THE TRAFFIC PACER SYSTEM

THE TRAFFIC PACER SYSTEM WHICH FORMS COMPACT GROUPING OF MOVING VEHICLES, TIMED TO ARRIVE AT THE INTERSECTION AT THE ONSET OF THE GREEN PHASE WAS FIRST DEVELOPED FOR TRAFFIC CONTROL IN GERMANY. THIS TRAFFIC PACER SYSTEM WAS COMPARED IN MICHIGAN OVER A 12 WEEK TESTING PERIOD IN 1961 WITH TWO COMMONLY USED TRAFFIC LIGHT INSTALLATIONS' /1/ PAST SYSTEM, A SIMPLE NON-INTERCONNECTED SYSTEM IN WHICH EACH INTERSECTION SIGNAL OPERATES INDEPENDENTLY OF THE OTHER INTERSECTION SIGNALS, AND /2/ PROGRESSIVE SYSTEM, AN INTERCONNECTED SYSTEM IN WHICH CARS PROCEEDING AT THE SPEED LIMIT ARRIVE AT SUCCESSIVE INTERSECTIONS DURING THE GREEN PHASE OF THE TRAFFIC LIGHT CYCLE. THE FOLLOWING PERFORMANCE CRITERIA WERE COMPARED' /1/ AVERAGE TRIP TIME, AVERAGE SPEED, AND AVERAGE NUMBER OF STOPS PER TRIP THROUGHOUT THE 4-MILE SECTION OF ROADWAY, /2/ INTERSECTION CAPACITY, THE NUMBER OF CARS THROUGH AN INTERSECTION PER CYCLE, /3/ QUEUE LENGTH, THE NUMBER OF CARS WAITING DURING THE RED-AMBER PORTION OF THE CYCLE, AND /4/ PUBLIC OPINION. DURING THE 15 MONTHS OF TESTING, RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE PACER SYSTEM SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASED THE NUMBER OF STOPS WHEN COMPARED WITH TWO CONVENTIONALLY USED SYSTEMS OF TRAFFIC CONTROL REFERENCES' AN ANALYSIS OF TRAFFIC FLOW, H. GREENBERG, OPERATIONS RESEARCH 7, 79, 1959. TRAFFIC DYNAMICS ANALYSIS OF STABILITY IN CAR FOLLOWING, R. HERMAN, E. W. MONTROLL, R. B. POTTS AND R. W. ROTHERY, OPERATIONS RESEARCH 7 NO 86, 1959. SINGLE-LANE TRAFFIC THEORY AND EXPERIMENT, R. HERMAN AND R. B. POTTS, THEORY OF TRAFFIC FLOW, ELSEVIER PUB. CO., AMSTERDAM, 1961. THE CAR ROAD COMPLES, J. BIDWELL, THEORY OF TRAFFIC FLOW, ELSEVIER PUB. CO., AMSTERDAM, 1961. TRAFFIC PACER, H. M. MORRISON, A. F. UNDERWOOD, AND R. L. BIERLY, HRB BULL. 338, PP. 40-68, 1962. TRAFFIC FLOW WITH PRE-SIGNALS AND THE SINGLE FUNNEL, W. VON STEIN, THEORY OF TRAFFIC FLOW, ELSEVIER PUB CO., AMSTERDAM, 1961. SOME SOLUTIONS OF VISIBILITY AND LEGIBILITY PROBLEMS IN CHANGEABLE SPEED COMMAND SIGNS, H. J. BAUER, HRB BULL. 330, PP. 60-68, 1962. CAPACITY EFFECTS OF ADVANCE SIGNAL, J. ROBBINS, MASTERS THESIS, YALE, UNIV., 1961. DRIVER RESPONSE TO THE AMBER PHASE OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS, P. OLSON, AND R. ROTHERY, OPERATIONS RESEARCH 9, 650, 1961.