Up to now, the almost exclusive aim of development of traffic flow models has been the appropriate mathematical representation of driving processes under certain conditions, meeting as well as possible or necessary, the empirical knowledge about corresponding real traffic behaviour. In order to allow estimations of effects of RTI (Road Transport Informatics) measures on traffic flow and on traffic safety, additional parallel processes and therefore, new concepts within the model structure are to be taken into account. The main feature of the ICARUS model development is a detailed microscopic description of traffic flow under conditions of both: a) driving behaviour without any influence of RTI as realistic as possible (base cases for different European conditions); and b) introducing several degrees of interaction between specific RTI systems and possible human reactions to them. The paper focuses on the most relevant modules of the ICARUS motorway simulation system and on calibration and validation procedures based upon available empirical data. Preliminary simulation results will be presented which show the possible range of effects of RTI elements on fundamental traffic flow relationships.
Samenvatting