title: Human behavior as origin of traffic phases.
abstract: It is shown that the desire for smooth and comfortable driving is directly responsible for the occurrence of synchronized traffic in highway traffic. This desire goes beyond the avoidance of accidents, which so far has been the main focus of microscopic modeling and that is mainly responsible for the other two phases observed empirically, free flow and wide moving jams. These features have been incorporated into a microscopic model based on stochastic cellular automata by means of event-driven anticipation. The results of computer simulations are compared with empirical data. It turns out that anticipation effects are responsible for the stabilization of the traffic phases and even reproduce the empirically observed coexistence of wide moving jams with both free flow and synchronized traffic.
authors.affiliation: Theoretische Physik FB 10, Gerhard-Mercator-Universität Duisburg, Lotharstrasse 1, D-47048 Duisburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Knospe
authors.forename: Ludger
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Santen
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schadschneider
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schreckenberg