Traffic Sim Predicts Jams Before They Happen

Posted by simoniker on Friday July 2, 2004 @08:36PM from the driving-in-your-jam-jar dept.

Via_Patrino writes "The New Scientist reports that: A traffic simulation system is helping drivers by predicting jams up to an hour before they happen. Traffic flow can be divided into three categories: freely flowing, jammed, and an intermediate state called synchronised flow in which dense traffic moves in unison. Physicists at University of Duisburg-Essen have developed 'the first model to reproduce all known traffic states.' Predicted conditions are displayed on the official website, and more than 90 per cent of the time, traffic density is predicted correctly."

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Re:What is the cause? by Wastl · 2004-07-02 22:02 · Score: 3, Informative

Accidents can (probably) be predicted with probabilities. Assuming that you have "synchronized traffic" of a certain length, it is (probably) very likely that an accident happens.
Besides, as far as I understand, the system currently only considers highways, which (at least in Germany) have at least dual carriage ways. If the traffic is not dense, most accidents or break downs do not cause jams, as the traffic simply passes by.
Sebastian