the proposed methodology to analyze different congestion and radar detector density levels is presented and discussed. The case study shows that the efficacy of using radar as a speed reduction strategy is a function of congestion and radar detector density, with the strategy being most effective for volumes levels between 200 and 1,400 vehicles per hour per lane.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Benekohal, R. F., Resende, P. T. V., and Zhao, W. (1993). “Temporal speed reduction effects of drone radar in work zone.” Transportation Research Record 1409, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 32–41.
Borland Corporation. (1999). Delphi version 5.0—user manual, Scotts Valley, Calif.
Ciccone, M. A., Goodson, M., and Pollner, J.(1987). “Radar detectors and speeds in Maryland and Virginia.” Journal of Police Science and Administration, 15, 277–284.
Cooper, P. J. (1992). “Speed, safety and radar detectors.” ITE Journal, October, 17–20.
European Commission under the Transport RTD Programme of the 4th Framework Programme (2000). “Final report for publication—SMARTEST Project.” Contract No. RO-97-SC.1059, Leeds. U.K.
Federal Highway Administration, FHWA. (1998). CORSIM user guide, Washington, D.C.
Freedman, M., Williams, A. F., Teed, N., and Lund, A. K. (1990). Radar detector use and speeds in Maryland and Virginia, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Va.
Gipps, P. G.(1986). “A model for the structure of lane changing decisions.” Transportation Research B, 20(5), 403–414.
Herman, R., Montroll, E. W., Potts, R., and Rothery, R. W., (1959). “Traffic dynamics: analysis of stability in car-following.” Oper. Res., 1(7), 86–106.
Herman, R., and Rothery, R. W. (1963). “Car-following and steady state flow.” Proc., Theory of Traffic Flow Symposium, 1–13.
Magnugustics. (1999). Statgraphics Plus 4.0 user manual, Rockville, Md.
Oliveira, M. G. S., Geisheimer, J., Gremecker, G., and Leonard, J. II. (2001). “A study of radar detector usage in Georgia highways.” Proc., Transportation Research Board 80th Annual Meeting (CD-Rom), Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Opinion Research Corporation. (1988). A survey about radar detectors and driving behavior, Princeton, N.J.
Pigman, J. G., Agent, K. R., Deacon, J. A., and Kyscio, R. J. (1989). “Evaluation of unmanned radar installations.” Transportation Research Record 1244, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C. 7–16.
Subramanian, H. (1996) “Estimation of a car-following model for free-way simulation.” MS thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Teed, N. J., Lund, A. K., and Knoblauch, R., (1993). “The duration of speed reductions attributable to radar detectors.” Accid. Anal Prev., 25, 131–137.
Teed, N. J., and Williams, A. F. (1990) Radar detector use in trucks in 17 states. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Arlington, Va.
Wicks, D. A. (1977). “INTRAS—a microscopic freeway corridor simu-lation model.” Overview of simulation in highway transportation, Vol. 1, 95–107.
Yang, Q. (1997). “A simulation laboratory for evaluation of dynamic traffic management systems.” PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Yang, Q., and Koutsopoulos, H. N.(1996). “A microscopic traffic simulator for evaluation of dynamic traffic management systems.” Transportation Research C, 4(3), 113–129.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 129 • Issue 1 • January 2003
Pages: 7 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 12, 2001
Accepted: Mar 25, 2002
Published online: Dec 13, 2002
Published in print: Jan 2003
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.