01046281

Component

The present study discusses the distinct elements of motorcycle movement and proposes ways of incorporating them into traffic simulation models. Motorcycles comprise an individual vehicle category and demonstrate different characteristics to the rest of the traffic. The most important ones are their movement on two rather than four wheels and their small width offering high maneuver-ability, which motorcyclists tend to exploit. One of the fundamentals of motorcycle movement is that they move between moving or stationary traffic making use of the available lateral space left on a traffic lane next to other vehicles. This study describes that type of movement explicitly dividing the road into two types of lanes: the existing and the imaginary one. Motorcycles can move on both lane types while passenger cars only the existing lanes. The choice, however, of the moving lane between the existing and imaginary ones for a motorcyclist is not arbitrary. Furthermore, the movement of motorcycles on imaginary lanes has a specific effect on the movement of the rest of the traffic and this effect is mainly identified through the increase of vehicle headways. Methods of modeling all the specific elements of motorcycle movement and parameters describing the vehicle interaction are proposed for the development of a traffic model.

01042056

07-2856

English

16p

2007

Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting

CD-ROM

Figures (2) ; References (29) ; Tables (3)

Highway traffic control; Maneuverability; Motorcycle driving; Motorcycles; Motorcycling; Motorcyclists; Traffic; Traffic congestion; Traffic control; Traffic simulation

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2007 Paper #07-2856

TRIS, TRB

Feb 8 2007 7:33PM