Intersections without Traffic Signals : Proceedings of an International Workshop, 16-18 March, 1988 in Bochum, West Germany

This book deals with unsignalized intersections in road networks. It focuses both on mathematical procedures for calculating the capacity and the quality of traffic flow and on the conversion of the theories into practicable calculation methods. The state of the art and future developments from 8 countries (Australia, Czechoslovakia, F.R. of Germany, France, Poland, Sweden, U.K. and U.S.A.) are presented. Special emphasis is placed on methods of computer simulation. The reader will learn about the present state of international practice, about practical experience with approaches in different countries, and about the most recent scientific findings in the area of unsignalized intersections. Researchers will see here the trends of future research. Aspects of traffic safety are also dealt with. The traffic engineer primarily interested in applicable solutions is provided with practicable calculation methods, above all from the field of simulation techniques, and will be able to see which has the most promising future. Front Matter....Pages I-XVIII Current and Future Australian Practices for the Design of Unsignalized Intersections....Pages 1-19 The Design of Unsignalized Intersections in the UK....Pages 20-34 Status of Unsignalized Intersection Capacity Research in the United States....Pages 35-47 Safety and Design of Unsignalized Intersections in France....Pages 48-61 Research on Traffic Performance of Major/Minor Priority Intersections....Pages 62-79 Swedish Research on Unsignalized Intersections....Pages 80-102 Research on Unsignalized Intersections with Impact on the Czechoslovak Design Standard....Pages 103-110 Recent Developments in Calculation Methods for Unsignalized Intersections in West Germany....Pages 111-153 Some Factors Effecting Left-turn Capacity and Delay at Unsignalized Intersections....Pages 154-164 A Model of Unsignalized Intersection Capacity Based on Erlang-3 Gap Distribution....Pages 165-179 The Influence of Partial Constraint on Delay at Priority Junctions....Pages 180-196 Simulation Studies of the Effects of Some Geometrical and Traffic Factors on the Capacity of Priority Intersections....Pages 197-213 INSECT - The Calibration and Validation of an Intersection Simulation Model....Pages 214-235 Conflicts and Delay Studies at Unsignalized Intersections....Pages 236-247 Recent French Studies on Capacity and Waiting Times at Rural Unsignalized Intersections....Pages 248-262 KNOSIMO - A Practicable Simulation Model for Unsignalized Intersections....Pages 263-273 UK Techniques for the Prediction of Capacities, Queues, and Delays at Intersections Without Traffic Signals....Pages 274-288 Computer Assisted Optimisation of Roundabout Design....Pages 289-304 Traffic Safety at Roundabouts....Pages 305-318 Intersection Lay-out, Priority Rules and Traffic Safety....Pages 319-328 Back Matter....Pages 329-329 From March 16 - 18, 1988, an international workshop on inter­ sections without traffic signals will take place at the Ruhr­ University, Bochum. This book, which was compiled prior to the event, comprises the written versions of the contributions pre­ sented at the workshop. This preface is an attempt to give a short survey of the deve­ lopment of this particular field of traffic engineering. It has to be said in advance, however, that it is written from a point of view decisively influenced by the relevant German litera­ ture. Most of the intersections in our road networks are unsignaliz­ ed. At first glance, however, traffic engineers seem to be more interested in high-performance grade-separated or signalized intersections. But a closer study of the relevant literature does not confirm this apparent lack of importance. On the contrary: The subject of unsignalized intersections is still intensively dealt with at many research institutes. The German observer will notice the following fact while study­ ing the relevant sources: A remarkably high number of the au­ thors who have contributed to the investigation of unsignalized intersections in German-speaking countries have later become uni versi ty teachers. There is every reason to believe that traffic engineers primarily interested in theoretical problems have mainly been working in this field