AiS Challenge Team Interim Report
Team Number: 056
School Name: Moriarty High School
Area of Science: Physics
Project Title: Road Rage and Tailgating
Project Definition
Our project will investigate road rage during and after a red light. We are assuming that
roadrage occurs when the flow of the traffic is slowed down and when drivers have to wait at an
intersection after the light turns green. We
will try to answer the question.
"After stopping at a red light, what is the fastest yet safest speed
limit? How does the timing
of the red light help to prevent and avoid tailgating and road rage?"
Our first goal is to write a
C++ program that will control traffic flow by determing a safe speed.
Our second goal is to find
the correct light timing. Our third goal is to combine goal one and
goal two into a single C++ program
to simulate traffic patterns that will answer our problem questions.
Plan for Solving Problem Computationally
The plan for solving our first goal is to implement the following equations in a C++ program.
- Distance=Speed*Time
or
Time=Distance/Speed
- Time = C+D/s or Time = C+D/1.467s
- Flow = 1/C+D/1.467s
Where:
c = length of the car
d = distance between two cars
For our second goal of simulating the flow of a single line of traffic through
one set of traffic lights, we will make the following assumptions:
- all traffic travels straight without turning
- when the lights are green, the cars move through at a steady rate
- the probability of a car arriving at the lights in any one second is independent of what happens during the previous second (Poisson process)
- the basic time interval is ten seconds
- the lights will be set for variable multiples of ten seconds
- the lights are red at first
- the probablility a car arrives in any second is randon with p = 0.3
This, too, will be implemented in a C++ program with the following steps:
for every 10 second interval:
- get a random number(r) and compare it to the probability of a car arriving(p)
- add a car to the traffic line if r < p
- if the light is green - let cars through; advance the timer; change the light when the time is up; display
the traffic line
- if the light is red - advance the time; change the light the time is up; display the traffic line
- adjust the timing of the lights for optimum traffic flow
For our third goal, we will implement our flow rate into the number of cars that pass through the light.
Progress to Date
To date we have done alot of research. We have worked at developing our
of math models. We have found a resource to help us with our second goal in a fortran 90 program on
traffic simulation. This program is in the book Fortran 90 for Scientists & Engineers by Brian D Hahn.
Expected Results
We will find the right distance between the cars and the best timing for the lights.
This will keep traffic moving and minimize the time drivers have to wait at lights. These two
things together will help keep road rage down.
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Sponsoring Teacher(s)
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