Simulation of the impact of dangerous road incidents on driver’s loss of time on express roads

Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk, Poland

^* Corresponding author: barstrze@pg.gda.pl

Abstract

Incidents on roads are an important factor in traffic flow disruption and a consequent loss of time for drivers. Disruptions can be the result of unexpected road incidents or planned repair works after an incident. These situations differ in the availability of information about the incidents and the resulting rerouting undertaken by drivers. The first part of the paper presents a literature review on the impact of road incidents on traffic and driver’s loss of time modelling. Statistical analysis of the database of road incidents on motorways and express roads in the region of Pomorskie was conducted. The average time of arrival of emergency services to a scene and the average time of the rescue action were determined. Simulation research on road incidents was performed for different scenarios with modifications of traffic volume, duration of the road incidents and the degree of road section capacity limitations in various options. The simulation was performed by PTV VISUM software, with the DUE (Dynamic User Equilibrium) module for dynamic traffic modelling. The result of the research is the estimation of the average loss of time for the different variants of the incident, which enabled building a model of the driver’s loss of time for specified event parameters.