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A reliable way of predicting the flow of traffic could be a great convenience for commuters, as well as a significant energy-saver. During an emergency evacuation following a natural disaster, reliable predictions of the best routes could even be a lifesaver. Now a team of researchers from MIT, the University of Notre Dame, and elsewhere has devised what they say is an effective and relatively simple formula for making such predictions.
The findings are reported in a paper in the journal Nature Communications by researchers including Marta Gonzalez, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and engineering systems at MIT and Zoltan Toroczkai and Yihui Ren at Notre Dame.
The authors, all physicists by training, have been applying their knowledge of the computational modeling of complex systems to human-scale systems, such as traffic flows or the spread of disease. Their work has found patterns in these human systems similar to those seen in models of physical systems, the researchers say.
http://phys.org/news/2014-11-traffic.html
http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/model-predicts-traffic-flow-1106
(Score: 2) by mechanicjay on Friday November 07 2014, @05:58PM
I wonder how much improvement can be made during rush hour in some areas of the country, even with a good analysis of flow.
In some cases it's painfully obvious where the bottle necks are and applying some basic fluid dynamics principles gets you most of the way towards fixing the issue. The problem, many times is a matter of cost, or political will, or geographic obstacle.
It's great though that they can now predict when and how bad traffic will get? I suppose if this is done in conjunction with some sort of urban planning/growth modelling, and the investment in infrastructure and services is made before your system is over capacity, then that'll be great, however, I don't have high hopes for this happening.
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 07 2014, @06:19PM
When i was doing my master's degree in civil engineering, I helped a fellow student with the computer programming side of his Phd on transportation flow. It was a fascinating area of study.
What keeps these things from working well? The assholes that won't follow the rules. If you set up controls for traffic and they require things like cooperation and/or obeying a law there will be enough jerks that don't go along with it to prevent the system from working optimally.
Simple example from way back: Red lights were established on some highway entrance ramps to limit flow onto the highways when traffic was getting close to jam density (when traffic jams occur spontaneously). In one place near where I lived, this never worked because so many drivers ran the red light.
(Score: 2) by mechanicjay on Friday November 07 2014, @06:37PM
Around here where almost all the on-ramps are metered, and the people are really good about obeying them -- things still jam up to the point where nothing moves. I'm forced to conclude that while metered ramps are a think that can certainly help, at a certain point you're screwed because there is just too much volume for the capacity of the roads.
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday November 07 2014, @07:51PM
I rembered reading that on some European highways, they turn off the message signs when traffic is above a certain threshold (7000 cars/hours for a 2 or 3 lane highway, can't remember).
Even without any entrance or exit, nor obstacles, any distraction will cause a jam once you have enough humans in the loop.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday November 07 2014, @09:22PM
It also depends where the on-ramps are located. You're probably going to have terrible congestion which backs traffic up into the city the closer the on-ramp is located to a heavy-traffic urban area, in which case metering may make things worse.
If I hit the highway later than around 4:45am-ish, I hit the meter and run right through it if nobody's in line (although I actually stop at the meter 25% of the time so I don't push my luck in case there are officers nearby).
Awhile ago there was a "well-kept secret" corridor which was like a "back door" into a major road leading to a highway, which became a preferred route for traffic and releasing local congestion so that the neighborhood traffic remained light and the trip to and fro was always pleasant and smooth.
But then the baby-boomer cunts tried to fuck it up. [sandiegoreader.com]
A bunch of loud and obnoxious cunts who never had to work a damn day in their lives found something to get pissed-off about in between watching soap-operas and eating bon-bons all day and whined loudly during community meetings that "some people were driving too fast," even though the "problem intersection" was right at the edge of the residential area where only one bitchy selfish old hag lived. I flipped that bitch off, the fucking cunt.
So a stop sign was put up, and it ended backing traffic down the previously-quiet neighborhood for blocks, actually making the neighborhood worse. Motorists were furious, blasting music at the stop signs, honking all the way all the way through the painfully slow slog, peeling out at the intersection with loud tire squeals in the middle of the night. Everything was shitted up because of a select handful of bitchy whiny control-freak hags. They tried parking cops at the intersection but it was impossible to patrol the area 24/7 and so the nonstop harassment continued. Angry residents stepped outside with their cameras whenever they heard honking, but they were met with defiant middle-fingers and obscene rants (I was more than proud to have delivered my share of horn honks and angry retorts).
Finally, the neighborhood association capitulated and did what they should have done in the first place -- put in speed-bumps. It was a face-saving compromise for them and a spectacular victory for the motorists since the problem intersection is on the edge of the residential area where speed bumps are meaningless on the way out.
America, FUCK YEAH!