PROPOSED SAFETY CRITERIA FOR TRAFFIC CONTROL ON MOTORWAYS

The increasing traffic demand on Dutch motorways calls far more rigoro us control than is currently available. In order to develop control sy stems that can cope with these conditions and can meanwhile maintain a n acceptable level of safety we need controlling criteria that provide more detailed information about traffic conditions than the current ' classical' parameters. The research reported here led to the developme nt of a first attempt at such a criterion. It is based upon a simple t heory concerning traffic behaviour and can easily be calculated from d ata of standard monitoring equipment. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.