Improvement of the Traffic Control on Complex Crossroads via Sending Randomized Recommendations to Drivers

Abstract

The efficient use of signalized crossroads, especially intersections of multi-lane highways playing a great role in the urban traffic, demands not only the adequate control by traffic lights regulation but rational adaptation of the drivers’ totality to current traffic organization and control as well. The latter results from their complex structure and traffic organization on them when some lanes within an intersection split and/or merge with the other ones and their passage is regulated individually. Besides, changes of lane counts on entrance and exit roads is typical. The lack of visible indicators helping drivers in their error-free rational lane choice may be overcome by the traffic control system endowed with the function of the advice-tick system for the drivers’ totality. The proposed way to elaborate proper recommendations is based on calculation of the optimal distribution of vehicles between possible routes according to the current intensity of entering traffic flows in all passage directions obtained from the monitoring data. To approach this ideal distribution it is proposed to send impersonal recommendations to drivers of approaching vehicles depending on their desired passage directions; these recommendations must randomly change in time according to the determined distribution since some admissible directions must be splitted between certain routes in the calculated proportion. The proposed control method can significantly reduce improper lane choice by drivers, including their principal errors not allowing them to reach the needed road and so increase the intersection capacity utilization and reduce traffic delays.