Delay of Vehicle Motion in Traffic Dynamics

Abstract

We demonstrate that in Optimal Velocity Model (OVM) delay times of vehicles coming from the dynamical equation of motion of OVM almost explain the order of delay times observed in actual traffic flows without introducing explicit delay times. Delay times in various cases are estimated: the case of a leader vehicle and its follower, a queue of vehicles controlled by traffic lights and many-vehicle case of highway traffic flow. The remarkable result is that in most of the situation for which we can make a reasonable definition of a delay time, the obtained delay time is of order 1 second.