The effect of vehicle acceleration near traffic congestion fronts

Abstract

Too slow acceleration of cars downstream a traffic jam can have a dramatic impact on the jam's lifetime and cause much delay for motorists behind. It has been observed that cars leaving a traffic jam reach cruise speed much later than predicted by car-following models and space headway to the car ahead tends to be long. Using traffic flow simulation we have quantified the delays caused by such driving behavior. We also review some speculations that explain the driving style and possible remedies through vehicle intelligence.