Traffic simulation of signal controlled intersections

The installation of traffic lights at street intersections is a common practice in order to improve vehicle flow. That procedure is highly justified by the proven reduction in accidents, shorter delays, decreased pollution, namely associated with lower noise levels, and fuel consumption. The present paper describes the definition of a traffic simulator so as to enable the design of digital simulation models for intersections controlled by fixed-time signals. The intersections may comprise any number of branches and the lanes may be either exclusive or shared by various movements. It is also possible to ascribe several movements to one lane as well as to link movements to different phases, with any cycle partition, including periods of “all red”. The user may choose from different distributions in order to model time intervals between arriving vehicles and each movement or traffic stream may be represented by a selected specific distribution, unrelated to the distributions describing the remaining movements.