Understanding Traffic Systems Data Analysis and Presentation

Road traffic and its impacts affect all aspects of modern life, leisure and industry, with safety, congestion and pollution being of greatest public concern. Transport planning increasingly emphasises travel demand management (TDM) and traffic calming - aided by dynamic, lower cost data from Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) - to enable real time monitoring, control and traveller information. This second edition of a highly successful work has been fully updated since its first publication in 1996 to reflect developments in technology available to the traffic analyst and in the social, ecological and economic environment. New sections are included on shockwaves, data capture without surveys, traffic incidents, delay estimation, off-line use of on-line data, environmental sensitivity, and controlled crash tests. The authors introduce and demonstrate techniques with which the analyst, engineer or planner can examine traffic problems. The underlying theme is that proper understanding of traffic systems performance and traffic problems can only come from the intelligent processing, refinement, appraisal and evaluation of traffic data. Arranged in five parts, the book offers an integrated approach to tackling road traffic problems: ¢ How to gain information and understanding about traffic ¢ The theories of traffic flow ¢ The principles of good survey planning and management ¢ Specific types of traffic studies ¢ Analytical techniques for transforming raw data into useful information. Understanding Traffic Systems provides cogent insights into the techniques of traffic data collection and analysis, the application of traffic theory and the role of data in analysis and decision making. Its breadth and use of examples from several countries make it a useful reference text for students and researchers, as well as an essential tool for practising traffic engineers and planners.

Contents: Introduction: Introduction and context; The traffic analysis process. Basic Traffic Theory: Basic traffic flow theory; Theories of interrupted traffic flow; Theories of area-wide traffic flow. Data Capture: Principles of survey planning and management; Experimental design and sample theory; Vehicle counting and classification surveys; Traffic condition data; Environmental impacts. Traffic Studies: Intersection studies; Origin-destination and route choice studies; Traffic generation and parking studies; Road safety studies. Data Analysis and Modelling: From data to information; Statistical analysis; Statistical modelling. Appendix A: Statistical tables; Appendix B: Database of vehicle speeds on residential streets; References; Index.

Michael Taylor is the Professor of Transport Planning and Director of the Transport Systems Centre at the University of South Australia. Peter Bonsall is Professor of Transport Planning and Director of Studies at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, UK William Young is the Professor of Civil Engineering and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Australia