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A Cellular Automaton Model for Traffic Flow with Safe Driving Policies
M.E. Larraga and L. Alvarez-Icaza

A new single-lane cellular automaton traffic model is presented. The model emphasizes the conflict between human behaviors, normal drivers spacing policies, and limited acceleration and deceleration capabilities of vehicles as the origin of congested traffic states. A new set of simple rules that incorporates implicit anticipation effects, mechanical restrictions of vehicles and safe driving practices, to guarantee that microscopic vehicle behavior follows capabilities of real ones, is introduced. Simulation results show that the present model reproduces most empirical findings including the three states of traffic flow and the branch to wide jams. Moreover, the improved model preserves the simplicity of cellular automata models.

Keywords: Cellular Automata models, traffic dynamics, traffic states

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