Eur. Phys. J. B 5, 781-786 (1998)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050502

Distributions of time- and distance-headways in the Nagel-Schreckenberg model of vehicular traffic: effects of hindrances^*

Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur 208016, India

Received: 2 March 1988
Revised: 13 April 1998
Accepted: 17 April 1998
Published online: 15 October 1998

Abstract

In the Nagel-Schreckenberg model of vehicular traffic on single-lane highways vehicles are modelled as particles which hop forward from one site to another on a one dimensional lattice and the inter-particle interactions mimic the manner in which the real vehicles influence each other's motion. In this model the number of empty lattice sites in front of a particle is taken to be a measure of the corresponding distance-headway (DH). The time-headway (TH) is defined as the time interval between the departures (or arrivals) of two successive particles recorded by a detector placed at a fixed position on the model highway. We investigate the effects of spatial inhomogeneities of the highway (static hindrances) on the DH and TH distributions in the steady-state of this model.